Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · 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 4.5)

This diagram shows the eco-system's mechanism also how the formation of rain-shadow desert takes place on a land near the mountains.

This process takes long time but too much technical to understand.

When the wind blows near the sea side it also pushes the soil with itself.

so this soil becomes a mixture of moist and form the shape of clouds.

Whenever, these clouds rain, they take dry air at the top of a mountain with selves. Now, this dry wind reahces at the inland area whenever it rains.This process takes many days and the wind travels thousands of kilometres to reach it's destination.

In conclusion, This diagram overall shows the detailed formation of rain-shadow deserts and it also mentions how the wind travel between sea and mountains.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, coming in at only 128 words. Furthermore, the content only partially addresses the prompt. While the student attempts to describe the process shown in the diagram, the interpretation contains significant inaccuracies and misunderstandings of the visual data, such as claiming that the wind 'pushes the soil with itself' to form clouds. The core stages of the rain-shadow effect—namely moist air rising over windward slopes, precipitation occurring, and dry air descending on the leeward side—are poorly explained and confused, resulting in an underdeveloped and inaccurate overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The essay displays some basic organization, separating the response into an introduction, body, and conclusion, but there is no clear overall progression or logical flow. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or inaccurately, such as the abrupt transitions ('so this soil becomes', 'Whenever, these clouds rain', 'Now, this dry wind reahces'). Paragraphing is attempted, but sentences within the body paragraph feel disjointed and fail to build a clear, sequential narrative of the rain-shadow formation process. Referencing is also weak, making it difficult for the reader to follow the progression of the steps from the sea to the inland desert.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task. There are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as 'eco-system's mechanism' instead of geographical process, and spelling mistakes like 'reahces'. The student relies heavily on basic, repetitive vocabulary to describe the steps ('wind blows', 'take dry air', 'travels thousands of kilometres'). While communication of the general topic is not entirely obscured, the lack of precise scientific or descriptive terminology prevents the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is quite limited, consisting mostly of simple and attempted complex sentences that frequently contain errors. There are issues with article usage, prepositions, and punctuation, such as missing commas and incorrect capitalization after periods ('rain.This process'). Verb forms and tense consistency are also problematic, as seen in awkward phrasing like 'too much technical to understand' and 'wind travels thousands of kilometres to reach it's destination' (misusing the apostrophe). These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a weak control of sentence structures.

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

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