Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-20

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 5.0)

The graph depicts the number of visitors at a certain Caribbean island from 2010 to 2017.

In 2010,the number of visitors staying on cruise ships was about 0.2million and the number of tourists staying on island was 0.7million. The total number of holidaymakers was 1 million in 2010. In next year, the number of visitors staying on island was remain same but the number of tourists staying on cruise ships rose 0.5 million. In this year, the total number of visitors increased to 1.2 million. In the following years from 2012 to 2015, the number of visitors who were staying on island as well as who were staying on island went on increasing. And the growth of total number of visitors also increased. In the year of 2013, the number of visitors who were staying on cruise ships was 0.5 million and the number of visitors who were staying on island was 1.5 million. In the coming year, the number of visitors staying on island was increasing but it went below 1.5 million in 2016. However, the number of visitors staying on island increases about 1.5 million again. The number of visitors who were staying on cruise ships reached its maximum value of 2 million in 2017, which was greater than the highest number of visitors staying on island.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the period and report several relevant figures, including the 2010 total and the cruise-ship figure reaching 2 million in 2017. However, the response does not provide a clear overview of the main pattern: total visitors rose substantially overall, while island-based visitors levelled off and cruise-ship visitors grew strongly. Some descriptions are inaccurate or unclear. For example, from 2012 to 2015, island visitors did not keep increasing throughout; they reached 1.5 million in 2013 and then remained at that level. The sentence saying both groups were “staying on island” also misidentifies one category. The account is therefore only partial and underdeveloped. State the key overall trends first, then select accurate comparisons to support them.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response follows the years in chronological order and uses separate paragraphs, so the reader can generally follow the sequence. However, there is no distinct overview paragraph, and the progression is weakened by repetitive year-by-year reporting rather than grouping the main trends. Linking phrases such as “In next year,” “In the following years,” and “In the coming year” are sometimes awkward or unclear, while “In this year” does not make the reference precise. The repeated phrase “the number of visitors” also makes the account feel mechanical. Organise the report into an introduction, a concise overview, and body paragraphs comparing the two visitor categories and the total; use clear references such as “By 2013” or “Over the final years.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related terms, including “depicts,” “reached its maximum value,” “increased,” and “rose,” and the reader can understand the general subject. However, vocabulary is often repetitive, especially “number of visitors” and “staying on island,” and some choices are imprecise for describing data. “The growth of total number of visitors also increased” is an awkward way to report a rising total, while “went below 1.5 million” is less natural than a direct description of a decline. There are also spacing and compound-form issues, such as “0.2million.” Build a more precise set of trend verbs and comparison phrases, and use “visitors staying on the island” consistently to distinguish that group from cruise-ship visitors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, and most of the intended meaning remains understandable. However, errors occur frequently in verb forms, sentence construction, articles, and punctuation. Examples include “the number of visitors staying on island was remain same,” where the verb form is incorrect, and “the number of visitors who were staying on island … went on increasing,” which lacks a clear grammatical structure. In “the number of visitors staying on island increases about 1.5 million again,” the tense and the construction with “about” are faulty. Commas are also missing after introductory time phrases, as in “In 2010,the.” Practise accurate past-tense reporting and simpler comparative sentence patterns before combining clauses.

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