Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-18

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 illustrate the structure of Islip town before and after the redevelopment.

Overall, Old layout of Islip town were contained few facilities for residential people including shops and housing facilities while the rennovated design was occupied with more features like pedestrian crossing, dual carriageway and a circular path.

Since then, large portion of park is remained empty along the south-west and south-east direction. A main road is passes through the Islip Town splitting a town into two half. Numerous Shops are introduced along both side of the road for the local people, housing area and country side are present beside the shops. Park is located in the south east side along the small path, that leads toward main road. School is present in the bottom left cornor of the design.

In new planned development, the horizontal main road has been replaced with the pedastrian crossing and circular path has been introduced along all the facilities. The former shops on the north side have been changed with a Bus station, the Shopping centre, a car park and the new housing. The area of a previous park has been reduced and school remained at its previous location, near by Dual carriageway in the west side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main contrast between the existing town centre and its planned redevelopment, and you report several relevant changes, including the pedestrian-only street, the northern facilities and the smaller park. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the dual carriageway is a loop around the centre, not simply a “circular path” alongside facilities, and the school remains outside the loop to the south rather than being near its western side. The overview also describes the old town as having few facilities, although the map shows shops, housing, a school and a park. To strengthen the response, give a clearer overview of the major changes and describe the new southern layout, including housing and new housing, more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and paragraphs describing the current and planned layouts. This helps the reader follow the broad comparison. However, progression within the paragraphs is uneven, and some linking expressions are confusing. “Since then” suggests a chronological event rather than a description of the present map, while “In new planned development” is an awkward transition. The overview also introduces a “circular path” that is not clearly connected to the later description of the dual carriageway. Organise each body paragraph by map area or by major change, and use precise references such as “north of the pedestrian street” and “south of the shops” to make relationships clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “redevelopment,” “pedestrian crossing,” “dual carriageway,” “housing” and “reduced,” and the reader can generally understand the intended comparisons. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or imprecise: “facilities for residential people,” “circular path,” and “shops are introduced” do not describe the map naturally. There are also spelling errors in “rennovated,” “pedastrian” and “cornor,” which reduce accuracy. Aim for standard map-description phrases such as “residents,” “dual-carriageway loop,” and “shops are located on both sides.” More precise vocabulary would help distinguish roads, streets and pedestrian routes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including comparisons between the two maps, but grammatical control is inconsistent. Errors in verb forms and agreement appear in “Old layout … were contained,” “A main road is passes,” and “large portion of park is remained.” Articles and sentence construction also need attention, as in “splitting a town into two half” and “the horizontal main road has been replaced with the pedestrian crossing.” Some sentences remain understandable, but these errors make the description less fluent and occasionally obscure the intended relationship between features. Practise accurate present-tense descriptions of the current map and passive forms for planned changes, checking subject–verb agreement, articles and plural nouns.

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