Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-01

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 two plans compare the layout of southwest airport before and after its development over a time.

Overall, the area underwent significant development, with several new facilities being introduced and some existing structures being replaced. The most noticeable change was the transformation of Check-ins, Cafe, Walkways and Gate paths.

Recently, the area mainly consisted of Departures stage like Check-ins, Cafe, Walkway and Gates. The after development has planning of implementing new changes like shops, sky trains and new layouts. In arrivals section they are introducing cafe, ATM, and car hire. The shops are introduced for branded products and items.

In previous they has less features the structure of airport will be modified accordingly. The future development will be more spacious and luxury. where people will be benefited and capacity will be more. In older airport, there are some gate paths from 1 to 8 whereas, in future the number of gates doubled from 1to 16.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the broad change from a smaller airport layout to one with additional facilities, and your overview correctly highlights new shops, a sky train, and services in Arrivals. You also compare the original eight gates with the expanded gate area. However, several important details are missing or inaccurate: the future plan has gates 1–18, not “1 to 16,” and the concourse changes to a Y-shape. The response also says existing structures are “replaced” without specifying which ones, while claims that the airport will be “more spacious and luxury” or that shops sell branded products are not supported by the plans. Covering the main spatial changes more precisely and avoiding speculation would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure, moving from an introduction and overview to details about the two areas and then a concluding comparison. This gives the reader some organisation. However, progression is not consistently clear: the third paragraph lists features without explaining their locations or how they compare, and the final paragraph repeats the idea that the airport will change rather than adding a clear summary. Linking phrases such as “Recently,” “In previous,” and “whereas” are either awkward or do not clearly connect the ideas. Group the information by the terminal areas or by major changes, and use accurate references such as “In the redesigned Arrivals area” to make relationships easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “Departures,” “Arrivals,” “ATM,” “shops,” and “gates,” and attempt more descriptive terms such as “transformation” and “introduced.” However, the range is limited and several choices are imprecise or unnatural. “Check-ins” is not the best label for the facility, “Gate paths” does not describe the gates, and “luxury” is used where an adjective such as “more spacious” or “modern” would fit the intended meaning. “The shops are introduced for branded products and items” is also unsupported and awkwardly phrased. Aim for precise map language—such as “concourse,” “extended,” and “located”—and avoid adding purposes that the visual does not show.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a comparison with “whereas” and a relative clause beginning “where people will be benefited.” However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries are frequent enough to make some statements difficult to read. For example, “In previous they has less features” has incorrect tense and agreement, while “The after development has planning” does not form a clear grammatical sentence. The fragment “where people will be benefited and capacity will be more” also lacks a clear connection to the preceding sentence. Practise accurate past and future forms, and check each sentence for a complete subject and verb before adding clauses.

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