Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 stages how one type of deserts, known as a rain-shadow desert, is formed.

Overall, the process of rain falls start from the sea level whereas winds approach coast and winds pushed upwards to the windward side of the mountains then it will become the clouds form and start raining after this dry air contiues and blews over the mountain and reach to the inland areas.

The distance between the see and tha inland are thousands of kilometres. Moreover, mountains were located in the center of between them. Winds approach coast and start moving upwards when it reach the windward side air becomes moist and cools. After this, before reach to the top of mountains it becomes the clouds form and then start raining. However, when rain stop dry air were blew over the mountains at the side of leeward and reach inland areas and this area is called desert but after this formation it will known as rain-shadow desert.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by outlining the main stages of rain-shadow desert formation, from winds approaching the coast to reaching inland areas. However, some parts are underdeveloped or explained with limited clarity. For instance, the overview sentence "Overall, the process of rain falls start from the sea level whereas winds approach coast..." is a run-on sequence that attempts to capture too much detail at once rather than summarising the overarching macro-features. While the student identifies key geographic features such as the sea, mountains, windward and leeward sides, and inland regions, the description of the actual process lacks precision in places, such as stating "it will become the clouds form," which confuses the mechanical progression of the diagram.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates some organisation, dividing the text into an introduction, an overview, and a body description, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas, resulting in a somewhat disjointed reading experience. Cohesive devices are frequently inadequate, inaccurate, or overused, particularly transitional phrases like "After this," "before reach to the top," and "However, when rain stop," which are clumsily deployed. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun "it" in "when it reach the windward side," where the antecedent is ambiguous. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal logical flow within paragraphs needs better management to guide the reader smoothly through the sequence of the diagram.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms from the visual data such as "coast," "windward side," "mountains," "leeward," and "inland areas." However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as spelling errors ("contiues," "blews," "see," "tha") and incorrect word forms like "rain falls start" instead of rainfall starts or precipitation begins. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, but inaccurate collocations and persistent spelling errors cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the lexical score from rising into higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple clauses strung together with coordinating conjunctions. Attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, marred by missing subjects, incorrect verb forms, and prepositional errors within grammatical patterns, such as "winds pushed upwards" instead of being pushed upwards, and "before reach to the top." Frequent errors in verb tense consistency (switching between present and past inappropriately, as in "mountains were located" versus "winds approach") and article omission (such as "the sea" and "the inland") cause noticeable strain for the reader, fitting the profile where errors can cause difficulty.

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