Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 6.0)

The diagram illustrates the stages involved in the making of one type of dessert called rain-shadow desert. starting the progress from winds approaching the coast to the final stage of dry winds reaching inland areas.

Overall, this formation of rain-shadow deserts consists of 7 different stages that begins with winds pushed upwards towards the windward side from the sea, and ends with dry air moving down to the inland side of the desert from leeward side. During this process clouds are formed from moist air and rain falls on to the mountains before the final stage.

In the initial stages, winds approaches the coastline and pushed upwards to the mountain, which later makes the moist air rises and cools, this process forms the clouds which results in raining on the windward side of the mountain.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task only partially and falls short of the minimum word length requirement of 150 words, containing only 135 words. While you attempt to summarize the main stages of the rain-shadow desert formation, the description stops abruptly before the final stage, omitting the key concluding features such as dry winds reaching inland areas and the thousands of kilometres scale. Your overview states there are 7 stages, but the body paragraphs fail to cover the full progression adequately. To achieve a higher band, you must ensure you meet the minimum word count and write a complete description that covers all parts of the visual data from start to finish without trailing off.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response shows some organization with a clear introductory paragraph and an overview sentence, achieving an overall coherent arrangement. However, paragraphing and referencing are sometimes faulty. For instance, the second sentence of your introduction ('starting the progress from winds...') is a fragment connected with a participle rather than a full independent clause. While you attempt to sequence the stages using logical markers such as 'In the initial stages', the progression is cut short because the text is incomplete. To improve cohesion further, ensure every paragraph contains fully developed thoughts and that transitional devices connect complete clauses smoothly without leaving ideas hanging.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

An adequate range of vocabulary is attempted for the task, with appropriate topic-specific terms such as 'coastline', 'moist air', 'windward side', and 'clouds form'. However, there are noticeable lexical and spelling inaccuracies that reflect a limited control of word choice and form. For example, you wrote 'making of one type of dessert' instead of 'desert' (a spelling and word choice error), and 'starting the progress' instead of 'process'. Additionally, phrasing like 'results in raining' is slightly unnatural compared to standard collocations like 'results in precipitation' or 'causes rain'. To reach a higher band, you need to expand your vocabulary range and eliminate spelling and word-form slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

There is a limited range of sentence structures, featuring a mix of simple forms and attempted complex sentences that frequently contain grammatical errors. For example, comma splices and run-on structures occur, such as in 'winds approaches the coastline and pushed upwards to the mountain, which later makes the moist air rises and cools, this process forms the clouds which results in raining...' Additionally, there are subject-verb agreement issues like 'winds approaches' instead of 'winds approach' and verb pattern mistakes such as 'makes the moist air rises' instead of 'makes the moist air rise'. Frequent errors of this nature cause some difficulty for the reader and keep the grammar score at this level.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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