Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-22

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 4.0)

these tow digram show the centre of a small town called islip as it now and plans for develoment

i see tow layout, town centre first housing situted in middile over ther shopes, main road , shops

country side and right hand side one park and left side one school,

while second layour very develpe according to first layout, second chart planned development

in center shopes right hand side, situveded bus station,shopping cenre , car park and there one new housing and left hand side dual carriageway

overall both layout big changes,new layout in situated in all around roades and side tow access at the new layout and one

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, containing only 109 words. Because of this severe under-length, the development of ideas is heavily restricted, and the response can only partially address the task. While the student attempts to point out some changes such as the introduction of a bus station, car park, and dual carriageway, the descriptions are fragmented, disorganised, and miss a large proportion of the key features shown on the maps. There is no clear overview provided of the overall transformation, and many parts of the visual data are misread or omitted entirely. This corresponds to a band score of 4.0 under the IELTS criteria for under-length and limited task coverage.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text lacks clear overall progression and logical organisation. The writing is split into very brief, broken segments that do not form cohesive paragraphs. Cohesive devices are largely absent or misused, making it difficult for the reader to follow the spatial relationships between the features on the maps. Sentences are disjointed phrases rather than fully structured thoughts, and referencing between ideas is faulty. For instance, transitions between the current town layout and the planned developments are abrupt and confusing. Based on these organisational weaknesses, the response aligns with a band score of 4.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is extremely basic, repetitive, and restricted to simple everyday terms like 'shops', 'school', and 'park'. There are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including 'tow' for two, 'digram' for diagram, 'develoment' for development, 'situted' for situated, 'middile' for middle, 'ther' for there, 'shopes' for shops, 'country side' for countryside, 'layour' for layout, 'develpe' for developed, 'cenre' for centre, and 'roades' for roads. These frequent lexical errors and spelling mistakes significantly impede communication and restrict the range of vocabulary to a level consistent with a band score of 4.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting almost entirely of fragmented notes rather than complete, grammatically correct sentences. There is a complete lack of control over basic sentence structures, punctuation, and verb forms. For example, clauses are joined without proper conjunctions or punctuation, and essential verbs of being or location are frequently omitted ('first housing situted in middile'). Frequent, severe grammatical errors distort the meaning in multiple places, placing the performance firmly at a band 4.0 level.

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

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