Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-30

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 6.5)

The diagram illustrates how the rain-shadow deserts are created.

Overall, the process involves multiple stages, where the first and last stages are thousands of kilometers apart from eachother. Mountains plays a crutial role in the formation of rain-shadow deserts.

Initially, wind approches toward the coast from the sea which contains some moisture content, subsequently the mountains block the air and the winds are pushed upwards, because of the moisture in the air, the air begans to cool as it go further away from the earth upwards. Clouds form when the moisture even cools further and they move along with the winds, and these clouds precipitate providing rain fall near the mountain peak on the windward side.

Conversely, dry air countinues over the mountain move down over the leewardside, these dry winds will move down and reach the inland, which increase the temperatures in these areas, with no moisture content in the air results in the formation of rain-shadow deserts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response covers the main stages and gives a clear overview: it identifies the role of the mountains and notes that the process extends thousands of kilometres inland. The sequence from moist winds approaching the coast, rising and cooling, cloud formation and rainfall, to dry air crossing the mountains is accurately represented. The contrast between the windward and leeward sides is also relevant. Some details are less precise: the diagram shows dry winds reaching inland and the rain-shadow desert forming there, but it does not indicate that these areas become warmer. The explanation that clouds move with the winds is also not clearly shown. Keep the account closely tied to the labelled stages and avoid adding unsupported effects.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The information is arranged in a sensible order, with an overview followed by the stages leading to rainfall and then the leeward-side outcome. Linking expressions such as “Initially,” “subsequently,” and “Conversely” help signal progression and contrast. The response is therefore coherent overall, but some connections are crowded into long sentences, particularly the paragraph beginning “Initially,” where several stages are joined by commas and “and.” This makes the sequence harder to follow than necessary. The final sentence also combines the movement of dry winds, rising temperatures, and desert formation in one chain. Use clearer sentence boundaries and refer explicitly to each stage to make cohesion more controlled and less dependent on linking words.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

There is an adequate range of process vocabulary, including “moisture content,” “precipitate,” “windward side,” and “formation,” and the reader can generally understand the explanation. Some choices are imprecise or awkward for this diagram: “winds are pushed upwards” is understandable but less natural than “are forced upwards,” while “clouds precipitate” incorrectly makes the clouds themselves the source of the action. Spelling errors such as “approches,” “begans,” “countinues,” and “crutial” also reduce accuracy. The phrase “move down over the leewardside” is difficult to process partly because the terminology is not handled cleanly. Aim for precise process collocations and check spelling, especially in key technical terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response attempts complex sentences and subordinate clauses, for example “when the moisture even cools further” and “which increase the temperatures,” but control is uneven. There are errors in agreement and verb forms: “Mountains plays” should be “Mountains play,” and “the air begans to cool as it go” needs corrected verb forms. Several clauses are joined without clear punctuation, especially in the long sentence describing the wind, mountains, cooling, clouds, and rainfall. The final phrase “with no moisture content in the air results” is also grammatically incomplete. These issues sometimes make relationships between ideas unclear. Build accuracy by using shorter sentences for individual stages, then add complex structures only when their subjects and verb forms are clear.

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