Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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)

Then given Figure shows specific type of desert type how it is formed, also describe key feastures.

Overall, there are 7 steps to explain how moist air converted in to clouds how it moves downward.

Wind reaches to the coast travels upward where air cools this is the process how clouds are dformed and rain fall start this event happen at the top of the mountine when moves from top to bottom from a mountine, dry air reaches to the inland areas this explain the formation of rain-shadow desert.

It is noticeable that, air above the water surface from sea approaches to coast and moves to the top of the mountain here clouds formed when moist air moves up it is the main cause of rain fall when thes airmoves downward

It is obvious that, ther is change in climate when air moves upward and downward. This is the process how rain-shadow is formes it happens in several steps to contribute to change the envirnoment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to describe the process of rain-shadow desert formation shown in the diagram, mentioning key stages such as winds approaching the coast, rising over mountains, cooling to form clouds, and resulting in rain on the windward side followed by dry air reaching inland areas. However, the response is very brief, repetitive, and lacks precise reporting of the visual data. The overview is overly simplistic, stating only that there are seven steps, without summarizing the core geographical mechanism effectively. Furthermore, important spatial relationships and labels (such as windward and leeward sides, or the rain-shadow desert itself) are either vaguely mentioned or misspelled (e.g., 'mountine'). Consequently, the task is only partially addressed, earning a band score of 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text suffers from significant cohesion and punctuation issues. The response is essentially composed of long, run-on sentences with minimal use of full stops or commas to separate clauses, making it difficult to follow the logical progression. For example, sentences such as 'Wind reaches to the coast travels upward where air cools this is the process how clouds are dformed and rain fall start this event happen at the top of the mountine' string multiple clauses together without adequate conjunctions or punctuation. Paragraphing is also poorly handled, with a lack of clear separation between the introduction, body description, and overview. Cohesive devices are largely absent or misused. This leads to an overall rating of 4.5, rounded to 5.0 based on general readability.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical range is limited and repetitive. The student relies heavily on basic vocabulary such as 'air', 'move', 'coast', and 'mountain', many of which are misspelled repeatedly (e.g., 'feastures', 'dformed', 'mountine', 'thes', 'airmoves', 'ther', 'formes', 'envirnoment'). There are frequent word-form and collocation errors, such as 'converted in to clouds how it moves downward' and 'rain fall start'. While the student attempts some less common topic-related vocabulary like 'moist air', 'rain-shadow desert', and 'climate', inaccuracies in spelling and word choice restrict the response to a band score of 4.5, placed at 5.0 for attempting relevant academic terminology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Grammatical control is weak throughout the response. The text is characterized by a lack of proper punctuation, resulting in numerous run-on sentences and comma splices. There is a very limited range of complex structures, and simple sentences often contain tense or subject-verb agreement errors, such as 'this event happen' and 'ther is change'. Punctuation is largely neglected, with missing capital letters and periods at sentence boundaries. Although the meaning can sometimes be deciphered through context, the high frequency of grammatical and structural errors places this aspect firmly in the band 5 range.

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