Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-09
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The plans below show the site of a farm in 1950 and the same site today.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The plans illustrates the changes that took place at farm between 1950 and 2026.
Overall, the farm underweight significant changes, with several new facilities being introduced and some existing features being removed or relocated. However Road and river location remained largely unchanged.
In 1950,fruit trees and soft fruits areas was located in the northers side. while barn, farm and chicken sections were situated in west of the side of farm .In addition, the area where the sheep were staying west side of the farm .There was also track and river was positioned last but not least vegetable section were located exact center of the farm.
Today,chickens area are located same and farmhouse is also followed by that while fruit trees , soft fruits and vegetables areas remained largely unchanged they just open new farm shop near fruit trees.However sheep area has been replaced by camping field .Furthermore,parking and solar pannels area also has been added in new farm map.And barn connected with two roads apart from this they added new holidays cottages near by solar pannels.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response covers the main features of the maps, including the addition of new facilities like the farm shop, solar panels, and holiday cottages, as well as the removal of the sheep area. However, the description is somewhat disorganized and lacks a clear, analytical approach to comparing the two time periods. While the overview is present, it is slightly vague. The report would benefit from a more structured grouping of information—for example, grouping features that remained unchanged versus those that were developed or replaced—to better highlight the significant transformations.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response uses basic cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'However', and 'Furthermore', but the flow is often interrupted by awkward phrasing and punctuation errors. Paragraphing is present, but the internal structure of the paragraphs is weak, making the progression of ideas feel disjointed. For instance, the transition between describing the 1950 layout and the current layout is abrupt. The use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'followed by that', which makes it difficult for the reader to track the information being presented.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'underweight significant changes' (likely intended 'underwent') and 'last but not least' (which is inappropriate for a formal report). The student relies on repetitive phrasing like 'located' and 'areas'. To reach a higher band, the student should incorporate more precise descriptive language related to spatial changes, such as 'converted into', 'demolished', 'extended', or 'situated in the northern quadrant'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('The plans illustrates', 'fruit trees... was located'), missing articles ('in west of the side'), and incorrect verb tenses ('chickens area are located'). While there is an attempt to use complex sentences, they are often marred by errors in structure and punctuation. The student needs to focus on basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like pluralization and preposition usage to improve clarity and accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.