Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-03
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 diagram illustrates plans about how a airpot will look after redevelopment next year.
Overall, it is clear that the airport has transformed and after one year there is alot of addition in facilities. Like we get the ATM facility after transformation while the number of gates also increases due to larger area after transformation. Another noticeable feature is that walk away feature is ended and replaced with sky train.
Firstly, before redevelopment the arrival area has no facility. And after one year we got the facility of a cafe and ATM has also been introduced in the one year time period. At the corner of arrival lounge we are also given with car hire faciltiy. The enterance for arrival and departure is increased to 2.
Secondly, The departure lounge has the facility of cafe earlier which is reamined after redevelopment. The departure lounge has no bag drop early on which is later introduced at the location of check in and check in counter is moved opposite to the bag drop. At the back end of the departure lounge some new shops are also opened. After redevelopment there is a small change in the location of airport mainly many new spots are introduced in this process of transformation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses the main parts of the task by reporting the key changes to Southwest Airport, such as the expanded gates, the addition of the sky train, and new facilities like the ATM and car hire. An overview is successfully provided at the beginning, noting the general transformation and expansion of facilities. However, some parts of the response are under-developed or vague, such as stating that 'the arrival area has no facility' earlier on, which overlooks what was actually in the arrival lounge prior to redevelopment. Furthermore, some comparisons lack precision, and certain features are described informally rather than focusing on the most salient spatial and structural shifts.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a discernible progression of ideas, moving from an introductory overview into separate paragraphs for arrivals and departures. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. The use of transitional markers like 'Firstly,' and 'Secondly,' helps structure the text, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'Like we get the ATM facility'. Paragraphing is present, though the internal flow within paragraphs could be smoother to connect related features between the terminal zones and the expanded concourse more logically.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to airport infrastructure such as 'redevelopment', 'concourse', and 'facilities'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that prevent a higher score, such as 'airpot' for 'airport', 'alot' for 'a lot', and 'walk away' instead of 'walkway'. Phrasing can also be awkward or repetitive, such as 'got the facility of a cafe' and 'given with car hire faciltiy', which reflects limited lexical precision and control over collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like relative clauses and time-clause constructions ('how a airpot will look', 'after one year we got the facility'). There are, however, frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Issues include missing articles ('the arrival area', 'the cafe'), incorrect verb forms and tenses ('is remained', 'is increased to 2'), and awkward prepositional usage ('at the corner of arrival lounge'). While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur regularly enough to restrict the grammatical score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.