Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-06

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 describe the present picture of Islip town centre and future plans for its development.

Looking from an overall perspective, its is readily apparent that the largest change is going to involve in town according to the plan, including additional car paring, bus station, new residental area ,shopping centre, and pedestrians path.

Countryside area will be replaced by Bus station, shopping centre and car park and adding new house in the north west of the town. Shops will be built in the centre of the town and they are adding pedestrians path between shops and bus station, shopping centre and car park. There will be dual carriageway around the town according to new plan of town.

School is going to build out of the town and there are no changes residental area beside school. Parking area in south east side of town is getting bigger in future and beside parking, new houses will be constructed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main purpose of the maps and mention several major planned changes, including the dual carriageway, pedestrian-only route, bus station, shopping centre and new housing. This gives the response relevant coverage of both the present and proposed layouts. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the school is not being built outside the town; it remains in its current southern location, outside the new loop. The southern shops also remain, rather than being newly built in the centre, and the park becomes smaller rather than a southern parking area becoming larger. The overview would be stronger if it clearly summarised the overall transformation and distinguished what is retained from what is replaced. Develop the locations and changes more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and further details about the northern and southern parts of the plan. This provides a coherent overall arrangement, and phrases such as “according to the plan” help signal that you are describing future changes. However, the progression between features is sometimes difficult to follow. For example, the sentence about shops, the pedestrian path and the facilities north of it combines several locations without making their relationships clear. The final paragraph also moves from the school to housing and then to a supposed parking area without a clear spatial sequence. Organise the details by area—north, central street, then south—and use clearer references such as “to the north of” and “south of” to make the comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “dual carriageway,” “shopping centre,” “pedestrians path” and “residental area,” and you attempt to describe change with phrases such as “will be replaced” and “will be constructed.” This is an adequate range for the task, but spelling and word choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make descriptions less precise. Examples include “car paring” for “car parking,” “residental” for “residential,” and “new house” where “new housing” is more suitable. “Parking area” also misidentifies the feature shown as a smaller park. Aim for accurate map-specific terms and collocations, and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary for location and change would help you describe the plan without ambiguity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including “Countryside area will be replaced…” and “There will be dual carriageway around the town.” However, grammatical control is uneven, and errors in articles, sentence construction and verb forms are frequent enough to affect clarity. For example, “Looking from an overall perspective, its is readily apparent” has an incorrect pronoun and an awkward introductory structure; “they are adding pedestrians path” does not use a suitable verb pattern; and “School is going to build out of the town” is missing the passive form needed for this meaning. Practise forming accurate passive constructions (“will be built”) and using articles with singular countable nouns (“a bus station,” “a dual carriageway”). Proofread each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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