Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-02
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 the number of tourists visiting a specific Caribben island in millions from 2010 to 2017. Including those who on the island and who stayed on cruise ship.
Overall, the island experienced a significant rose throughout the period reached at the peak by 2017. Fewer people choosed to stay on cruise ship in the early years while the number soard in later years. Island stays remained constant most of the years.
In 2010 one million tourists visited the island and the number steadily continue rising uninterruptedly, Between one million people; 0.3 percent stayed on the cruise and 0.9% tourists stayed on the island. The total number increased to 1.3 million and the number of visitors on the cruise increase to 0.5 million while the numbers stayed on island remained unchanged. In 2012, the visitor's stay on cruise declined by 0.3 however, visitors preference to stay at the island consistently increased between 2012 and 2015.
The upward trend continued in total number of visitors by 1.5 million in 2012, 2 million in 2013, 2.5 million in 2014, 2.7 million in 2015 and 2016, and 3.5 million in 2017. Whereas, the distribution of visitors respected to their stay fluctuated. From 2012 visitors trend to stay at cruise increased, consequently it surpassed the number of visitors staying on the island between 2015 and 2016 by 1.5 million. In 2017, 2 million people choosed to stay on cruise and 1.2 million people stayed on the island.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response covers all parts of the task and presents an overall progression, noting the general upward trend in tourist numbers. However, some aspects of task achievement are under-developed or contain inaccuracies when reporting specific data points. For instance, the opening sentences contain fragmented phrasing ('Including those who on the island and who stayed on cruise ship') and the body paragraphs include some inconsistent figures and minor misreadings of the data values provided in the chart, such as the claim regarding the exact numbers in 2010. While key features like the overall growth to 3.5 million by 2017 are successfully identified, the mechanical detailing of yearly fluctuations lacks precision in places, which prevents the response from achieving a higher rating.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by detailed body paragraphs. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The transition between sentences can feel abrupt, and referencing devices are occasionally unclear, such as pronoun or modifier links between the data points. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate the overview from the body details, but internal organizational flow is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing, making the progression of ideas feel less smooth than expected for a higher band.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items related to trends, such as 'significant rose' and 'upward trend'. However, there are notable word choice, word form, and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'Caribben', 'choosed', 'soard', and 'respected to' instead of 'respective of'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they highlight the limitations in control over less common vocabulary and lexical precision, keeping the vocabulary score within the current band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like subordinate clauses and comparative statements. There are, however, frequent non-systematic errors in grammar, verb forms, and prepositional use within phrases, such as 'who on the island', 'the visitor's stay on cruise declined', and issues with tense consistency. Punctuation and article usage also show occasional lapses. Although these errors rarely completely obscure the message, they occur frequently enough across simple and complex structures to characterise this level of grammatical control.
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