Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-08

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 6.0)

The plans illustrate the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.

Overall, it is clear that the airport will undergo major development and new facilities will be added to the airport such as shops, more entarances for departures and arrivals, more airport gates, car hire, an ATM and so on. Security, passport control and customs will remain unchanged.

To begin with, today the airport has 8 gates along with one enterance for departure and arrival each. In the departure section, there is a cafe and a check-in counter. Security, passport control and customs are provided for departures and arrivals and a walkaway to go to the gates.

Turning to the remaining data, after development, 10 more gates will be added, and the number of gates will be increased to 18 with a walkaway. The departures and arrivals will have more enterances and new facilities will be added. In the deparature area, a bag drop facility will be added and for arrival section facilities like cafe, an ATM and a care hire will be introduced. New shops will also be added after security in the departure area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main change—the expansion from 8 to 18 gates—and give an overview of new facilities, while noting that security, passport control and customs remain. These points are relevant and broadly match the plans. However, some details are inaccurate or insufficiently precise: the plans do not show “more entrances” for departures and arrivals, and the new shops are described as “after security” rather than along the angled wall between departures and the concourse. The account also omits important changes, including the Y-shaped concourse and central sky train, and does not explain that check-in moves or where the new facilities are positioned. Develop the comparison with these specific spatial changes to make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the current and future layouts. Phrases such as “To begin with” and “Turning to the remaining data” help signal progression, and the reader can follow the broad comparison. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some control of progression. However, the final paragraph groups several future changes together without a clear spatial sequence, and “the remaining data” is a vague transition. The repeated use of “airport” and “facilities” also makes links between details less precise. Organise the future features by area—for example, departures, the concourse, then arrivals—and use clearer references to connect each change.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of task vocabulary, including “redevelopment,” “gates,” “bag drop,” “passport control” and “customs,” so the main information is generally understandable. There are also attempts to describe change with phrases such as “will be added” and “will be introduced.” However, spelling errors in “entarances,” “enterance,” “walkaway,” “deparature” and “care hire” reduce accuracy, and some wording is imprecise: “more airport gates” is less exact than “an increase in the number of gates,” while “facilities like” is informal and general. Choose precise terms for locations and changes, and proofread spelling. This would make the vocabulary more controlled and appropriate to an academic map description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the overview sentence beginning “Overall” and the future-focused clause “after development, 10 more gates will be added.” Tense is generally appropriate for contrasting the present plan with the proposed redevelopment, and errors do not usually prevent understanding. Some grammatical patterns are less controlled, however. In “Security, passport control and customs are provided for departures and arrivals,” the relationship between these facilities and the two areas is unclear; the sentence would be clearer if it stated where each is located. The phrase “the number of gates will be increased to 18 with a walkaway” also attaches the final phrase awkwardly. Use more precise clause structures and check that modifiers clearly refer to the intended feature.

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