Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

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)

The diagram illustrates one type of desert, the rain shadow desert and its formation.

Formation of rain shadow desert have seven steps. The wind approach the coast of mountain from the sea side and then wind pushed upward to the mountains. The moist air rised to the mountains and make itself cool. Afterwards the cloud was formed. Furthermore the rains falls on the one side of montains and other side remains uneffected. This caused the dry air which continued over the mountains to leeward side. In contrast, Dry wind reached inland areas which cause the desert formation. Such type of desert normally refered to us as rain-shadow desert. The main caused of such desert was the distance of mountain from sea side to inland area which should be thousands of kilometres. The area of rain-shadow desert do not have much green fields and life like as compared to other side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student addresses the main task by attempting to describe the formation of a rain-shadow desert depicted in the diagram. However, the response suffers from several factual inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the visual data. For instance, the student states that the 'wind approach the coast of mountain from the sea side and then wind pushed upward', which somewhat follows the sequence, but later claims that 'rains falls on the one side of montains and other side remains uneffected', missing the core meteorological process of air cooling, cloud formation, and moisture loss on the windward side. Furthermore, the claim that the 'main caused of such desert was the distance of mountain from sea side' misinterprets the horizontal scale marker. While the seven steps are partially identified, the development is limited and contains inaccurate reporting of key features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is organized into a single, dense paragraph rather than being divided into logical sections or paragraphs, which negatively impacts the overall structure. While basic cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'Afterwards', 'Furthermore', and 'In contrast', their usage is sometimes clumsy or inappropriate for a process diagram—for example, 'In contrast, Dry wind reached inland areas'. Progression is difficult to follow because sentences jump between process steps and extraneous commentary without smooth transitions. Paragraphing is absent, making it difficult for the reader to digest the information systematically.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is fairly basic and repetitive, with several word-form errors and spelling mistakes throughout the text. Examples include 'rised' instead of 'rose', 'uneffected' instead of 'unaffected', 'refered' instead of 'referred', and 'caused' instead of 'cause'. The student attempts some topic-specific vocabulary such as 'moist air', 'cloud', 'rain', and 'dry air', but the range is limited and inadequate for a higher band. Frequent lexical inaccuracies and misspellings occasionally cause confusion for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting predominantly of simple sentences joined by basic conjunctions. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Formation of rain shadow desert have seven steps', 'the wind approach', 'rains falls'), tense inconsistencies ('the cloud was formed', 'This caused the dry air'), and incorrect prepositions or articles. Complex structures are rare and, when attempted, tend to be faulty. Punctuation is also basic, with missing commas after introductory transitional phrases.

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