Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows how electricity is generated in a hydroelectric power station.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The diagram demonstrates production of electricty in hydroelectric powerstation.Hydroelectric power station consist of river, a dam, and power station with reversible turbines, reservoirs, and national grid too.

High-level reservoir is placed before Dam in river.Intake of water is open in day and closed at night at damr.Flow of water during day is from upper side towards power station to generate electricity.Moreover, the flow of water during night is towards upper side of river for pumping.

While, the power station is at the lower side of river.Power station consist of Generator consisting shafs that are engaged with flow of water.Meanwhile, low-level reservoir are placed after generator.Power lines from generator are going towards National grid.Reversible turbines operate the generator at the day time.While, these turbines pump water into high-level reservoir in night.One pipe of Generator is connected with reversible turbines that operate on water.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main components and describe the key day–night contrast: water flows down to generate electricity during the day, while the turbines pump it back to the high-level reservoir at night. You also mention the intake’s operating schedule and the connection to the national grid. However, the account is partly unclear or inaccurate: “the flow of water during night is towards upper side of river” does not clearly explain that water is pumped from the low-level reservoir back to the high-level one, and the claim that the generator has “shafts” is not supported by the diagram. There is no clear overview of the cycle as a whole. The response is also 8 words below the required minimum. Develop the stages more fully and state the overall reversible process explicitly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has some organisation: it begins by naming the system, then describes the intake and water movement, and finally discusses the power station and grid. This gives the reader a basic route through the diagram. However, the progression is not consistently clear, and several links between stages are difficult to follow. For example, “High-level reservoir is placed before Dam in river” is unclear spatially, while “Meanwhile, low-level reservoir are placed after generator” suggests a sequence that the diagram does not show. “While” is also used to begin sentences without a clear contrast, and the final sentence repeats information about the turbines and their connection. Group the description into a clear overview and day/night stages, and use linking words only where the relationship is precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant process vocabulary, including “high-level reservoir,” “intake,” “reversible turbines,” “generator,” and “national grid,” which allows you to identify most of the diagram’s components. However, the range is limited and some word choices or combinations are inaccurate, making parts of the process harder to understand. “Production of electricty” contains a spelling error and would be more naturally expressed as “generation of electricity”; “upper side of river” is imprecise for the high-level reservoir; and “pipe of Generator” does not clearly name the conduit. There are also repeated uses of “flow of water” and “power station.” Use precise process terms consistently and vary repeated wording where possible, while avoiding unsupported details such as “shafts.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including the contrast between daytime generation and nighttime pumping. However, grammatical control is uneven, and errors occur in basic sentence patterns as well as longer constructions. Examples include “power station consist” and “low-level reservoir are,” where subject–verb agreement is incorrect, and “High-level reservoir is placed” and “at the day time,” where articles or phrasing within the sentence are not controlled. The sentence beginning “While, the power station…” is also an incomplete or awkwardly connected construction, and punctuation around “Moreover” and “While” is inconsistent. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, articles, and complete sentence structures before adding more complex clauses; these corrections would make the process easier to follow.

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