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, where 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 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. Futhurmore, this can support visitors to buy fresh and natural products. Additionally, people living close can buy local food more conveniently.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main features of both maps, noting the changes from 1950 to the present day, such as the conversion of the sheep area into a camping field and solar panels, the addition of holiday cottages, a farm shop, and parking areas. An overview is present at the beginning. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in spatial reporting; for instance, the text states that 'the new barn is located in a converging road near chickens, but it is smaller than in the past', whereas the visual data shows the barn has actually been relocated to the south-west of the farmhouse. Additionally, the explanation of the farm shop's purpose ('Futhurmore, this can support visitors to buy...') leans slightly into personal commentary rather than purely objective summarising. Nonetheless, the task is adequately addressed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response has a clear overall progression, moving from general changes to specific features like the camping field, cottages, barn, and farm shop. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall', 'Also', and 'Additionally'. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped; the entire response is presented as a single block of text rather than being divided into a logical introduction, overview, and body paragraphs. This lack of paragraph breaks hampers the structural organisation. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally imprecise, making the logical flow between sentences slightly disjointed at times.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to maps and rural environments such as 'facilities', 'transformed', 'converted', and 'natural products'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some word choices are awkward or inaccurate, such as 'guest place' instead of accommodation or camping area. A spelling error ('Futhurmore') is also present. Despite these occasional inaccuracies and limitations in precision, the lexical range is sufficient to communicate the main ideas clearly without impeding the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including passive structures ('were added', 'were built', 'have now been transformed') which are appropriate for academic descriptions. Control of grammar is generally decent, and communication is rarely impeded by errors. However, there are some grammatical inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as 'where side near soft fruits was designed into' (preposition and phrasing error) and 'converging road near chickens'. Punctuation is mostly standard, but the overall range of complex structures remains somewhat limited and repetitive.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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