Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-24

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 first diagram shows how the airport looks now. There is only one walkway to go to the airport and 8 gates. On the left side, there is security and passport control and on the right side there is passport control and customs on the left departures side, there is a cafe shop and check-in and on the right arrivals side there is nothing. After the development of the airport there are 1 to 18 gates and two walkways and on the left side there are shops for the people. The security passport control and passport control cutoms are the same as left and right sides. Now, on the left departures side there is check-in, a cafe shop and a bag drop and on the left arrivals side there is now an ATM, a cafe shop, and a car hire system. Therefore, in the new development of the airport, there are a lot of new things built.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad change from an airport with eight gates to one with eighteen, and mention several new facilities, including shops, a bag drop, an ATM, a café and car hire. However, the response only partially reports the plans: it does not clearly describe the new Y-shaped concourse or the central sky train, and it incorrectly calls the expanded concourse “two walkways.” Some locations are also confused: security and passport control are not on the left side as stated, and the current arrivals area is not simply “nothing.” The overview is limited to saying that “a lot of new things” are built. To strengthen the report, summarise the main structural changes and accurately compare the terminal areas and their facilities.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response follows a basic time sequence, moving from the airport “now” to “after the development,” and uses simple linking phrases such as “After the development” and “Therefore.” This gives the reader a general sense of the comparison. However, the information is packed into one paragraph, with several long, loosely connected sentences and little clear grouping of the terminal changes. Repeated references to “left side” and “right side” are difficult to follow, especially where the departures and arrivals areas are described in the same sentence. The final sentence repeats the general idea rather than drawing together the key changes. Organise the report into an introduction, an overview, and focused paragraphs for the concourse and terminal facilities; use clearer references to each area.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant basic terms such as “gates,” “check-in,” “passport control,” “customs,” and “car hire,” so the reader can recognise many features of the plans. The vocabulary is nevertheless limited and repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “side,” “there is,” and “new things.” Some choices are imprecise: “two walkways” does not accurately describe the Y-shaped concourse, while “cafe shop” and “car hire system” are not natural descriptions of the labelled facilities. “Nothing” is also too broad for the current arrivals area, which contains passport control and customs. Use more precise map language such as “concourse,” “terminal,” “located,” and “extended,” and distinguish facilities from routes or structures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Most of the response is made up of simple present-tense clauses, and basic sentence patterns generally communicate the intended comparison. There is an attempt to combine ideas using “and” and “while,” but the longer sentences become difficult to control. For example, “on the right side there is passport control and customs on the left departures side” joins separate locations without clear sentence boundaries, making the relationships confusing. The sentence beginning “Now, on the left departures side” also shifts between the current and future layouts without a clear grammatical signal. Punctuation and sentence boundaries need more consistent control. Practise using shorter, complete sentences alongside accurate complex comparisons, and keep tense and location references clear when contrasting the two plans.

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