Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-12

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The graph below shows the number of tourists visiting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The line graph compares the numbers of tourists visiting a Caribbean island in between 2010 and 2017 years.

Overall, the visitors have an option to stay rather on cruise ship or on island when they arrived. As we see the peoples in year 2010 are more likely to stay on island then cruise ship, but in recent years the ratio of visitors staying on cruise ships have been rising.

To begin with, visitors have great interest to stay on island and above 0.5 millions of visitors approximately stays on island and had growth in between years, however in recent year visitors staying on island have declining in 2017.

Conversely, the residents who stay on cruise ship was miserable in year 2010. Although, ultimately by the upcoming year visitors were more prone to stay on cruise ship and the ratio of staying have boost from almost 0 to 2 millions of visitors in 2017.

Beyond this, in total number of visitors in millions a have rising from 2010 to 2017.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have identified the main trends, such as the overall increase in total visitors and the shift in preference from island stays to cruise ships. However, the response lacks precision. For example, you mention 'above 0.5 millions' and 'almost 0 to 2 millions', which are vague and inaccurate readings of the graph. To reach a higher band, you must report specific data points more accurately and ensure the comparison between the two categories is clearly supported by the figures provided in the prompt. The summary is present, but the lack of data accuracy limits the development of your key features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'To begin with', 'Conversely', and 'Beyond this' to signal transitions. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes disjointed due to grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'Beyond this, in total number of visitors in millions a have rising'. The logical progression is present, but the mechanical nature of the linking words and the occasional lack of clarity in referencing (e.g., 'the residents who stay on cruise ship') prevent a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate to convey the basic meaning, but it is often imprecise or misused. For instance, you use 'miserable' to describe the number of cruise ship visitors, which is an inappropriate word choice for data description. You also use 'boost' as a noun in a way that does not fit the context. There is a lack of variety in your reporting verbs and nouns, and the phrasing is often repetitive. To improve, focus on using more academic collocations related to trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'peaked', or 'remained stable'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('the ratio of visitors... have been rising', 'the residents... was miserable') and awkward sentence structures ('the visitors have an option to stay rather on cruise ship or on island'). You rely mostly on simple sentence structures, and attempts at more complex sentences often contain errors in tense or word order. Improving your control over basic grammar, particularly articles and pluralisation, is essential for a higher band score.

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

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