Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-05

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 revealed the number of visiters from 2010 to 2017 to Caribbean island.

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

In 2010, total visitors were 1 million, followed by staying on island, at approximately 0.8 millions and 0.2 for staying on cruise ships. Total travlers 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 it sharply increases to 1.5 million in 2017.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons between the two categories of tourists. For instance, you successfully identify the overall upward trend in visitor numbers and differentiate between cruise ship visitors and those staying on the island. However, some ideas are under-developed or less clearly explained. For example, your description of the data points, such as stating 'at approximately 0.8 millions' or 'at roughly reached to 2.58 in 2016', contains some inaccuracies when compared to the visual data provided. To move to a higher level, ensure that all figures and data trends are reported with greater precision and that the overview clearly captures the broader trajectory of all three data series without relying on imprecise phrasing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the essay into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and body details. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'In 2010', and 'while' to link your ideas together. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, and the progression within the body paragraph becomes difficult to follow due to run-on sentences and dense clauses, such as 'while tourist staying on the island revealed same ratio... and then steadily increases and remaind their position... then declined in 2016, then it sharply increases'. To improve, you should use clearer referencing and break down overly complex, tangled sentences into logically sequenced, distinct thoughts supported by appropriate cohesive markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'significant increases', 'marginal value', and 'steadily increases'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors throughout the text, including word choice and word form issues like 'visiters' instead of visitors, 'travlers' instead of travellers, and awkward collocations like 'falling the ratio'. Additionally, there are a few spelling errors, such as 'firtly', 'continously', and 'remaind'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your score. To achieve a higher band, you need to use a wider range of vocabulary more accurately, paying closer attention to correct word formation, spelling, and natural collocational phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to use relative clauses and compound-complex structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in verb forms, tense consistency, prepositions, and articles, such as 'The given graph revealed' (tense shift), 'experience increases' (incorrect verb form), 'at roughly reached to', and 'in the start of the two years'. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve your grammatical range and accuracy, you should focus on maintaining consistent past tenses when reporting historical data, ensuring correct subject-verb agreement, and avoiding redundant prepositions in passive or active verb patterns.

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

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