Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-21

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)

I will be explaining the graph and then i will summarize how many tourists stayed on the cruise ships and also how many visitors stayed on the island.

The graph is about tourists visiting a Caribbean island ([redacted phone])

First of all 1 million people started the journey to visit the island but out of all those people 0.25 million tourist stayed on the cruise ship and the rest actually stayed on the island which were about 0.75 million tourist.

so if we compare this, nearly 1/4 of the people stayed on the cruise ships.

But then in 2011 there were 1.25 million people and out of all those tourists 0.5 million people stayed on the cruise ships, which was the double from the last year, and 0.75 million tourist stayed on the islant which is like last year number so in this nothing changed.

In 2012 there were 1.5 Million tourist and out of those 0.25 million tourist stayed on cruise ships and the 1.25 million people stayed on island

In 2013 the tourists numbers doubled that of 2010 tourist numbers so this time we had 2 million total tourists and out of 2 million only 0.5 million people stayed on cruise ships and 1.5 million tourists stayed on the island which is similar to the total number of tourists from the year 2012.

Now in 2014 we see little change , this time we had 2.5 million tourists and out of those nearly half of those tourists stayed on cruise ships, so this number increased drastically, and the rest stayed on the island which were about 1.5 million tourists.

In 2015 there were 2.75 million total tourists and out of those 1.25 tourists stayed on cruise ships and the rest stayed on the island. so this time again the number of people who stayed on cruise increased alot as compare to the previous years data.

In 2016 the total number of tourists stayed the same like last year which was 2.75 million but this time the tourist who stayed on cruise ships increase more like in last year the number was 1.25 and this year it was 1.5

Now in the most recent year 2017 the total number of visitors increased to 3.5 million and the number of people who stayed on cruise ships was 2 million and the rest 1.5 million stayed on the island.

If we look at the big picture the number of visiters increased alot but also the number of people who stayed on cruise ships also increased alot as compare to the previous years.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You report many relevant figures accurately, including the overall rise from 1 million visitors in 2010 to 3.5 million in 2017, and the growth in cruise-ship visitors to 2 million. However, the response is only partly effective as a summary: it walks through almost every year in sequence, while the main overview is delayed until the final sentence and remains general. Some comparisons are also inaccurate or unclear. In 2014, cruise-ship visitors were 1 million, not nearly half of the 2.5 million total; the island figure was 1.5 million. The claim that 2013’s island figure was similar to the 2012 total compares different categories. Lead with the key trends and select a few representative comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic chronological order, and phrases such as “In 2012” and “In 2013” help readers follow the year-by-year account. However, the organisation is repetitive and does not establish a clear overall progression from overview to supporting details. The opening promises an explanation rather than presenting the main features, and the overview appears only at the end. Several paragraphs repeat the same pattern of total, cruise visitors, and island visitors, while connectors such as “But then,” “Now,” and “so this time” are conversational and sometimes mechanical. Grouping the data into an overview and two focused detail paragraphs—for example, one on total growth and one comparing accommodation types—would make the information easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the basic information, including “total tourists,” “stayed on cruise ships,” and “increased.” However, the range is limited and several expressions are repetitive or informal, such as “alot,” “like last year,” and “big picture.” Some word choices are imprecise for describing a graph: “started the journey” suggests travel activity rather than the number recorded, and “the tourists numbers doubled” is not a natural collocation. Spelling errors such as “islant” and “visiters” are noticeable, as is inconsistent use of “tourist” and “tourists.” Use concise reporting language such as “the figure rose,” “remained stable,” and “accounted for” to describe trends more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some longer sentences using clauses and comparisons, but the range is limited and errors occur frequently. For example, “the number of people who stayed on cruise increase more” has an incorrect verb form, while “which was the double from the last year” shows faulty sentence construction. There are also recurring problems with articles, plurals, and agreement, as in “1.25 million tourist stayed” and “the tourists numbers doubled.” Sentence boundaries and punctuation are inconsistent: several sentences begin with lowercase “so,” and commas are often used where a full stop would be clearer. Aim for shorter, controlled sentences first, checking subject–verb agreement and past-tense forms before adding more complex structures.

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