Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28

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 5.5)

The diagram shows the way in which rain-shadow deserts are formed.

Overall, there are seven stages in the process begenning from the wind approching in the coast of the sea rising above the sea surface and culmuniting in dry wind reachimg inland area.

To begin, The wind approaches form the sea cost which flows upward towards the windward side of the mountain. As it rises up the air starts to cool down due to the cold temperature of the mountain. Then the cold air is converted into cloud over cooling of clouds results in rain fall at the windward side of the mountain.

Furthermore, The left over dry air passes to wards the leeward side of the mountain flowing below to the surface area. It reaches the iland area thousand kilometers far away from the sea cost. finally, the rain-shadow desert is formed in the leewed side of the mountain where rain fall is rare case in the iland.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully covers all parts of the task by outlining the main stages of rain-shadow desert formation, from moist winds approaching the coast to dry winds reaching inland areas. An overview is provided at the beginning, noting the seven distinct stages. Key features of the diagram, such as the windward side, cloud formation, precipitation, leeward side, and the rain-shadow desert thousands of kilometres away, are reported. However, some minor details could be further elaborated or clarified. Overall, the response fulfills the requirements of Task 1 well.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The text has a clear overall arrangement with logical sequencing of the stages from start to finish. The student attempts to use cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'To begin', 'Furthermore', and 'finally' to structure the response. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, with the body of the process crammed into two dense blocks. Furthermore, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty, as seen in awkward transitions and repetitive sentence starters. Nevertheless, the progression of the process remains generally clear to the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'moist air', 'windward side', 'leeward side', and 'rain-shadow desert'. However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'begenning', 'approching', 'culmuniting', 'reachimg', 'cost' (for coast), 'wards', 'iland', and 'leewed'. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips prevent the vocabulary score from reaching a higher band, though communication is not severely impeded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response includes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some attempt at complex structures (e.g., 'As it rises up the air starts to cool down...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with missing prepositions, capitalization, and punctuation, such as 'approaches form the sea cost', 'over cooling of clouds results in rain fall', and unnecessary capitalization in 'To begin, The wind...'. These errors require some effort from the reader to untangle, placing the grammar score firmly in the band 5 range.

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