Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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)

There are two maps that shows the centre of a small town called Islip as it is now and the other one a planned development. In the first map the Islip town seems very small and undeveloped. It has shops both beside the countryside as well as housing in between there's a main road. However there is a park on the east of the map and a school on the west of the map. It seems very conjusted area.

Moreover, the second map shows a developed idea for the tow. This includes a bus station, shopping centre, car parking, pedestrians walk, school, park and housing. The shopping centre is between the bus station and the car parking. This plan seems very logical because if there is no car parking around the shopping centre it will create a messthrough rush. Also dual carriage will help the traffic to move easily without any hustle. School will remain on the west but will have a proper track road towards it likewise the park.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several relevant features, including the bus station, shopping centre, car park, pedestrian street and dual carriageway, and you note that the school and park remain. However, the response only partially summarises the maps: it gives little account of the major spatial changes, such as the northern shops being replaced, the southern shops remaining, and new housing being added. Some details are inaccurate or unclear: the school is south of the town centre rather than on its west, and the planned road is a dual carriageway loop, not a “proper track road” to the school and park. The comments that the plan is “logical” and will ease traffic are opinions rather than map information. A clearer overview of the main transformation, followed by accurate comparisons, would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable two-part structure: the first paragraph describes the current town and the second discusses the proposed plan. This gives the reader a basic progression from present to future, and linking expressions such as “However” and “Moreover” help signal shifts. At times, though, the connections between details are unclear. For example, “It has shops both beside the countryside as well as housing in between there's a main road” combines several locations without showing how they relate. The second paragraph also moves from facilities to personal opinions and then to the school and park without a clear organising principle. Grouping information by north and south, or by what changes and remains, would make the comparison easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “shopping centre,” “bus station,” “housing,” and “dual carriage,” so the reader can identify several planned features. However, the range is limited and some choices are inaccurate or informal for a map summary. “Car parking” would be better expressed as “car park,” while “pedestrians walk” does not clearly name the pedestrian-only street. “Conjusted” is misspelled, and “messthrough rush” is unclear; these errors make parts of the description difficult to understand. Phrases such as “developed idea” and “proper track road” are also imprecise. Build a more precise set of location and change terms, such as “to the north of,” “is replaced by,” and “remains,” and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, errors in sentence construction and agreement occur often enough to make some relationships unclear. For example, “There are two maps that shows” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “shops both beside the countryside as well as housing in between there's a main road” is not a complete, well-controlled sentence. “School will remain on the west” also lacks an article and uses an unclear grammatical relationship. The response relies heavily on basic clauses, with limited accurate use of complex structures. Practise forming complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and use articles and agreement consistently; then add controlled clauses to compare what is replaced, retained, or relocated.

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