Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-09

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 6.5)

The maps illustrates the current layout of airport and the redevelopment for the following year.

Overall, the Southwes Airport will undergo major transformation, with addition of more number of gates to the replacement of the walkway with the skytrain.

At present, the airport consists of eight gates, with two interconnected walkways. The departure section features a cafe, a check-in, security and passport control, while arrival only contains passport control and customs.

After development, the airport will transform significantly. In the following year, 10 more gates will be added, which means the airport will have overall 18 gates in total. The walkway will be replaced by the skytrain, while security, customs and passport control will remain at the same place. At the arrival terminal, a cafe, an ATM and a car hire setups will be introduced. However, the location of the check-in and the cafe will change in the following year. The check-in is currently located on the left side but it will be shifted to right side of the departure area, whereas cafe is presently located at top right corner of departure area which will be located below left corner. More shops will be added at the airport.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You identify the main change clearly: the airport expands from eight to eighteen gates, and the walkway is replaced by a sky train. The overview also signals substantial redevelopment, while the body covers changes to the departure and arrival areas. Most details are grounded in the plans, including the new café, ATM and car hire in Arrivals and the relocation of check-in and the café in Departures. However, some descriptions are imprecise: the current plan shows a single walkway, not “two interconnected walkways,” and the new facilities and shops could be located more precisely. You also omit notable changes such as the new bag-drop area and the shops beside the concourse. Overall, the main features are addressed and supported, though a few details are over-generalised.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall progression: an introduction, an overview, a description of the current layout and then the proposed changes. This makes the comparison easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “At present,” “After development” and “However” help signal shifts between stages. The organisation is coherent, but some connections and references could be more precise. For example, “the location of the check-in and the cafe will change” is followed by a useful comparison, but the final sentence, “More shops will be added at the airport,” feels detached from the preceding description. Grouping all departure-area changes together and then all arrival-area changes would create a smoother progression. The response shows effective basic cohesion, but some linking remains mechanical and the paragraphing could support the comparisons more deliberately.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redevelopment,” “interconnected,” “shifted” and “introduced.” These choices communicate the main changes, and terms such as “departure area” and “arrival terminal” are relevant to the task. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, however: “more number of gates” would be more naturally expressed as “a greater number of gates,” and “car hire setups” is unclear; “car-hire facilities” would be more precise. “The replacement of the walkway with the skytrain” is also less natural than “the walkway will be replaced by a sky train.” There is a spelling error in “Southwes,” and “cafe” should be consistently written as “café” if using the accent. These issues do not prevent understanding, but more precise collocations would strengthen the description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the contrast in “The check-in is currently located on the left side but it will be shifted to right side.” Future forms such as “will be added” and “will remain” are generally appropriate for the proposed plan, and the meaning is usually clear. Some grammatical errors remain. The opening “The maps illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “layout of airport” needs an article (“the airport”). In “with addition of more number of gates,” the article and noun phrase are not formed correctly. The sentence about the check-in also needs “the right side,” and “cafe is presently located” needs an article before “café.” These are some errors rather than barriers to communication; checking agreement, articles and noun phrases would improve accuracy while preserving your range of sentence structures.

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