Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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)

This diagram illustrate the seven process of the fromation of rain-shadow desert.

The diagram shows that how rain falls in desert. It happen through a thousands of kilometres starts from the sea where they undergone a long process of rain-shadow and then reaches to desert.

In desert they experience a very little rains falls beacuse it comes from a long process. Firstly, at coast area of sea winds approaches, then wind pushed upward due to sea tides , then moist air rise, cools and form a clouds and that clouds convert into rains falls as time passes. This happens mostly at the mountain regions.

Furthermore, after rain falls air cool down when clouds across the mountains and comes back to inland area a very little rain is fall in desert area.

In general, the rainfall is significantly more in sea area as compared to desert it is due to moisture and humidity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially by outlining the main stages of the rain-shadow desert formation, such as winds approaching the coast, moist air rising, and rain falling on the windward side. However, the overview and details are limited and contain inaccuracies regarding the visual data. For instance, the statement 'it happen through a thousands of kilometres starts from the sea' misinterprets the scale indicator, and the description of the process lacks clarity. While some key features like the windward and leeward sides are mentioned, the overall explanation is underdeveloped and struggles to provide a clear, fully accurate summary of the diagram.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some organization with basic paragraphing and sequencing words like 'Firstly' and 'Furthermore', but there is a lack of clear overall progression. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or repetitive, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun 'they' referring ambiguously to the distance or the winds in 'starts from the sea where they undergone'. The relationship between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the introduction and conclusion do not flow naturally into a unified text, preventing the response from achieving a higher level of logical organization.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Vocabulary is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic topic, using terms like 'moist air', 'mountain regions', and 'desert area'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice and word formation, such as 'fromation' for formation, 'rains falls' instead of rainfall, and 'coast area of sea' instead of coastal area. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted range of vocabulary that falls short of more precise academic expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing uses a very limited range of structures and relies mostly on simple or faulty complex sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('This diagram illustrate', 'a very little rain is fall'), missing articles ('in desert they experience'), and incorrect verb tenses ('they undergone', 'clouds across the mountains'). These persistent errors require effort to decode and can cause some difficulty for the reader, characteristic of a restricted grammatical control.

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