Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The maps below show the centre of a small town called Islip as it is now, and plans for its development.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The two maps illustrate the current state of the centre of a small town of Islip and its changes that are planned for its development.

Overall, the town has a main road with shops on both sides, which will be replaced into a pedestrain area. The shops will be replaced into building new facilities and housing. The town's centre will be surrounded by a ring road.

At present, the main road with shops on both sides starts from west and end at east. It has two connecting roads, one give access to the school in the south-west, and another curves to the park in the south-east. The housing is in the middle, at bottom of shops and near to school in the south. The country side is at the north of the town.

In future, the main road will be replaced into a pedestrain street, and shops on the north-west will be replaced into a bus station, shopping centre and a car park, along with new housing next to these amenties and park.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main planned changes: the central road becomes pedestrian-only, northern shops give way to new facilities, and a ring road is added. You also compare the current and future layouts, so the response is relevant. However, coverage is incomplete and some details are unclear or inaccurate. The overview says shops will be replaced by “building new facilities and housing,” but the southern shops remain, and the planned housing is not all beside the facilities. The future description omits the retained southern shops, the housing and reduced park south of them, and the school remaining outside the loop. Develop the overview around the major transformations and report the key southern changes as well as the northern ones.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph on the present map, and one on the plan. This makes the comparison easy to follow, and time markers such as “At present” and “In future” help signal the stages. Some links between details are less clear, however. In the final paragraph, “along with new housing next to these amenities and park” does not make the locations or relationships precise, and the paragraph ends without covering the southern part of the plan. Use clearer spatial sequencing—for example, describe the northern side first, then the southern side—and connect each feature to its position. This would make progression more complete and cohesion less dependent on basic time markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “main road,” “connecting roads,” “bus station,” “shopping centre,” and “ring road,” which allows the reader to understand the broad changes. There is some variety in how locations are described, such as “south-west” and “south-east.” However, several word choices and forms are inaccurate or awkward: “replaced into” is not the natural collocation, “pedestrain” is misspelled, and “amenties” is also misspelled. “Country side” should be written as one word, “countryside.” Aim for precise verbs such as “converted into” or “replaced by,” and use map-specific terms consistently. These improvements would make the description more natural and reduce noticeable vocabulary errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and some longer structures, including “which will be replaced…” and “along with…,” and the main meaning is generally understandable. However, errors occur in sentence construction and verb forms. In “It has two connecting roads, one give access…,” the verb should agree with “one” and the clause needs a clearer structure, such as “one of which gives access…”. “Starts from west and end at east” also has inconsistent agreement and missing articles. The repeated pattern “will be replaced into” is grammatically unsuitable; use “will be converted into” or “will be replaced by.” Work on accurate agreement, articles, and relative clauses while retaining a mix of sentence forms.

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