Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-31

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 map illustrates the site of an airport recent image and how it will look after redevelopment next year.

The major change is that the airport is expanded.And the number of gates will increase from 8 to 18. A skytrain will be introduced next year and more shops will open.The facility of ATM will be provided next year and the bagdrop and other services like car hire.

Departure and arrival area will remain at the bottom of the airport.where is the cafe space and the car hire will be useful for the passengers travelling. Increased number of gates will control the long queues.

overall the redevelopment make the airport larger and provide passengers with a wider range of facilities. As compared to the earlier image of the airport the redevelopment will be beneficial for the passengers because of the larger space area for freshments and to spend leisure time with family and friends.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main expansion and correctly report that the gates increase from 8 to 18, with a sky train and additional facilities introduced. However, the response only partly describes the plans: it omits the Y-shaped concourse and several important relocations, such as check-in moving beside Arrivals and the new shops along the concourse. The claim that Departures and Arrivals “will remain at the bottom” is unclear and does not accurately describe the layout. Comments about reducing queues and spending leisure time are speculative rather than features shown in the plans. The response is also 144 words, six short of the required minimum; the nine words copied from the prompt are excluded. A fuller, more accurate comparison would strengthen coverage.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation: the response begins by introducing the maps, mentions several changes, and ends with a general overview. The main points are nevertheless grouped loosely, and the reader has to infer how the details relate to each other. For example, “The facility of ATM will be provided next year and the bagdrop and other services like car hire” is an incomplete list rather than a clearly developed comparison. The overview appears at the end, after comments about passenger benefits, and the paragraph breaks do not create a clear progression from the existing layout to the proposed one. Organise the report into an introduction, a concise overview, and paragraphs comparing the terminal and concourse changes; use linking phrases to show these relationships.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant airport vocabulary, including “gates,” “skytrain,” “ATM,” “bagdrop,” and “car hire,” so the topic is generally understandable. However, the range is limited, and several choices or combinations are awkward: “airport recent image,” “facility of ATM,” “larger space area,” and “space area for freshments” do not express the intended ideas naturally. “Freshments” is also an inaccurate word form, while “bagdrop” should be written as “bag drop.” Use precise terms for map changes, such as “concourse,” “terminal,” “is located,” and “is relocated,” and avoid vague phrases like “other services.” More accurate collocations would make the description clearer and more suitable for an academic report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response relies mainly on short, simple statements, with limited variety in sentence structures. Some sentences communicate a basic point, such as “The major change is that the airport is expanded,” but tense and verb-form control are inconsistent: “the redevelopment make” should be “the redevelopment makes” or “will make.” Sentence boundaries and punctuation also need attention: “expanded.And” has no space after the full stop, and “airport.where” incorrectly begins a new sentence with a lowercase word. The clause beginning “where is the cafe space” is not grammatically complete, and “Departure and arrival area will remain” has an agreement problem. Practise combining accurate simple sentences with controlled comparisons and future passive forms, such as “Check-in will be moved.”

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