Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29

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 displays how a rain-shadow desert is produced, a type of desert.

Overall, the formation of rain-shadow desert is a long process having multiple steps from the sea coast to inland areas, this also demonstrates how a cloud is formed and flow of the air.

At the beginning, Winds that comes from sea reach coast and continues to move upward to the peak of mountain that is in its path, where the air cools and form clouds and some of the air do not becomes clouds and this dry air goes down from the other side of the mountain and surpass the mountains.

At the end, it reaches inland areas, so the rain that bursts down in the inland areas of desert is called as Rain-shadow desert. This is a very lengthy and time taking process, it travels thousands of kilometer.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to summarise the main stages of rain-shadow desert formation, identifying key steps such as winds moving from the sea, rising over mountains, cooling to form clouds, and precipitation occurring before dry air descends on the leeward side. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies in the interpretation of the diagram: the text states that 'some of the air do not becomes clouds and this dry air goes down' and incorrectly concludes that 'the rain that bursts down in the inland areas of desert is called as Rain-shadow desert' (whereas the desert is actually the dry area formed due to the lack of rain). Furthermore, the response falls short of the 150-word minimum, containing only 142 words, which incurs a penalty.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an overall basic arrangement with an introductory sentence, an overview attempt, and subsequent steps in chronological order. However, the progression is hindered by poor paragraphing—the entire body of the process is compressed into a single, dense block of text following the introduction. Cohesive devices are basic and sometimes misused or mechanical, such as 'At the beginning' and 'At the end', which do not accurately frame the continuous cyclical flow of a natural geographical process. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly with pronoun use like 'it' referring ambiguously to air, wind, or rain.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for basic description, incorporating terms directly from the prompt such as 'desert', 'coast', 'mountain', and 'clouds'. However, the lexical range is narrow and repetitive. There are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'produced' instead of 'formed', 'time taking process', and 'rain that bursts down', which demonstrate a lack of precision. Less common lexical items are attempted but handled awkwardly, and there are occasional awkward phrasings that reflect a translation-like style.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an ability to construct some complex sentences, though they are frequently marred by grammatical errors and poor punctuation. Examples of errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('Winds that comes'), tense inconsistencies, and run-on sentences joined poorly with commas rather than conjunctions or full stops (e.g., '...from the sea coast to inland areas, this also demonstrates...'). While simple structures are generally intelligible, errors in complex forms are frequent and occasionally cause slight difficulty for the reader in tracking the exact meaning.

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