Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows how one type of desert, known as a rain-shadow desert, is formed.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The formation of rain-shadow deserts

Student answer (Band 5.0)

overall there are several stages in the process beginning with winds approaching the coast and ending with dry winds reaching inland areas where a rain shadow desert develop

intially winds blow flow the sea towards the coast and are pushed upward when they reached the mountains as a moist air rises along the windward side of the mountain it becomes cooler consequences clouds become heavy enough rain falls on the windward side of the mountain

after this the air croses the mountain and moves down the leeward side during this stage the air becomes dry as most of its moisture has alreadybeen lost through rainfall finally the dry winds continue towards the inland areas sincethere is very luttle mositure in the air these areas recieve litte or on rain fall overtime this dry region develops into a rain shadow desert therefore the mountain acts as a natural barrier causing most of the rainfall to occur on the windward and leavinvthe leeward side extremely dry

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully covers all the key stages of the rain-shadow desert formation process depicted in the diagram, from the initial winds approaching the coast to the creation of the desert inland. The main features are reported accurately, including the rising moist air on the windward side, cloud formation, precipitation, and the resulting dry conditions on the leeward side. However, the response lacks clear paragraphing, presenting the information as a single block of text, which slightly limits the overall development of the overview and organization. Nevertheless, all parts of the visual data are addressed satisfactorily, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response suffers from a complete lack of paragraphing, as the entire essay is written as one continuous block of text without any capitalization or punctuation separating sentences in places. Cohesive devices are used minimally (e.g., 'intially', 'after this', 'finally'), but run-on sentences and missing punctuation severely disrupt the logical flow. For instance, the phrase 'sincethere is very luttle mositure in the air these areas recieve litte or on rain fall' demonstrates poor cohesion and sentence boundary control. While there is a clear chronological progression following the diagram, the mechanical and faulty cohesive presentation restricts the score to Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully employing topic-specific terms such as 'moisture', 'windward side', 'leeward side', 'barrier', and 'desert'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'intially' instead of initially, 'flow' instead of from, 'croses' instead of crosses, 'mositure' instead of moisture, 'recieve' instead of receive, and 'litte or on rain fall' instead of little or no rainfall. These errors show a limited control over word formation and spelling, placing the lexical performance at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'as a moist air rises along the windward side of the mountain it becomes cooler consequences clouds become heavy enough rain falls'. However, the absence of proper punctuation, capital letters at the beginning of sentences, and periods creates frequent run-on sentences and major grammatical slips. Articles are also misused ('as a moist air rises'). While the underlying meaning can generally be understood, the high frequency of punctuation and sentence structure errors means the writing does not maintain a majority of error-free sentences, warranting a Band 5.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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