Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-24
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 illustrates the number of visitors visiting a Caribbean island between 2010 to 2017.
Overall, the number of tourists who were staying on cruise ships increased gradually. While visitors staying on the island fluctuated throughout the year.
To begin with, in 2010 visitors who stayed on ships stood at below 0.5 million, while tourism who preferred staying on island constituted around 0.7 million. The total number of visitors increased continuously throughout the years and reached the point at 3.5 million. There was minimal rise noticed till 2013 of the travelers who chosen cruise ships; that was 1.5 million. After that this figure was steadily the same from 2013 to 2015. Consequently, a sudden fall was observed at around 1.3 million in 2016.
There was minimal fluctuation noted from 2010 to 2012. After that year, a sudden surge inspected till 2017, and this figure reached the point at 2 million.
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 trends in the graph, presenting an overview and detailing the data for visitors staying on cruise ships and on the island. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies and confusion regarding the data series. For instance, the student states that the number of visitors staying on ships reached 1.5 million in 2013, but then describes a 'sudden fall' to 1.3 million in 2016 (whereas cruise ship visitors actually rose to 1.5 million in 2016 and 2 million in 2017). Furthermore, the summary of island-staying visitors contains mix-ups regarding the timeline and final values. Because the reporting of key features and data points is frequently inaccurate or misread from the graph, the task is only partially satisfied.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay is divided into short paragraphs, including an introductory sentence and an overview. However, the logical progression is weak and confused. The body paragraphs are poorly organised, and referencing between ideas is often unclear. For example, expressions like 'After that year, a sudden surge inspected till 2017' lack precise antecedent reference, making it difficult to follow which data series is being discussed. Cohesive devices are minimal, mechanical, or awkwardly used (e.g., 'To begin with', 'Consequently'), resulting in an overall arrangement that feels disjointed and hard to navigate.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with several instances of awkward collocation and word choice. Examples include 'tourism who preferred staying on island' (using 'tourism' instead of 'tourists'), 'travelers who chosen cruise ships' (grammatical error in the participle form), and 'sudden surge inspected' (inappropriate verb choice for data movement). While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'fluctuated', 'surge', and 'gradually', inaccuracies in word formation and collocation prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but many attempts at complex sentences are faulty. There are noticeable grammatical errors throughout, such as 'visitors visiting a Caribbean island between 2010 to 2017' (incorrect preposition pairing 'between... to'), 'tourists who were staying on cruise ships increased gradually' (awkward tense/aspect choice), and 'travelers who chosen cruise ships' (missing auxiliary/past participle). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent grammatical inaccuracies cause some difficulty for the reader and restrict the score to this band.
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