Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

The illustration shows the development plan of a small town according to the plan the road is going to be moved outside the town and there are little changes been made to the shops also.

It is quite evident from the diagram that the main road in the first diagram, which is going through the town between different shops is changed in the second diagram, the road is going to be constructed around the city which will help to ensure smooth flow of traffic and the path from where the road was passing through in the town is going to be changed in to the pedestrians only path.

Meanwhile, in the first diagram in the north side of the town, the shops are also going to be replaced by bus station, shopping centre, car parking and new housing. School and park is going to be in the same place as it is before.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to summarise the main changes between the two maps, noting the construction of the dual carriageway and the conversion of the central road to pedestrians only, as well as the replacement of northern shops. However, the overview is extremely weak and lacks a clear summary of the overall spatial transformation. Furthermore, several key features are missed or imprecisely described, such as the new shopping centre, bus station, and car park layout, and the reduction in size of the park. While the response touches on some main features, the lack of a proper overview and underdeveloped comparisons place it at Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text is divided into an introductory paragraph and two body paragraphs, which provides a basic structural framework. However, the organization suffers from a lack of effective cohesive devices and poor punctuation control, leading to run-on sentences like 'the road is going to be constructed around the city which will help to ensure smooth flow of traffic and the path from where the road was passing through in the town is going to be changed in to the pedestrians only path.' Paragraphing is somewhat arbitrary, and logical progression between ideas is occasionally hindered by abrupt transitions and missing conjunctions. Cohesion is managed mechanically rather than smoothly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally basic and repetitive, relying heavily on terms provided in the prompt such as 'road', 'town', 'shops', 'diagram', and 'housing'. There are few attempts at less common lexical items, and those that are attempted sometimes suffer from awkward collocation or imprecise word choice, such as 'little changes been made' instead of 'minor alterations have been made'. Spelling is mostly accurate, but the range of vocabulary is strictly limited to what is minimally adequate for the task, resulting in a Band 5.0 score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying primarily on simple sentences or long, awkwardly joined compound-complex sentences lacking proper punctuation (run-on sentences). Errors in tense and voice are frequent, such as 'the road is going to be moved', 'changes been made', and 'School and park is going to be in the same place'. Subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'School and park is') and missing articles further detract from grammatical control. These frequent errors cause occasional difficulty for the reader.

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

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