Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-12
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 provided line chart depicts the total tourists visited an island named Caribbean from 2010 to 2017. Also, chart compares the proportion of visitors stayed on cruise ships with visitors stayed on island.
At first glance, it is crystal clear that in 2010, 1 millions of people visited Caribbean island which slightly increased in next two
years at 1.5 millions. After 2012, number gradually surged till 2015 and reached to around 2.7 million which is some followed in next year before experiencing peak in 2017 at 3.5 millions.
Probing further, in 2010, 0.25 millions of visitors stayed on cruise ships which got doubled in next year before getting at some number in 2012. Later, value progressively escalated in next five years and reached at 2 million in 2017. In contrast, 0.75 million of individuals preferred to stayed on island in both years (2010 and 2011) which moderately jumped at 1.5 in 2013 and remained constant till 2017 but it slowly decreased by 0.25 in 2016.
Overall, it is evident that tourist's number got 3.5 times in 2017 as compared to 2010. In addition, cruise ship was least used by visitors to stay and island was most used by visitors in 2010, whereas trend got reversed within time period.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the overall visitor numbers and making relevant comparisons between tourists staying on cruise ships versus those staying on the island. The overview is clear and highlights key trends such as the overall growth and the shifting preferences over time. Figures such as 3.5 million in 2017 and the breakdown of accommodation types are appropriately cited. However, there are minor inaccuracies in reporting specific data points from the visual prompt (for instance, the island data and cruise ship numbers contain slight misinterpretations in the middle years), which prevents the response from achieving a higher band. Overall, the task is adequately addressed with relevant data selection.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged coherently with a logical overall progression from an introduction to body paragraphs detailing specific categories, followed by a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used adequately, separating the overall trends, cruise ship data, and island accommodation figures into distinct blocks. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen with transitional phrases like 'Probing further' and awkward referencing such as 'some followed in next year' and 'getting at some number in 2012'. While the logical flow is generally maintained, these clunky cohesive devices and occasional ambiguous references keep the response at a Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'proportion', 'progressively escalated', and 'reversed'. However, there are notable lexical errors and unnatural word choices throughout the text, such as 'total tourists visited an island named Caribbean' instead of 'visiting', 'some followed' instead of 'followed a similar pattern', and 'tourist's number got 3.5 times'. There are also prepositional and collocation errors like 'preferred to stayed on island'. These vocabulary inaccuracies restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5, as they occasionally impede smooth reading.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and comparative structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms and tense usage, such as 'visitors stayed' instead of 'visitors staying', 'got doubled', and 'preferred to stayed'. Article usage is also occasionally missing or incorrect, such as 'visited Caribbean island' and 'on island'. Although these errors rarely completely impede communication, their frequency across simple and complex structures prevents the writing from reaching the Band 6 threshold, anchoring the grammar score at 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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