Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-16
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 illustrates the number of tourists visiting a Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017. Units are measured in millions.
Overall, the visitors staying on cruise ships rose despite the fluctuations. While visitors staying on the island also rose despite the fluctuations but remained same where it was before.
0.3 million visitors stayed on cruise ships in the year 2010 which was the lowest at that time. Likewise, 0.7 million visitors stayed on the island in the same year. When the number of visitors staying on cruise ships were at their lowest it rose to 1 million visitors despite the fluctuations in the year 2014 and it gradually increase to 2 million visitors by the year 2017 which was the highest.
On the other hand, the number of visitors staying on the island rose to 1.5 million visitors in the year 2013 and stays same in the following year 2014 and 2015. However there was a decrease in visitors in year 2016 but it again rose to 1.5 million visitors by the year 2017. Lastly, the total number of visitors staying on both cruise ships and the island rose from 1 million visitors to 3.5 million visitors by the year 2017.
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 student successfully covers all categories presented in the line graph, reporting data for visitors staying on cruise ships, visitors staying on the island, and the total figures. An overview is attempted at the beginning, though it is slightly repetitive. Key features are identified, such as the peak of 2 million for cruise ship visitors in 2017 and the plateau in island visitors between 2013 and 2015. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in citing the exact starting data points (e.g., stating 0.3 million instead of 0.25 million for cruise ships in 2010). Despite these slight misreadings, the main trends are adequately reported and supported by figures.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into four paragraphs, following a logical layout with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs dedicated to specific trends. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as "On the other hand" and "However". However, paragraphing could be improved, as the overview is overly brief and fragmented. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally repetitive or clunky, as seen in phrases like "despite the fluctuations" which are overused. Progression is generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences occasionally stumbles.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with appropriate terms relating to data analysis such as "illustrates", "fluctuations", "decrease", and "total number of visitors". However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are awkward word choices and repetitive phrasing, such as repeating "rose despite the fluctuations" and "stayed same". There are also some minor slips in collocation and form, such as "it gradually increase" instead of "increased". While communication is not impeded, the lack of more sophisticated or varied vocabulary prevents the response from achieving a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like "When the number of visitors staying on cruise ships were at their lowest it rose...". However, there are notable grammatical errors and issues with punctuation, including subject-verb agreement issues ("When the number of visitors... were"), missing commas after introductory clauses, and tense inconsistencies. Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear throughout the text, satisfying the descriptors for Band 6 where a mix of structures is combined with some frequent errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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