Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-20
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 5.0)
The line graph below illustrates the number of visitors at a particular Caribbean island from 2010 to 2017.
Overall, the total number of visitors was dominant throughout the years. Whereas, tourists station on crusie ships particularly higher then those staying on island.
In 2010, only few thousands tourist stayed on cruise ships and it rose decently in 2011. Visitors on ship decreased below it margin line. But after that, it followed a upward trend reaching 2 millions visitors on ship.
Meanwhile, the island hosted a total of 1 million visitors. The majority of these travelers preferred staying on the island (0.75 million), while only 0.25 million chose to stay on cruise ships. Over the next few years, the number of visitors staying on land grew steadily to reach a plateau of 1.5 million between 2013 and 2015. Despite a minor dip to roughly 1.3 million in 2016, it recovered to finish at 1.5 million in 2017.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover the main features of the graph, outlining data for both types of visitors and the total. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies and contradictions in the reporting of the data. For instance, the overview states that 'tourists station on crusie ships particularly higher then those staying on island,' which directly contradicts the visual data showing that island stayers were higher for most of the period until 2017. Furthermore, the description of the cruise ship trend contains confused phrasing ('only few thousands tourist stayed on cruise ships' when the chart starts at 0.25 million). While the final paragraph successfully reports several figures for island stayers, the overall task response suffers from these inaccuracies and a lack of a clear, coherent overview.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response is divided into logical paragraphs, starting with an introduction, followed by an overall summary, and then body paragraphs detailing the trends. However, the logical progression is hindered by poor cohesive devices and abrupt transitions, such as 'Whereas, tourists station on crusie ships...' starting a sentence incorrectly. Referencing and linking between sentences are often mechanical or faulty, as seen in the sudden shift to the total number of visitors in the final paragraph without clear signposting. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal cohesion requires better management.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is quite basic and limited, with frequent spelling and word-choice errors that occasionally impede communication. Examples include 'crusie' instead of cruise, 'station' instead of staying, and 'few thousands tourist' instead of a fraction of a million. Phrases like 'rose decently' and 'margin line' are awkward and unnatural. While the writer attempts some less common terms like 'plateau' and 'recovered', the high frequency of lexical and spelling errors restricts the score to this band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('tourists station... particularly higher then'), incorrect prepositions ('visitors on ship', 'staying on land'), and fragment sentences ('Visitors on ship decreased below it margin line.'). Punctuation is also problematic, particularly with comma splices and incorrect sentence boundaries. These errors cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the score from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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