Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17

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 two maps show two different sites of Beechwood Farm in 1950 and at present. Overall, many facilities were added and the track was renewed as a road. The most significant change is the sheep area, the side near soft fruits was designed into a camping field, while the new guest place was converted into solar panels. Also, two parking areas were built for farm guests’ traffic. The old barn has now been transformed into three holiday cottages. Behind the cottages, the farmhouse and chicken area remain as unchanged. And the new barn is located in a converging road near chickens, but it is smaller than in the past. Up the road, from vegetables to fruit trees, there is one change in today, a farm shop. It is near the two-lane highway, built inside the fruit trees area. Otherwise, this can support visitors to buy fresh and natural products. Additionally, people living close can buy local food more conveniently.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student provides a generally clear overview of the changes between 1950 and the present at Beechwood Farm, identifying key transformations such as the replacement of the track with a road, the addition of a farm shop, camping field, solar panels, and holiday cottages. However, some descriptive details are slightly confused or imprecise, such as the statement that 'the new guest place was converted into solar panels' or that the new barn is smaller and located 'in a converging road'. Furthermore, the response is relatively brief, though it covers the main spatial features. To achieve a higher band, the report needs a more structured breakdown of the spatial shifts and greater precision when reporting map features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response has a basic logical structure, beginning with a general introductory sentence and attempting to group changes across the site. However, the paragraphing is underdeveloped, as the entire body of the report is clumped into a single dense block of text instead of being separated into logical sections (e.g., western versus eastern changes). Cohesive devices are used to some extent ('Overall', 'Also', 'Additionally'), but referencing and transitions between sentences can feel slightly mechanical or abrupt, making the progression harder to follow than expected for a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of task-specific vocabulary relevant to map descriptions, including terms like 'transformed', 'converted', 'facilities', and 'converging road'. While there are successful vocabulary choices, some expressions are awkward, unnatural, or slightly inaccurate, such as 'guest place' instead of accommodation, or 'renewed as a road'. Spelling is generally accurate, but limitations in word choice and occasional imprecise phrasing restrict the score to a solid Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases ('Up the road, from vegetables to fruit trees...'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward clause structures throughout the text, such as 'the side near soft fruits was designed into a camping field' (which should be 'designated' or 'turned') and 'the farmhouse and chicken area remain as unchanged'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent minor grammatical inaccuracies prevent the response from reaching Band 7.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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