Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-06

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 6.0)

The graph illustrates the breakdown of number of tourists visiting a particular Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017.

Overall, it is evident that the number of tourists have significantly increase over the period. Moreover, the number visitors at the start of the year 2010 prefered more stay on an island than staying on cruise ship however, at the end of period more visitors were staying on cruise ships than on island.

In 2010 approximately 0.7 million visitors stayed on island meanwhile, in the same year rougly 0.3 million stayed on cruise. Moving forward to 2011 visitors staying on island remain consistent, whereas visitors staying on cruise increase and became 0.5 million. From year 2011 to 2013 the visiors on island showed a significant increase and rise up to 1.5 million, on the other hand visitors staying on cruise in 2012 showed a slight decline to the same number where it started and in 2013 it rise up again to 0.5 million.

From 2013 to 2017 the number of visitors staying on cruise ship showed a dramatic increase and peak to roughly 2 million visitors. However, visitors on island from 2013 to 2015 remain stable at 1.5 million, and from 2015 to 2017 it sligtly fluctuated and reached to 1.5 million visitors in 2017.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features, trends, and key comparisons across the given time period. An appropriate overall trend is identified, noting the significant increase in tourist numbers and the shift in preference between accommodation types. Key data points are cited to support the main features, such as the peak in cruise ship visitors reaching roughly 2 million and island visitors remaining relatively stable at around 1.5 million. However, some parts of the response are more fully developed than others; for instance, the fluctuations in the middle years are described with slightly uneven detail, and minor inaccuracies appear in the precise reading of specific figures like the initial 2010 data. To reach the highest band levels, all data trends and comparisons would need to be seamlessly integrated with flawless precision throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into logical paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and detailed body paragraphs. Information and ideas are generally presented in a logical sequence, allowing the reader to follow the progression from 2010 through to 2017. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'In 2010', 'Moving forward', and 'However'. Nevertheless, referencing and cohesion are occasionally somewhat mechanical or repetitive in structure, and transitional links between sentences could be managed more flexibly to ensure a smoother flow. Strengthening these transitional pathways and varying cohesive markers would elevate the organizational quality further.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

An adequate range of vocabulary is employed for the task, successfully conveying trends and data movements using terms such as 'breakdown', 'significant increase', 'decline', and 'fluctuated'. The writer makes commendable attempts to use less common vocabulary items like 'dramatic increase' and 'remain stable'. However, there are some noticeable word choice, word form, and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'prefered' instead of 'preferred', 'rougly' instead of 'roughly', 'visiors' instead of 'visitors', and 'sligtly' instead of 'slightly'. These lexical errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the score because precision and control over spelling and word forms are inconsistent. Enhancing accuracy in less common lexical items and careful proofreading for spelling mistakes would improve this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and temporal prepositional phrases such as 'between 2010 and 2017' and 'from 2013 to 2017'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors involving subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and missing articles. For instance, the text states 'the number of tourists have significantly increase' instead of 'has significantly increased', and 'prefered more stay on an island' instead of 'preferred to stay on an island'. Other structural inaccuracies include 'stay on island' without a determiner. These errors indicate a limited command of complex grammatical structures with frequent slips in basic rules, though they rarely impede overall communication. Greater control over verb forms and articles is required to advance.

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