Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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 4.0)

The diagram shows that how the type of desrt can be formed. The whole chart shows the changes of weather with the time to time.

Firstly,when the winds approach coast starts from sea area and then winds pushed to the upper side of mountain and the air becomes cools and rise to the upper side of clouds and then clouds became as a clouds and then rains which the dry air over mountrain to the leeward side and then dry air reached to inland side of mountain.

the mountrain height is very high and it was also a thousnds of kilometers from the sea to rain shadow desert

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The student attempts to describe the process of rain-shadow desert formation, identifying key stages such as winds approaching the coast, air cooling, cloud formation, and precipitation before reaching inland areas. However, the response is severely under-length, containing only 108 words against the required 150-word minimum. This results in a heavy penalty. Furthermore, the description lacks an overview, contains grammatical confusion that obscures the sequence of steps, and fails to fully develop comparisons or details regarding the landforms and scale shown in the diagram.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The text lacks proper paragraphing, being presented as a single unstructured block of text with an isolated fragment at the end. Cohesive devices are repetitive and basic (using 'and then' repeatedly). The logical progression of the process is heavily disrupted by poor sentence structuring and run-on sentences, making it difficult for the reader to follow the sequential flow from the sea through the mountains to the inland desert.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

Vocabulary is very limited and repetitive. The student misuses words (e.g., 'desrt', 'thousnds') and relies on basic terms. Attempts to use less common vocabulary are unsuccessful due to severe spelling mistakes and incorrect collocations, such as 'winds pushed to the upper side' or 'air becomes cools and rise'. Lexical control is weak throughout the short response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

Grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of poorly constructed, overly long run-on sentences joined by conjunctions. There are fundamental errors in clause structure (e.g., 'The diagram shows that how the type of desrt can be formed'), tense consistency, and word forms ('air becomes cools and rise'). Punctuation is largely neglected, and major errors impede communication.

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