Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-26

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 given map illustrates current Centre of a little town named Islip and its improvement plans.

Overall, proper improvement in the infrastructure and other facilities can be seen. Development in roads can be observed. New housing projects are under planning. A bus station and car parking is included in the new planned map.

The old map is based on a country side and has a road and shops on both sides of the road. A Park is present at one end of the road and it is stretched to the school on the other end. The islip town developed map has wider road. A well planned bus station is included and the conventional shops are replaced by a shopping center and Car Parking is included. A footpath is introduced and two new housings are planned. A dual carriageway is encircled through the town. School and park are present on the same location in the old town and the new under construction town.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad changes, including the new bus station, shopping centre, car park, pedestrian-only route and dual carriageway, and you provide an overall statement about development. However, some important details are missing or unclear, so the map comparison is only partly developed. For example, the northern shops are replaced by several facilities, while the southern shops remain; this distinction is not made clear. The planned new housing is also not located precisely, and the school remains outside the carriageway loop. The claim that the park is in the same location is inaccurate: it is reduced in size and shifted within the southern area. A more precise overview and accurate descriptions of what remains, moves or is replaced would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an opening, an overview and a paragraph comparing the present and planned layouts. This helps the reader follow the general topic. However, progression within the comparison is uneven, and several details are grouped together without a clear spatial order. For instance, the sentence beginning “A Park is present at one end” does not clearly identify which road or direction is meant, while the final sentence combines the school and park despite their different positions in the plan. Linking is also repetitive, particularly through repeated use of “and” and “included.” Organise the details by area—north of the central street, then south of it—and use clear references such as “to the east” and “in contrast” to make relationships easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing development, including “infrastructure,” “replaced,” “dual carriageway” and “planned.” These terms help communicate the main changes, and the meaning is generally understandable. Some choices are imprecise or unnatural for map reporting, however. “Improvement plans” and “proper improvement” add an evaluative tone rather than neutrally describing the proposals; “footpath” is less accurate than “pedestrian-only street”; and “two new housings” is not the natural way to refer to residential areas. There are also inconsistent capital letters in “Park,” “Car Parking” and “islip.” Aim for precise location and land-use vocabulary, and use neutral phrases such as “the proposed development” and “new housing areas.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, and most of the main ideas remain understandable. Some grammatical errors and awkward constructions nevertheless reduce precision. In “A Park is present at one end of the road and it is stretched to the school,” the pronoun “it” has an unclear reference, and the sentence structure does not clearly express the road layout. “A bus station and car parking is included” has a subject–verb agreement error; the compound subject requires “are.” The phrase “the new under construction town” also has an awkward modifier order. Use accurate present and future forms to distinguish the existing map from the proposal, and check agreement, articles and pronoun references. Shorter, clearly controlled comparisons would help convey spatial relationships.

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