Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-03

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 6.0)

The diagrams illustrate the desired before and after condition of a small town called Islip following a plan for its development using a map. A lot of features are added to the town causing many striking differences in the outlines. The addition of new and improved facilities like a dual carriageway and a walk-way for pedestrians are noteable along with the varied facilities added to the old area for shops.

The Islip town at present is merged with the country side with no divider in between them where the countryside and shops are side by side. In between the shops, flows the main road which is the only road with no space for pedestrians to walk. However, the planned development features a dual carriageway that encapsulates the area including the two shops, housing and park. The shop positioned at the centre of the town is same in both cases but the shop at the northern part is changed where multiple amenities are added like a bus station, a shopping centre and a car parking area. The current map has only two housing spaces along with a park and the school which are at the southern-western part of the town. There is a road that leads to the school connected to the main road in the current map. As mentioned earlier, the dual carriageway covers that road in the planned map. Although there are housing spaces in the newer map, they are more in number than the current map such as two new housing are added to the north-east and south- east part of the town furthermore the park is reduced in size than before. The old housing beside the school is still there but we can see the school is also redeveloped.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and successfully highlights the main features and overall changes between the current and planned maps of Islip. An overview is present, noting the striking differences and the addition of new facilities such as the dual carriageway and pedestrian walkway. However, some areas are slightly under-developed or lack complete precision; for instance, the description of the northern shops being replaced by a bus station, shopping centre, and car park is presented, but some spatial relationships and details regarding the housing expansions are less clearly articulated than they could be to reach a higher level of development. Overall, the selection of data is adequate to satisfy the core requirements of the task prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a logical division into an introductory paragraph and a body paragraph detailing the map changes. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'However, the planned development features' and 'As mentioned earlier'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally a bit mechanical or slightly awkward, such as transitioning abruptly between the general layout and specific micro-features like the school road. Paragraphing could also be improved by breaking the lengthy second body paragraph into smaller logical units to enhance the overall progression and readability of the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, successfully attempting less common items and descriptive phrasing such as 'dual carriageway', 'encapsulates', and 'amenities'. There are, however, some lexical and spelling inaccuracies that prevent a higher score, such as 'noteable' instead of 'notable', 'country side' instead of 'countryside', 'car parking area' instead of simply 'car park', and 'south-western part' where the map actually shows features in the south. Word choices are mostly functional, and while communication is never impeded, more precise and natural collocations would be needed to push into higher band territory.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory dependent clauses successfully, as seen in 'following a plan for its development using a map'. There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and articles throughout the text, such as missing articles ('the north-east and south-east part' instead of parts) and slight prepositional awkwardness ('in the southern-western part'). Nonetheless, these errors are relatively infrequent, do not obscure the meaning, and rarely impede communication, reflecting a solid middle-tier command of sentence structures.

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

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