Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-08

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 given diagram illustrates the process of formation of rain shadow deserts.

The formation involves total seven stages. The process starts with winds approches to coast and ends when dry winds reached to inland areas. There were several stages, including moist air rises, clouds forms, rain falls.

The formation of rain shadow desert begins when winds approach to coast. Further winds pushes upwards the mountains, as winds pushed upwards, the moisture in the air rises and cools. Clouds were form by moist air. Then clouds started to raining. All these steps were happens on the windward side of mountains.

Due to raining, dry air continues to over other side of the mountains, which was leeward side of mountains. The last stage in the formation of rain-shadow desert carried out when dry air reaches to inland areas. The rain shadow desert were formed at a distance which was thousands of kilometers measures horizontally from coastal area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover the main sequence from winds approaching the coast to dry air reaching inland, and you correctly identify the windward and leeward sides and the desert’s inland location. The opening also gives a useful overview that the process has seven stages. However, some stages are compressed or described imprecisely: the diagram shows moist air rising and cooling before clouds form, followed by rain falling, whereas “clouds started to raining” does not clearly report that sequence. The final point about the desert being thousands of kilometres from the coast is relevant, but the scale is not explained clearly. To strengthen the account, describe each key transition accurately and distinguish the rain-bearing air on the windward side from the dry air crossing the mountain.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction and overview are followed by the windward stages and then the leeward and inland stages. Sequencing expressions such as “The process starts,” “Then,” and “The last stage” help the reader follow the process. Cohesion is sometimes mechanical, however, and some references are unclear. For example, “Further winds pushes upwards the mountains” does not clearly connect the wind’s movement to the mountain, while “Due to raining” gives an awkward link between precipitation and the dry air continuing over the mountain. The overview also repeats several stages that are described again in the next paragraph. Use more precise links such as “As a result” and “After rainfall,” and avoid repeating the same sequence information.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “windward side,” “leeward side,” “moist air,” and “rain-shadow desert,” which helps communicate the diagram’s subject. There is also some useful variation in describing the stages. However, several word-choice and collocation errors make parts of the account less natural, such as “winds approches to coast,” “clouds forms,” and “clouds started to raining.” “Carried out” is also not a natural choice for describing the final stage of a process. Aim for accurate process verbs and standard collocations, for example, winds “approach the coast,” air “rises and cools,” and rain “falls.” This would make the vocabulary more precise and fluent without requiring more complex terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple sentences and longer clauses, including the sequence “as winds pushed upwards, the moisture in the air rises and cools.” This shows some range, but tense and agreement are not consistently controlled. Examples include “winds pushes,” “clouds forms,” and “The rain shadow desert were formed”; these require subject–verb agreement. Tense also shifts between present and past forms, as in “winds approach” followed by “dry winds reached,” although a process diagram is normally described consistently in the present simple. Articles and sentence construction need attention too, particularly in “approach to coast” and “All these steps were happens.” Practise forming accurate present-simple clauses and checking each subject against its verb.

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