Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-19

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)

This line graph illustrates number of different tourists visiting in Caribbean island from 2010 to 2017. There are three different types of tourists visit the island.

Initially, 0.7 million visitors staying on island in [redacted phone] there is no change in this year, but 2011 to 2013 it gradually increased and reached 1.5 million and stable in two years. After 2015, it will again drop to 1.3 million in 2016, then again grew to 1.5 million in 2017. While 2010, Visitors stayed on cruise ships 0.25 million and rose up to 0.5 million in 2011. After that, it dropped to 0.25 million in 2012. In 2013, visitors gradually rose every year, and up to 2 million in 2017. Lastly, the total figure 1 million in 2010 and grew up to each year, and up to 2.8 million in 2015. After 2015, there is no change in one year and again rose up to 3.5 million

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the task by reporting the main trends for the three categories of visitors shown on the graph between 2010 and 2017. However, the response suffers from several data inaccuracies and missing overviews. For instance, the starting figure for visitors staying on the island is stated as 0.7 million, whereas the graph indicates 0.75 million. Furthermore, the description of cruise ship visitors contains a confusing claim that in 2013 'visitors gradually rose every year, and up to 2 million in 2017,' which misreads the trajectory and scale. While a general progression is visible, the lack of a clear, overarching summary and persistent minor numerical inaccuracies prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The organization of the text is somewhat disjointed. The response begins with a brief introduction, but the body paragraphs are poorly structured, clumping multiple trends together without clear logical transitions. For example, sentences like 'While 2010, Visitors stayed on cruise ships 0.25 million and rose up to 0.5 million' are grammatically awkward and fail to establish cohesive relationships between clauses. Although some cohesive devices such as 'initially,' 'after that,' and 'lastly' are attempted, their mechanical application and faulty referencing make the overall progression difficult to follow at times. Paragraphing is also underdeveloped, with the entire body squeezed into a single block of text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses a limited and repetitive range of vocabulary suited to the task, such as 'visitors,' 'island,' 'increased,' and 'drop.' There are noticeable lexical inadequacies and awkward word choices, such as 'illustrates number of different tourists visiting in Caribbean island' (missing articles and incorrect prepositions) and 'stable in two years' instead of 'remained stable for two years.' Attempts to use less common vocabulary are minimal, and repetition of basic verbs like 'grew,' 'rose,' and 'dropped' limits precision. While communication is generally maintained, the frequent lexical errors keep the score at Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple and frequently faulty sentences. There are frequent missing verbs and incorrect tense usage, such as 'after 2015, it will again drop' (incorrect future use for past data) and 'total figure 1 million in 2010 and grew up to each year' (missing main verb). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are also weak, leading to run-on structures like 'In 2013, visitors gradually rose every year, and up to 2 million in 2017.' These persistent grammatical errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a weak control of complex sentence forms.

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