Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-18

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 plan describes about the site of an Airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.

Overall, the map shows the major changes after redevelopment such as addition of bag drop along with cafe at departures side, check ins move to opposite side and Atm and cafe will add towards Arrival area by car parking at one corner. Moreover, shops and number of gates will also extended.

The recent plan shows check-in and a cafe on opposite sides at departures and no ATM facility is present at arrivals side. There are 8 number of gates for walkway areawith no transport facility.

After redevelopment, there is replacement of check-in by bag drop and cafe at departure and cafe, ATM as well as car parking weren additional in arribval side. some shops will be constructed for passengers and a sky train along with car hire will also added as well as walkway area will be extended from 1 to 18 number of gates .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student successfully identifies the main features and general changes between the current and future layouts of Southwest Airport. The overview captures key alterations such as the expansion of the gates, the addition of a sky train, shops, and changes to the check-in and arrivals areas. However, there are minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasing when reporting specific locations (e.g., stating that check-ins move to the 'opposite side' or misinterpreting the exact positioning of some amenities). Despite these slight descriptive shortcomings, all parts of the prompt are addressed, presenting a clear overall summary of the transformation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically with an introductory sentence, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs comparing the 'now' and 'after development' states. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Moreover', and 'After redevelopment' are used to guide the reader through the comparison. However, paragraphing could be structured more cleanly, and referencing is occasionally mechanical or unclear (e.g., 'car parking at one corner' when the map shows car hire). Paragraph transitions are present, but overall cohesion feels somewhat repetitive due to sentence structure limitations.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with appropriate functional terms such as 'redevelopment', 'concourse', 'facilities', and 'construction'. The student attempts less common vocabulary and task-specific terms ('bag drop', 'sky train', 'car hire'), but there are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'arribval side', 'weren additional', and confusing 'car hire' with 'car parking'. Spelling and morphological errors ('Atm' instead of ATM, 'arribval') slightly detract from the lexical score, keeping it at a solid band 5.5 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, such as 'The plan describes about the site', 'check ins move', and 'cafe, ATM as well as car parking weren additional in arribval side'. Verb tense consistency between descriptions of the present layout and future redevelopment is occasionally faulty. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur with sufficient frequency to prevent the writing from reaching a higher band score.

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