Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-17

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 5.0)

the line graph illustrate the number of visitors traveling to Caribbean islands in last seven years.

The total number of tourist gradually increase in last 7 years from 1 million to 3.5 million in seven years .

However visitor staying on cruise ship initially increase from 2010 to 2011 than sudden decline in next year than again steadily increase from 2012 to 2017 and number of visitors

staying on cruise ship increase to 2 million in 2017 which was 0.5 million in 2011.

while visitors staying ipon island was static in first year than gradual increase from 2011 to 2013 , Afterwards again become static in next 3 years than decrease 2015 onwards upto 2016 than again increase upto 2017 but as whole there is increase in number of visitors staying on island from 0.5 million to 1.5 million.

to conclude this line graph total tourist number is increase in last seven years

but more individual staying on cruise ships compare to islands.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by reporting on the main features of the line graph, including the overall upward trend in total tourists and specific movements for those staying on cruise ships versus those staying on the island. However, there are notable inaccuracies in reading the data points. For instance, the student states that the total tourist number went 'from 1 million to 3.5 million' over seven years, which is largely correct, but claims that visitors staying on cruise ships were '0.5 million in 2011' and reached '2 million in 2017,' missing some intermediate fluctuations or misinterpreting specific years. The overview at the end is somewhat confused, claiming 'more individual staying on cruise ships compare to islands,' which contradicts the actual data where island stayers were higher or equal for most of the period. Consequently, Task Achievement is limited by inaccuracies in data interpretation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response shows an attempt to organise information into paragraphs, distinguishing between cruise ship visitors and island visitors. However, the progression is disjointed and lacks clear overall cohesion. The student relies heavily on repetitive transitional connectors like 'than' (used instead of 'then') and 'afterwards'. Paragraphing is poorly handled, with run-on sentences and a lack of clear separation between ideas. For example, the second and third body paragraphs contain convoluted chronological descriptions ('became static in next 3 years than decrease 2015 onwards upto 2016 than again increase upto 2017') that make the text difficult to follow. Cohesive devices are either inadequate, repetitive, or inaccurate, placing this response firmly in the band 5 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses a very limited and repetitive vocabulary set, relying constantly on basic words such as 'increase', 'decrease', 'number', and 'visitors'. There are several word-choice errors, such as 'visitors staying ipon island' and 'more individual staying'. Spelling and morphological errors are also present, such as using 'than' instead of 'then'. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the general topic of tourism and numbers, the lack of flexibility and precision, alongside frequent lexical errors, restricts the score to a band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

Grammatically, the response demonstrates a very limited range of structures. The sentences are predominantly simple or poorly formed complex structures that lack proper punctuation and capitalization (e.g., beginning sentences with lowercase letters like 'the line graph illustrate' and 'while visitors staying'). There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('the line graph illustrate', 'total tourist number is increase') and verb tenses, as the student struggles to maintain a consistent past or present tense when describing historical data. Punctuation is largely absent, resulting in long, run-on sentences that impede readability and cause difficulty for the reader.

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

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