Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-15
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 plan illustrates the place of a farm in 1950 and the identical place in todays plan.
Overall, the area became considerably more developed, with several new bulidings and roads added. In contrast, the river and the main road reamained largely unchanged.
Next to the main road, the farm shop was added and across the road a parking area was constructed. The barn was reloated to the place where the two tracks meet and now a big holoday cottage was paced in its previous location.
In contrast to the original layout, the later map shows that the fields used by sheep to graze was replaced by a lot of new facilities like camping sites, parking sites and added solar panels and a lot trees were added too. All these new additions are good for the environment and for well being of animals.
Many facilities got added into todays map and most of these are intended for induviduals that visit that place more often.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student successfully addresses the prompt by summarising the main features of Beechwood Farm in 1950 and today, noting key changes such as the addition of a farm shop, holiday cottages, a camping field, and solar panels, alongside permanent features like the river. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting the general transition from a traditional working farm to a more developed site. However, some specific locations and transformations are slightly imprecise, such as describing the barn as relocated when it appears in a similar position with added road junctions, and mentioning that 'a lot trees were added' when fruit trees existed in 1950. Furthermore, the final sentence strays into personal opinion ('All these new additions are good for the environment'), which is not strictly required in an Academic Task 1 summary. Overall, the response covers the key changes adequately for a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged coherently with a clear overall progression from introduction to overview, body paragraphs detailing specific structural changes, and a brief concluding remark. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different areas of the map. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'In contrast', 'Next to', and 'All these new additions'. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, as seen in phrases like 'the place where the two tracks meet', which disrupts smooth navigation through the visual details. While logical organization is present, the mechanical use of basic cohesive ties and occasional lapses in referencing prevent the text from achieving a higher band score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'redeveloped', 'facilities', and 'construction'. However, there are several spelling errors throughout the text, including 'todays', 'bulidings', 'reamained', 'reloated', 'holoday', 'paced', 'induviduals', and the erroneous compounding of 'well being'. Word choice is occasionally awkward, such as 'a big holoday cottage was paced in its previous location'. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of spelling mistakes and basic lexical slips limits the score to a 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures such as introductory prepositional phrases ('Next to the main road, ...') and passive voice constructions ('a parking area was constructed', 'the fields used by sheep to graze was replaced'). There are grammatical errors present, most notably subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'fields used by sheep to graze was replaced' instead of 'were replaced') and missing apostrophes ('todays plan'). Despite these errors, sentence forms are varied enough to ensure that meaning remains clear and communication is not impeded, satisfying the criteria for Band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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