Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-14

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 illustration compares the site of Southwest Airport looked today and how will it look after the planned redevelopment that will happen next year.

Overall, plenty of changes will be develop in the airport. Significantly, the aiport will be extended because of an additional perk—called the sky train.

Today, the airport has four important legends. The check-in, a cafe, which are near the depature entrance, while walkway, and gates 1-8 are located after passing the passport control and security.

Moreover, the planned airport layout has added five significant changes. They now have bag drop, located after the cafe if you enter the departure gate, and car hire that is located near the arrivals gate. Unfortunately, walkway was removed from airport. But, this was replaced with their newest perk—the sky train. Aside from that, more gates were installed, from 8 to 18. Also, they added shops after passing the passport control and security.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall change: the airport is expanded, the number of gates rises from 8 to 18, and a sky train is introduced. You also mention several new facilities, including bag drop, car hire and shops. However, some important changes are missing or unclear, so the two layouts are not compared fully. For example, the Y-shaped concourse and the relocation of check-in are not described, and the new café and ATM in Arrivals are omitted. Some locations are also inaccurate: shops are between Departures and the concourse, not after passport control and security. Develop the overview around the major structural changes, then report the key internal relocations and additions more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear basic structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the current and planned layouts. The sequence from the present airport to the redevelopment is generally easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “Aside from that,” and “Also” help connect points. This meets the lower-band expectation of an overall coherent arrangement. However, some connections are imprecise or mechanical: “Unfortunately” adds an opinion rather than a neutral comparison, while “But” creates a fragment-like transition. References such as “they” in “They now have bag drop” are also unclear. Grouping changes by area—concourse, Departures and Arrivals—and using more precise location links would make progression smoother and cohesion more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “redevelopment,” “located,” “entrance,” “gates,” and “car hire,” so the reader can understand the general changes. There are also attempts at less common phrasing, such as “additional perk,” but this is too informal for an academic map description and does not accurately describe the sky train as a facility. Several word-choice and spelling problems reduce precision: “legends” should refer to the map key, not airport facilities; “develop” is the wrong form in “changes will be develop”; and “aiport” and “depature” are misspelled. Prefer neutral, exact terms such as “facilities,” “added,” “extended,” and “relocated,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex forms, including the overview sentence beginning “Significantly” and the clause “if you enter the departure gate.” The main ideas are usually understandable, but some grammatical errors remain. In the introduction, “compares the site … looked today and how will it look” has an incorrect verb pattern and word order; use “compares the airport’s current layout with its planned layout.” “Plenty of changes will be develop” also has an incorrect passive form, and “The check-in, a cafe, which are…” is an incomplete, poorly connected sentence. The final paragraph shifts between “They now have” and “was removed,” making tense and reference less controlled. Practise accurate comparison structures and complete sentences while retaining varied sentence forms.

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