Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13

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 6.0)

The map illustrates how the the centre of a small town named Islip is now and the plans for it's future improvement.

Overall, the town centre is obviously not equiped, as it has just a park, housing area, schools and a major road demarcating the shop areas. In contrast, the plan had for development will make the heart of the city more beautiful and urbanized because it would comprise of many facilities like the bus station, shopping centre, pedestrians road, car park, new housing and dual carriages.

In the present time, the town centre has a major road seperating both sides of the road which encompasses a number of shops with one side being at the country side and the other side being at the housing area. This main road has a junction both at the west and east region which leads to the school and park respectively.

The plan mapped out for heart of Islip town is one with the interest of the people at heart. Most facilities like the bus station, shopping centre, car park, shops and both old and new housing was designed to be encircled by dual carriage way for easy accessibility. Nonetheless, some places will remain where they originally were and this includes the school and the general park.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student attempts to address the task by comparing the current map of Islip with the proposed development plans, mentioning key features such as the housing areas, schools, park, and new facilities like the bus station and shopping centre. However, the overview is somewhat subjective and inaccurate in describing the current town as 'obviously not equiped', and some comparisons lack precise detail regarding spatial changes (e.g., the exact reconfiguration of the road network). While the main features are highlighted, the response tends to rely on generalized summaries rather than fully extending and supporting all comparisons, placing it solidly within the Band 6 descriptor range for task coverage and development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response exhibits a clear overall arrangement with an introductory paragraph, an overview, a description of the current map, and a description of the future plan. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate these distinct sections. However, cohesion at the sentence level is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'Nonetheless, some places will remain...' feels slightly forced given the context, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'the plan had for development'. Transitional markers are present but lack smooth integration, resulting in a moderate level of coherence that fits the Band 6 criteria well.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'demarcating', 'urbanized', 'encompasses', and 'accessibility'. There are, however, several noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as writing 'equiped' instead of 'equipped', 'plan had for development' instead of 'plans for development', and 'pedestrians road' instead of 'pedestrianized road'. Spelling and word-choice errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 6, as the range lacks the flexibility and precision required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures (e.g., 'The map illustrates how the the centre of a small town...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text. Examples include the double article 'the the', the incorrect possessive form 'it's' instead of 'its', subject-verb agreement issues like 'facilities... was designed', and preposition errors ('at the country side'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the text from achieving a higher band, making Band 5.0 or 5.5 appropriate, though given the mix of structures, a 5.5 reflects the intermittent successful complex forms.

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

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