Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16
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 illustrate the changes that appear today and the difference between 1950 and today. Overall, today shows increasingly development in designing and filling the empty spaces, while the site of 1950 lacked to various renovations.
Looking at the farm in 1950, sheep occupied the northeastern region, alongside the roads were merely tracks. In the eastern part, there were a barn, a farmhouse and chickens just under it and slightly above the right end of the river. Beneath the main road and at the right of the large extended pathway of the river, there were fruit trees, soft fruits and vegetables, respectively; which were joined to the western and southwestern tracks.
Turning to the updates that are found today, Sheep area was replaced by solar panels, camping field and two parking area; one at the bottom just under the solar panels and other at the left of camping field. The tracks were renewed to roads having a barn at the bottom of the junction between the right and left regions. At the right area, holiday cottages replaced the barn, while the left remained similar to the appearance of 1950 except the farm shop that was opened next to the second parking area at the left.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student covers most of the key features of the two maps, noting the transformation of agricultural land into leisure and commercial amenities such as solar panels, a camping field, holiday cottages, and a farm shop. An overall trend is provided in the introduction, noting the development and filling of empty spaces. However, the overview is slightly clumsy in expression ('lacked to various renovations'). Certain details are slightly confused or imprecise, such as describing the barn as being replaced by holiday cottages when the plans show holiday cottages built in the eastern section while the barn was repositioned or retained differently. Nevertheless, the main comparisons between 1950 and today are successfully reported, satisfying the core requirements of Task 1.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, moving from an introduction with an overview to a detailed description of the 1950 map, and finally the contemporary changes. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the spatial features, such as 'Looking at the farm in 1950', 'Turning to the updates that are found today', and directional phrases like 'northeastern region' and 'beneath the main road'. However, paragraphing could be tighter, and some referencing is slightly mechanical or awkward, such as 'chickens just under it and slightly above the right end of the river', which impacts smooth progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'agricultural', 'solar panels', 'camping field', 'holiday cottages', and 'junction'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, but some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as 'increasingly development', 'lacked to various renovations', and 'extended pathway of the river'. Spelling is generally accurate, but lexical control is inconsistent, leading to some awkward phrasing that slightly hinders precise communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using relative clauses and prepositional phrases (e.g., 'which were joined to the western and southwestern tracks'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, such as 'the changes that appear today', 'today shows increasingly development', 'lacked to various renovations', and 'two parking area'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from reaching a higher band. Punctuation is generally acceptable.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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