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)

The line graph illustrates the total amount of visitors in a specific Caribbean island from 2010 to 2017, measures in millions of visitors.

Overall, total number of tourists increased with time, while more guests started to used staying on cruise ships instead of staying on island over the period.

Looking into the details, in 2010 total visitors accounted for 1 million, whereas stayed on cruise ships figured around 0.3 and on island was nearly 0.7, which remained constant untill 2011. Meanwhile, total amount of visitors rose gradually until 2016 and contributed approximately 2.7 millions of tourists, while visitors stayed on island fluctuated till 2016, and represented around 1.2. However, visitors stayed

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You identify the overall rise in total visitors and the growing importance of cruise-ship visitors, and the opening figures are broadly accurate. However, the report is incomplete: it stops mid-sentence at “However, visitors stayed,” so the later trend and the 2017 endpoint are not reported. The claim that cruise-ship visitors increasingly replaced island visitors is also not quite supported: island stays remained higher until 2016, and the two categories were equal in 2017. The response is 111 words, below the required 150, which contributes to the limited coverage. Include a complete overview and compare both categories through to 2017, selecting key figures rather than leaving the account unfinished.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic structure: an introduction, an overview beginning “Overall,” and a detail paragraph introduced by “Looking into the details.” This gives the reader some sense of the report’s purpose. However, progression is weak because the detail paragraph combines several years and series in a long, crowded sentence, then ends abruptly with “However, visitors stayed.” The contrast marker “Meanwhile” does not clearly signal the relationship between the trends, and “However” introduces no completed contrast. Organise the details into a clearer sequence—for example, early years followed by later years—and use linking words only when their logical relationship is clear. A complete final sentence is essential for the report to feel coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “total,” “fluctuated,” “gradually,” and “accounted for,” and the main subject remains understandable. However, several choices are unnatural or imprecise for describing a graph: “total amount of visitors,” “guests,” and “started to used staying” do not express the trends cleanly. There is also repetition of “visitors” and “staying,” while “contributed approximately 2.7 millions of tourists” is an awkward way to report a total. Aim for accurate collocations such as “the total number of visitors,” “visitors staying on the island,” and “reached approximately 2.75 million.” Check spelling as well, including “until.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts a few complex sentence patterns, such as the comparison beginning “in 2010 … whereas,” and the overview uses a contrast clause. However, control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make the intended relationships difficult to follow. Examples include “more guests started to used staying,” where the verb pattern is faulty, and “which remained constant until 2011,” whose reference is unclear. “Visitors stayed on cruise ships figured around 0.3” also lacks a grammatical structure for reporting the figure. The final sentence is incomplete, and the comma-heavy detail sentence is difficult to manage. Practise complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and use consistent past-tense forms when describing the historical data.

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