Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-05

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 4.5)

The maps illustrates the centre of a small town called Islip as it is now, and plans for its development. By the look of it, it has been changed completely leaving shops and some housing across the shops. The town centre is now all suurounded by the road keeping housing shops and parking in centre.

The countrside before is all replaced by bus station, shopping centre, car park and new husing society ON THE NORTH SIDE.

Main road is now dedicated to pedestrians only while shops remain the same at it original position at the centre. The park AT southern-east of the shops is now huge and new housing is added. School remains at its actual position ,on the southern west side of the shops just below the road. there is also a dual carriageway just on the west side of the school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement, containing only 126 words rather than the required 150 words (excluding prompt-copied text). While the writer attempts to describe the main features of the maps, such as the replacement of the countryside with a bus station, shopping centre, and car park, the coverage is minimal and partially inaccurate. For instance, stating that the town centre is 'all suurounded by the road keeping housing shops and parking in centre' is a vague and confused summary of the layout. Key spatial relationships are missed or incorrectly reported, leading to an under-developed response that only minimally addresses the task prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

Information and ideas are not arranged in a consistently coherent manner, and there is a lack of clear overall progression. The essay lacks proper paragraphing, with disjointed sentences thrown together without clear thematic grouping. Cohesive devices are basic, repetitive, or inaccurate, such as abrupt transitions between sentences ('By the look of it', 'The countrside before is all replaced'). Pronoun referencing and signposting are weak, making it difficult for the reader to follow the spatial changes from the current map to the proposed development plan smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task. There are several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'suurounded', 'countrside', and 'husing', which indicate weak control over basic lexical items. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary ('pedestrians only', 'dual carriageway'), but these are drawn directly from the prompt rather than demonstrating independent lexical resource. Repetition of basic terms like 'shops', 'housing', and 'road' further restricts the range of vocabulary, occasionally causing strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response demonstrates a very limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and faulty attempts at complex forms. Frequent grammatical errors occur throughout the text, including missing articles ('at it original position', 'School remains at its actual position'), incorrect prepositions ('at southern-east', 'on the southern west side'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('The maps illustrates'). These frequent errors, combined with awkward punctuation and capitalization, cause difficulty for the reader and reflect weak control over basic grammatical patterns.

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

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