Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-03

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 6.5)

The maps illustrate the current layout and planned improvements for Islip town.

Overall, the improvement aim to introduce various changes including an increase in roads, residential areas, parking spaces and pedestrians ways. Additionally, facilities such as shopping centre , bus station, and a dual carriageway are planned for construction in the town.

The main road will be converted into pedestrians path way by closing it to traffic. A significant portion is designating for residential development which lead to increased population in town. Shops on south side remained on the current location. However, shops on north side will be demolished. In the place of north side shops , shopping centre , bus station and car park will be built. The size of park are will be reduced.

Due to constructions of new houses, shops and bus station, an improve transportation system will be necessary. The creation of dual carriageway around the town, along with new bus stop, will serve as solution. Currently will not plane to establish a school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response covers the main features of the maps well, identifying key changes such as the pedestrianisation of the main road, the development of the shopping centre, and the new dual carriageway. The overview is clear and highlights the primary trends. However, some details are slightly inaccurate or under-developed; for instance, the claim that the population will increase is an inference not explicitly stated in the map, and the description of the park's size reduction could be more precise. Overall, the response successfully addresses the requirements of the task by selecting and reporting the most significant features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organised into clear paragraphs, with an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing the changes. Cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'However', and 'Due to' are used to link ideas, though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The progression of information is generally clear, moving from general changes to specific developments in the town centre and infrastructure. While the referencing is mostly effective, there are minor issues with sentence-level flow, such as the slightly disjointed final sentence regarding the school, which could have been integrated more smoothly into the preceding paragraph.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, using terms like 'pedestrianisation', 'demolished', 'dual carriageway', and 'residential development'. There are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'pedestrians ways' instead of 'pedestrian paths' and 'size of park are' (a typo). The student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary, which is generally successful, but the range is not sufficiently wide or sophisticated to reach the higher bands. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning clearly despite these minor inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the improvement aim', 'size of park are') and article usage ('in town', 'on south side'). Punctuation is occasionally inconsistent, particularly with spacing around commas. While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication or cause confusion for the reader. To improve, the student should focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and ensuring consistent use of articles and pluralisation.

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