Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-04

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 5.0)

THE DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATES THE PROCESS OF RAIN SHADOW DESERT.

OVERALL, WIND PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE TOWARDS THE RAIN SHADOW DESERTS. FIRST WIND CAME FROM SEA COAST AND REACH AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS. AFTER GONE TO THE INLAND AREAS AFTER THE MOUNTAINS.

WIND FIRST, APPROACH COAST OF THE SEA WINDS GONE UPWORD WITH THE HELP OF MOUNTAINS SLOPE. SECOND, WINDS TEMPERATURE CONVERTED TO COOLED. THEN COOL AIR CONVERTED TO WHITE CLOUND AND FULL FILLED WITH WATER FURTHERMORE, AT THE TOP OF MOUNTAINS CLOUDS FORM OF WIND START RAINING TOWARDS THE SLOPE OF MOUNTAINS WHICH IS IN THE DIRECTION OF INLAND.

AT THE TOP OF MOUNTAINS RAIN START FALLING AND DRY AIR CONTINUES OVER MOUNTAINS TO THE INLAND MOREOVER, IN THE FINAL STAGE OF RAIN SHADOW DESERTS. DRY WINDS REACHED TO THE INLAND AREAS FROM THE SEA COAST AND TRAVELED THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS OF MOUNTAINS ANND FINALLY REACHED TO THE INLAND AREAS.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the diagram as a process and include its main stages: winds arrive from the sea, rise over the mountains, rain falls, and dry air moves inland. This gives the reader a broadly relevant account. However, some important details are unclear or inaccurate. For example, you say rain falls “in the direction of inland,” whereas the diagram places rainfall on the windward side; the rain-shadow desert is on the inland, leeward side. The overview also says only that wind plays a crucial role, rather than clearly summarising how moisture is lost before dry air reaches inland. To strengthen the response, state this overall cause-and-effect pattern clearly and describe each stage accurately, including the cooling of moist air and the formation of clouds.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an identifiable opening, an overview, and two paragraphs describing the process, and words such as “First,” “Then,” and “In the final stage” show an attempt to guide the reader through the sequence. However, progression is not consistently clear: the overview repeats the first and last stages, and the later paragraphs revisit rainfall and inland movement. Several links are awkward or inaccurate, such as “After gone to the inland areas,” while “moreover” does not express the relationship needed between the stages. Organise the description in a single chronological progression, using clear links such as “as a result” and “once the air crosses the mountains,” and avoid repeating stages.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant process vocabulary, including “coast,” “mountains,” “dry air,” “clouds,” and “inland areas,” so the topic is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or combinations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning difficult to follow. Examples include “winds temperature converted to cooled,” “white clound,” and “full filled with water”; these do not clearly describe moist air cooling and forming clouds. Spelling errors such as “upword” and “annd” also reduce clarity. Build a more precise set of process terms and use natural combinations, for example “moist air rises,” “cools,” “condenses,” and “precipitation falls.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt to describe a sequence using both short statements and longer sentences, but the range of sentence structures is limited and many sentences contain errors that make relationships between stages unclear. For example, “Overall, wind play” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “First wind came from sea coast and reach at the top” shifts verb forms and omits necessary articles. The fragment “After gone to the inland areas” is not a complete sentence, while the long sentence beginning “Then cool air converted” lacks clear grammatical connections between its ideas. Practise writing complete sentences with consistent present simple verbs for processes, such as “The air rises, cools and forms clouds,” and check agreement, articles, and punctuation.

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