Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-24
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 current layout of a small town called islip and its proposed development plan.
Overall, it can be seen that there are several changes planned for development in future.The bus station,shopping center,pedestrains only is plan for develop in future.
On the one hand, the islip town center have school and housing outside the building.In addition, the countryside contain shops bothside of the main road.
On the other hand, the pan of islip tower for future development is make a circle of whole building.The shopping center,bus station were planed to develop near the car park.New housing scheme will launch on the both sides of shop.While, school and housing area remain same in futher development and dual carriageway were planed to built outside the town center.The area of park is decreased due to expand in housing scheme area and pedestrains only were launched in the mid if the town center.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
You identify the maps as showing the town’s current layout and a future plan, and you mention several relevant changes, including the pedestrian-only street, new housing, the smaller park and the dual carriageway. However, the overview is unclear: “there are several changes planned” does not summarise the main transformation, and the claim that the carriageway is “outside the town center” is imprecise because it forms a loop around the centre. Some locations are also misreported or vague: the countryside is north of the northern shops, not an area that “contain[s] shops bothside of the main road.” To strengthen the response, give a clear overview and accurately compare the main features, including the replacement of northern shops by transport and shopping facilities.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has a basic overall structure, moving from an introduction and overview to present features and then planned changes. The contrastive phrases “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” help signal a shift, but the progression is not consistently clear: the first body paragraph mixes the school, housing and countryside, while the second combines several unrelated changes in a long sequence. Linking is sometimes mechanical or confusing, particularly “While” after a full stop and “In addition” where the relationship between details is not clear. Group information by map or by area, and use clearer links such as “In the current layout” and “Under the proposal.” This would make comparisons easier to follow.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “main road,” “bus station,” “car park,” “housing” and “dual carriageway,” so the reader can recognise many of the features being described. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, spelling and collocation problems reduce precision: “the pan of islip tower” is difficult to interpret, “bothside” is not standard, and “launch” is unsuitable for describing a planned street or development. Repetition of “plan” and “development” also makes the account less varied. Aim for accurate location and change vocabulary, such as “situated,” “replaced by,” “retained” and “reduced in size,” while checking spelling of key labels and using standard forms such as “shopping centre.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
There are attempts to form longer sentences and connect ideas, but control is inconsistent, which sometimes makes relationships between features difficult to understand. For example, “the islip town center have school and housing outside the building” has problems with articles, agreement and sentence meaning, while “The shopping center,bus station were planed to develop near the car park” has faulty subject–verb agreement and an unclear passive construction. Tense and verb forms also vary, as in “remain same” and “were planed to built.” Punctuation and spacing around commas and full stops need attention. Practise accurate present-tense descriptions of the existing map and passive forms for planned changes, such as “is planned to be built.”
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