Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-20
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 bar graph compares the proportion of the substantial number of tourists visiting a certain Caribbean island within the given time frame.
Overall, it is clear that the in starting, maximum number of people were more on the island while minimum were on cruise though, the trend changed at the end. Nevertheless, total individuals tops the list from the initial year to last, it accounted for 3.5 million.
Having a brief look at the line graph it is evident that 1 million total visitors in 2010 whereas it was drastically inclined more than 2.5 million over the years until 2015 and remained constant in 2016. However, the entire people on ship and island again sharply surged to 3.5 million in 2017.
Moving further, there was less than 1 million tourists on the island in 2010 while slowly hovered in 2013. In addition, it persisted stable to 1.5 million till 2015. Meanwhile, it gradually declined and then soared. In contrast, visitors staying on cruise ships were below 0.5 million and fluctuated in the next 2 years. Nonetheless, travellers on cruise tremendously spiked to 2 million in 2017.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response identifies the main trends and provides some data points, but the analysis is inconsistent and lacks clarity. While you attempt to report the total, island, and cruise visitors, the descriptions of the trends are often vague or confusing, such as 'slowly hovered' or 'in starting, maximum number of people were more'. You fail to clearly distinguish between the categories in the overview, and some data points are inaccurate or poorly explained. To improve, focus on selecting the most significant features—such as the overall growth and the specific shift in popularity between island stays and cruise ships—and ensure your data reporting is precise and easy to follow.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which is a positive step. However, the logical progression is frequently interrupted by awkward phrasing and unclear referencing. For example, the transition 'Moving further' is used, but the subsequent sentences contain confusing information about the data. Cohesive devices are present but often used mechanically or incorrectly, such as 'Nevertheless' and 'In contrast', which do not always logically connect the ideas being presented. To reach a higher band, focus on using transition signals that accurately reflect the relationship between the ideas, and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, singular focus.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision required for a higher score. You rely on basic descriptors and sometimes use words incorrectly, such as 'drastically inclined' (which is not a standard collocation) and 'total individuals tops the list'. There is also some repetition of simple terms. To improve, aim to use more precise verbs and adjectives to describe trends, such as 'fluctuated', 'peaked', or 'remained stable', and ensure that your word choices are contextually appropriate for describing statistical data.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('total individuals tops the list'), incorrect preposition usage, and awkward sentence construction ('in starting, maximum number of people were more'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from being considered fluent. Focus on mastering basic sentence patterns and proofreading for common errors like article usage and verb tense consistency to improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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