Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-22
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 4.5)
The graph showcase the number of tourists visiting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017.
the number of tourist visiting caribbean sea was increased with time altough the visitor staying at cruise ships at 2011 trend up than down at 2012 again keep high till 2017.v/s the number of visitors staying at island trend down in 2011 than up till 2013 than remain same till 2015 goes down in 2016 and a little up in 2017.
overall visitors increase with time but the visitor staying at cruises lead more except one year. on other hand visitor staying on island has down up pattern usally staying at same level. it need to be improve, so people will like to stay on island by making tourist attractions. focus on staying locations would cheap full of scenery and relaxing. but it does not mean to loose focus at cruise ship visitors. people attract by nature thats why graph shows increase in cruise visitors.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.0 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5
The student attempts to summarize the main trends of tourists visiting the Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017. While the overall upward trend and the distinction between cruise ship visitors and those staying on the island are mentioned, the data description is extremely vague and contains inaccurate references to specific years and movements (e.g., stating that cruise ship visitors trended down in 2012 when they dropped to 0.25 million, or misinterpreting the overall trajectory). Furthermore, a significant portion of the third paragraph contains personal commentary and subjective advice ('it need to be improve, so people will like to stay on island...'), which is entirely inappropriate for an Academic Task 1 response where personal opinion should not be included. The overview is poorly formulated and inaccurate in places. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0
The text is divided into three brief paragraphs, but the internal organization and progression are weak. There is a lack of proper punctuation and capitalization (e.g., 'the number of tourist...', 'altough'), making sentences run together awkwardly. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused (e.g., 'v/s', 'on other hand'). The second paragraph consists of one extremely long, run-on sentence that strings multiple time markers together ('...in 2011 than up till 2013 than remain same till 2015 goes down...'), which severely disrupts the flow and makes the sequence of events difficult to follow. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of ideas is illogical, mixing data description with personal recommendations in the final paragraph.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.5
The lexical range is very limited and repetitive, relying on basic terms such as 'number', 'tourists', 'visitors', 'increase', and 'down'. There are frequent word-choice errors and non-standard collocations, such as 'trend up than down', 'down up pattern', 'staying locations', and 'loose focus'. Spelling mistakes are also present, including 'showcase' (instead of showcases), 'altough', and 'usally'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary related to the topic, such as 'scenery' and 'attractions', but control is weak and inadequate to convey precise meaning or support a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0
The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences predominate, and attempts at more complex constructions are heavily flawed and ungrammatical (e.g., 'it need to be improve, so people will like to stay on island by making tourist attractions'). There are persistent errors in subject-verb agreement ('The graph showcase', 'visitor staying'), tense usage, and missing auxiliary verbs or articles. Punctuation is largely neglected, with run-on sentences lacking proper periods or commas. These frequent errors cause significant strain and difficulty for the reader.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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