Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-29

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)

These diagrams show an airport before and after it's redevelopment.

Overall, the airport after an year looks more expanded, having many new things that were not there previously, also some changes in what it already had.

The advancement in things it already had includes, the number of gates for arrivals and departures have been increased from just one gate to two gates for each section, the location of check-in counter have been changed from left to right side of departures section, similarly the cafe has been moved from top right corner to left bottom corner of departures section. Also the number of gates have been increased from just 8 to 18.

Other than just changings and improvements in already existing things, we can see the introduction of many new things, for example that walkway have been replaced by a sky train, the cafe is introduced along with an ATM and a car hire service in arrivals section. On departures side we can see a new block for bag drop, and just after the security passport control there are some shops as well that were missing before redevelopment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You identify the main overall change—the airport is expanded—and report several relevant details, including the increase from 8 to 18 gates, the new sky train, shops, bag drop, ATM and car hire. The comparison of the check-in and café locations also helps show how existing facilities change. However, some details are inaccurate: the gates are not divided into separate arrivals and departures sections, and the café in Departures is relocated from the right side to the bottom-left, rather than from the “top right corner.” The overview could also be more precise by highlighting the Y-shaped concourse extension and the reorganisation of the terminal. These errors and some over-generalised descriptions limit the precision of an otherwise clear account.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear progression: an introduction, an overview, then paragraphs covering changes to existing facilities and new additions. This makes the main comparison easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Overall,” “Also,” and “Other than” signal relationships between ideas. The grouping is not always fully effective, however: the third paragraph combines the concourse, arrivals and departures changes, while the previous paragraph mixes gate changes with terminal facilities. Some transitions also feel conversational or repetitive, particularly “Other than just changings and improvements.” Grouping the information by area—concourse, Departures and Arrivals—and using more precise references would make the progression smoother and cohesion more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of vocabulary for describing redevelopment, including “expanded,” “introduction,” “replaced,” and “redevelopment,” and the reader can understand the changes you intend to describe. However, several choices are imprecise or unnatural for a map report: “advancement in things,” “new things,” and “just after” are vague, while “changings” is not the appropriate noun form. “The airport after an year” is also an awkward expression. More precise terms such as “facilities,” “relocated,” “added,” and “adjacent to” would help distinguish changes in position from new additions. Overall, the vocabulary is adequate, but occasional word-choice and collocation problems reduce precision and formality.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including clauses linked with “while” and “that,” and the overall meaning is generally clear. Some grammatical errors remain, especially with articles, agreement and sentence construction. For example, “after an year” should be “after a year,” and “the number of gates … have been increased” requires singular agreement (“has increased”). In “the location of check-in counter have been changed,” both the article and verb agreement need correction. The long sentence beginning “The advancement in things it already had includes” also has awkward punctuation and several clauses joined without clear control. Check subject–verb agreement and article use, and divide long comparisons into shorter, accurately structured sentences.

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