Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-09

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 provided line graph illustrtates how many tourists took a visit to a specific Caribbean island between 2010 and 2017. The visitors are devided in three categories - staying on cruise ships, staying on island and the total calculated in millions.

Overall, it is clear that total number of tourists rose steadily over time. At the starting of the period visitors most;y prefrees to stay on island; however moving to the end of the trend, visitors staying on cruis ships took the lead.

To commence with 2010, the total heads visited were 1 million, out of which, around 0.75 million prefreed to accomodate on island, while mare 0.35 million people stayed on cruise ships. the figures got closer in 2011. Finally in 2011, the gap got wider, accounting around 1.3 million people on island, meanwhile, the lowest of o.2 miliion people stayed on cruise.

Moving forward to the following years, after 2012, cruise accomodations maintained upward direction till finally outnumbering island trend in 2016 with 1.5 million out of total accomodations and reached upto 2 million in the end of the period. However, island, on other side, fluctuated during the time and completed at 1.5 million. Meanwhile, Total number of tourists peaked to 3.5 million combining both accomodation types in 2017.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You provide a relevant overview, identifying the steady rise in total visitors and the shift from island stays being more popular at the start to cruise ships leading later. You also include several figures and describe the island-stay total ending at 1.5 million and the overall total reaching 3.5 million. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: in 2012, island visitors were about 1.25 million and cruise visitors about 0.25 million, not the figures you appear to give for 2011; cruise visitors first exceeded island visitors in 2017, not 2016, when the figures were about 1.5 and 1.25 million respectively. The account also omits some key stages in the total’s rise. More precise comparisons and accurate year references would strengthen coverage.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing the figures. Its progression from the opening year to later trends is generally easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Overall,” “Moving forward,” and “However” help signal relationships. At times, though, the sequencing becomes confusing. For example, “Finally in 2011” follows a sentence about 2011, while the figures that follow seem to refer to 2012; this makes the timeline difficult to track. Some transitions, including “To commence with” and “Meanwhile,” feel mechanical or do not clearly connect the comparison. Grouping years more consistently and using clearer references to each series would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a graph, including “rose steadily,” “fluctuated,” “outnumbering,” and “peaked,” and the reader can generally understand the trends you intend to report. However, the range is limited by repeated or imprecise expressions such as “people,” “figures,” and “accommodations.” Several word choices and collocations are unnatural, including “took a visit,” “total heads visited,” and “maintained upward direction.” Spelling errors such as “illustrtates,” “devided,” and “prefreed” are also noticeable and reduce accuracy. Aim for standard chart language and check spelling carefully; precise terms such as “visitors,” “visitor numbers,” and “stayed” would make the description clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including contrast clauses with “while” and “however,” and most of the main trends remain understandable. Some grammatical errors nevertheless affect clarity. For example, “total number of tourists rose” needs an article (“the total number”), and “at the starting of the period” is not a well-formed time expression. In “the lowest of … people stayed,” the sentence structure does not clearly express the comparison. There are also inconsistent sentence openings and punctuation, such as beginning “the figures” with a lowercase letter after a full stop. Work on articles, complete sentence patterns, and punctuation while retaining your attempts at complex comparisons.

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