Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 maps illustrate current and future plan of a middile of a town named Islip.

Overall, the idea is to develop the town with many essential facilities as road and transportation, bus station and rearranged shops.

Currently in Islip town, there are shops, housing, school and a park. The main road passes from west to east of the town. Shops are in the both side of the main road. The road branced off to a school in west and to a park in east with housing in between.

In the plan, the road will bypass around the town in both north and south, compared to the existing map. However there is two new housing, in addition to that a bus stopage and shopping center was newley introduced to the nort side of previous main road. The existing facilities all remains with a little bit of rearrange and change and the new road is planed to be a dual carrigway for better transportation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main purpose of the plans and report several relevant changes, including the new transport facilities, additional housing and the dual carriageway. The overview also recognises that the town centre will be reorganised. However, some important details are missing or unclear: the central road will become pedestrian-only, the northern shops are replaced by a bus station, shopping centre and car park, and the southern shops remain. The description that the bypass runs around the town “in both north and south” is imprecise, and saying that all existing facilities remain overlooks the changes to the northern shops and the reduced park. Select the major changes more precisely and compare what is retained, replaced and relocated.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction and overview are followed by a description of the current map and then the plan. This makes the comparison reasonably easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Currently” and “In the plan” help signal the shift between stages. Some connections are less clear or mechanical, however. “However there is two new housing, in addition to that…” combines several changes without a clear relationship, while “The existing facilities all remains” is too broad to guide the reader accurately. Organise the planned features by location—for example, north and south of the pedestrian street—and use linking expressions to show what is replaced, retained or added.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “main road,” “housing,” “bus station,” “shopping center” and “dual carriageway,” so the reader can understand the general subject. There is also some attempt to describe change through phrases such as “rearranged shops” and “newly introduced.” However, several spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural choices reduce accuracy, including “middile,” “branced,” “bus stopage” and “better transportation.” “Bus stopage” also misidentifies the planned bus station, while “road and transportation” is vague. Build a more precise range for map descriptions, such as “pedestrianised,” “replaced by,” “retained” and “located to the northeast,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and some longer structures, such as “The road branched off … with housing in between,” and the overall meaning is generally recoverable. However, errors in agreement, articles and verb forms occur in several sentences. For example, “there is two new housing” should use a plural verb and a suitable noun phrase, and “the existing facilities all remains” has a subject–verb agreement error. The opening also needs articles and a more accurate noun phrase: “current and future plan of a middile of a town.” Work on forming accurate comparisons and compound sentences, while checking singular and plural subjects and maintaining consistent tense when describing the present and proposed maps.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.