Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-07
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The plans below show the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
SOUTHWEST AIRPORT
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The plans depicts the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.
The overall area will be increased in the next year and many sites will be added to the airport for the public use.
The southwest airport has two partitions on the front side. One is departures side and the other one is arrivals side. The departure hall has a cafe and a check-in site, which is going to relocated in next year. A bag drop will be added to the departures at the western corner.
The arrivals hall is going to construct the cafe and the ATM machine alongside the eastern wall. The car hire section is going to install by the government by expanding the area towards the eastern corner. The shops will be added on the second floor above to the passport control office.
As the overall area will expand, the ten gates will be installed. Sky trains will also installed by the next year.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of the airport plans, such as the expansion of the area, the addition of gates, and the relocation of facilities. However, the description is somewhat mechanical and lacks a clear overview or synthesis of the most significant changes. While the task is addressed, the reporting of information is fragmented, and some details are slightly inaccurate or confusingly phrased, such as the mention of the 'government' installing car hire, which is not explicitly supported by the visual data. To improve, focus on grouping related features more logically and providing a more cohesive summary of the overall transformation.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into short paragraphs, which helps readability. However, the progression of ideas is somewhat disjointed. The use of cohesive devices is limited and occasionally repetitive (e.g., 'The... is going to...'). Transitions between sentences are often abrupt, making the text feel like a list of observations rather than a cohesive report. To reach a higher band, you should use a wider variety of linking words and phrases to connect ideas more fluidly, such as 'Furthermore,' 'In contrast,' or 'Additionally,' and ensure that referencing (e.g., 'the latter') is used to avoid repetitive sentence structures.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to describe the airport features clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'departures,' 'arrivals,' 'check-in,' and 'passport control.' However, there is a lack of variety, and some word choices are imprecise or unnatural, such as 'two partitions on the front side' or 'going to install by the government.' To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to spatial changes, such as 'extended,' 'transformed,' 'reconfigured,' or 'integrated,' and focus on more natural collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. You have several errors in verb forms and passive voice construction, such as 'which is going to relocated' (should be 'be relocated') and 'Sky trains will also installed' (should be 'be installed'). Additionally, 'The plans depicts' contains a subject-verb agreement error. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency. Focusing on consistent use of the passive voice for describing changes would greatly improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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