Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-01

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 given graph illustrates various visiting tourist between 2010 and 2017 to a particular region called is Caribbean island.

Overall, total number of visters experience increases throughout the period, while staying visitors firstly shows gradually increase before declining in the 2016. Cruise ships visitors continuously growing throughout the period after falling the ratio in 2012.

In 2010, Total visitors was 1 million, followed by staying on island, at approximately 0.8 millions and 0.2 for staying on cruise ships. Total travelers revealed significant increases throughout the years, at roughly reached to 2.58 in 2016 and sharply increased to the highest range of 3.5 millions. Cruise ships travelers shows marginal value in the start, later after 2012 at steadily increases until reached to 2 millions, while tourist staying on the island revealed same ratio in the start of the two years, at near to 0.58 and then steadily increases and remaind their position in 2013, 2014 and 2015 then declined in 2016 then sharply increased to 1.5 million in 2017.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by presenting an overview and reporting the main trends and data points from the graph. The writer covers the total visitors, those staying on the island, and cruise ship passengers. However, some areas are more fully developed than others, and certain details are slightly imprecise or under-developed, such as the generalized description of the initial years and minor data misreadings like "2.58 in 2016". This places the performance squarely at a level where the task is appropriately addressed, but lacks the more extended and fully supported treatment found at higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a coherent overall arrangement to the response, with a clear attempt to structure the information into an introduction, an overview, and body details. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear, leading to a lack of smooth progression between sentences. For example, sentences in the second body paragraph jump abruptly between different visitor categories without sufficient transitional phrases. Furthermore, paragraphing is basic, as the overview is joined immediately to the introduction rather than being cleanly separated, resulting in an organizational structure that holds the writing at this level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to graph trends such as "fluctuated", "declining", and "steadily increases". However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as "visters experience increases", "Cruise ships visitors continuously growing", and "marginal value in the start". Spelling and word-form errors, including "remaind" instead of remained, occasionally occur, though they do not seriously impede overall communication. The vocabulary control remains restricted to basic and moderately broad terms with persistent slip-ups in collocation and form.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. Nevertheless, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly regarding verb tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. Examples include "illustrates various visiting tourist between 2010 and 2017 to a particular region called is Caribbean island" and "Cruise ships travelers shows marginal value". Attempts at complex structures are often faulty, and errors with articles and plurals (e.g., "Total visitors was 1 million") persist throughout the text, meaning communication is occasionally strained despite remaining intelligible.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.