Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-09

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 5.5)

The maps illustrates the centre of a small town called Islip as it is now, and plans for its development.

Overall, north region of the Islip town center underwent significant changes,While shops, park, school and housing loacted at south were unchanged and several features such as bus station, shopping center, car park and new housing were going to added and some existing features like shops and countrycside in the northern region were removed.

At present, Islip town consists of shops, countryside and housing. shops were loacted in both sides of the main road, while countryside was situated in northern region, in addition housing were located in two different locations near to park and some located in southern region.

In future, the area had changed considerable, shops in the northern region changed to bus station, shopping centre and car parking.Whereas, dual carraigeway is constructed around the town and entry and exists located in east and west sides of town. while shops on other side of road, school in the south and park were unchnaged. Some new housing were located in northern and southern region of town.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main contrast between the current town centre and the proposed redevelopment, and your overview notes the northern changes and the addition of new facilities. Several details are also accurate: shops currently flank the main road, and the northern shops are planned to become a bus station, shopping centre and car park. This covers the task well, with some features more fully reported than others. However, the overview says the park and school are unchanged, although the park is reduced in size, and the school remains outside the new road loop. The current map’s two side roads and the pedestrian-only central street are also omitted. To strengthen the response, describe these changes precisely and distinguish retained features from altered ones.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the present and planned layouts. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and some linking is mechanical or confusing. For example, “while” begins a sentence after a comma in the overview, and the final paragraph moves from the northern redevelopment to the dual carriageway, then to retained features and new housing without a clear spatial order. The repeated use of “while” and “whereas” does not always show a clear contrast. Grouping details by location—north, central street, then south—and using complete, clearly connected sentences would make the account easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “main road,” “dual carriageway,” “northern region,” and “new housing,” and you attempt to describe change with phrases such as “changed to” and “located.” This is enough to communicate the general redevelopment. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors reduce precision: “car parking” is less suitable than “car park” for the labelled facility, while “entry and exists” appears to mean “entrances and exits.” There are also misspellings such as “loacted,” “countryside,” and “carraigeway.” Aim for accurate map-specific terms and vary change verbs, for example “was replaced by,” “was retained,” and “was relocated.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including contrasts introduced by “while” and “whereas,” and the overall meaning is generally recoverable. However, control is inconsistent: “The maps illustrates” has subject–verb disagreement, and “some existing features … were removed” is followed by a sentence fragment beginning “While.” Tense and agreement also need attention in “shops were located” and “some new housing were located”; housing is normally treated as uncountable, so it takes a singular verb. Punctuation is another weakness, with missing spaces after full stops and commas and a lower-case “shops” beginning a sentence. Use complete clauses, check singular/plural agreement, and keep past and future descriptions consistent.

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