Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-15

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 image show the formation of rain-shadow desert. First of all, the wind approaches the coastal area and from there the wind pushes some of water along with it upwards. The moist air move upward and gradually cools down. As the wind cools it convert into clouds. This is the process of formation of cloud. After the formation of cloud, the rain falls. In this way the water come back to the land again. After all this process, now the wind has no water in it and it become dry. The dry air move downward from mountains toward inland. Here is the rain-desert shadow desert. In this allover process the wind would cover thousands of kilometers. The all process natural and takes time to complete. The places where the wind rise is known as windward sides and the places where the dry air move downward is known as leeward side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You describe the main sequence from coastal winds rising over the mountains to rain falling and dry air reaching inland, and you identify the windward and leeward sides. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the wind does not carry water upwards; rather, moist air rises and cools, forming clouds before precipitation falls. The final stage is that dry winds reach inland areas, where the rain-shadow desert lies, but “the dry air move downward from mountains” does not clearly convey this. There is also no concise overview of the process as a whole. The added claims that the process “takes time to complete” and that water “come[s] back to the land” are not established by the diagram. More precise reporting of the stages and an overview would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The stages are presented in a broadly chronological order, and transitions such as “First of all,” “After the formation of cloud,” and “After all this process” help the reader follow the sequence. However, the response is written as one continuous paragraph, so the process lacks clear visual organisation. Several links are repetitive or mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “After” and “In this way.” Some references are also unclear: “Here” does not precisely identify the inland location, while “In this allover process” is difficult to connect to a specific stage. Grouping the description into an introduction/overview and a sequence of stages, with more varied and precise linking, would make the progression clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “coastal area,” “moist air,” “clouds,” “mountains,” “inland,” and “windward” and “leeward.” This gives the reader a basic understanding of the diagram. However, the range is limited and some word choices are inaccurate or awkward: “pushes some of water” misrepresents the movement of moist air, and “rain-desert shadow desert” is an unclear repetition of the key term. “Allover process” and “the wind has no water in it” are also imprecise for an academic process description. Aim for accurate terms such as “moisture,” “precipitation,” and “rain-shadow desert,” and avoid repeating general words such as “process” and “wind” when a more exact expression is available.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response uses mostly simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to link clauses, as in “After the formation of cloud, the rain falls.” However, frequent errors in verb forms and agreement affect accuracy: “The image show,” “The moist air move,” “it convert,” and “the water come” should use singular verb forms. Articles and number are also inconsistent, as in “formation of rain-shadow desert” and “windward sides.” The sentence “The all process natural and takes time to complete” is missing a verb, and “the wind would cover” uses an unsuitable modal construction for describing a diagram. These errors do not make the sequence wholly unintelligible, but they reduce clarity. Practise accurate present-simple descriptions and vary sentence structures only when you can control them.

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

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