Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
The line graph illustrates the information about the number of tourists visiting a caribbean island from 2010 to 2017.
Overall, it is evident that the visitors staying on cruise ships reported a increasing trend thrdoughout the period. However, the visitors staying on island and total visitors depicted the fluctuations and showed increament at the end of time frame compare with the initial rate.
The number of visitors stying on cruise ships increased signicifantly from 1 million in 2010 to 2 million in 2013, it rose gradually to nearly 2.8 million in 2016, before peaking at 3.5 million in 2017.
The number of tourists staying on island was around 0.5 million in 2010, it climbed slightly to 1.3 million in 2012, it grew minimally to 1.5 million in 2013, then it remaind unchanged till 2015. Sbsequently, the number dipped marginally to approximately1.3 million in 2016. Ultimately, it peaked at 1.5 million in 2017. In contrast, the total number of visitors rose slightly, from 0.3 million in 2010 to 0.5 million in 2011, then it dropped marginally to 0.3 million in 2012, it surged to around 1.3 million in 2015, it peaked at the highest point of roughly 2 million in 2017.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student attempts to cover the main features of the line graph, including the trends for visitors staying on cruise ships, those staying on the island, and the total figures. However, there are significant data inaccuracies and misreadings throughout the response. For instance, the student states that the number of visitors staying on cruise ships started at 1 million in 2010 (it was actually 0.25 million) and reached 2 million in 2013 (it was 0.5 million). Furthermore, the data for visitors staying on the island and total visitors are confused with the actual chart values in several instances. While an overview is provided, the numerous factual errors in data reporting pull the score down to Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response has a basic structure with an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs. However, the paragraphing is somewhat disjointed, and the body paragraphs are lumped together into a dense block of text rather than being logically separated by categories or time periods. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'However', 'In contrast', and 'then', but they are sometimes mechanical or repetitive. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making the progression of ideas difficult to follow at times. This warrants a Band 5.5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'fluctuations', 'increment', and 'marginally'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors, including 'thrdoughout' instead of throughout, 'increament' instead of increment, 'signicifantly' instead of significantly, 'stying' instead of staying, 'remaind' instead of remained, and 'Sbsequently' instead of Subsequently. These lexical errors and awkward collocations place the response firmly in the Band 5.5 range.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as using introductory adverbial clauses and contrasting conjunctions. However, the writing suffers from heavy comma splices and run-on sentences, such as '...staying on island was around 0.5 million in 2010, it climbed slightly to 1.3 million in 2012, it grew minimally to 1.5 million in 2013...' There are frequent grammatical errors in verb tense consistency and punctuation that require the reader to reread sentences, limiting the grammatical score to a 5.0.
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