Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-22
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 map illustratethe layout of Beachwood farm in 1950 and at present time.
Overall, the farm has undergone substantial redeveelopment while agricultural activites occupied most of the site 1950 the modern layout features a wider varity of land uses, including recreational facilites and expanded residential areas. In addition, the farming land has been reorganised with some former agriculturak zones being removed or replaced.
In 1950, the largest section of the farm was devoted to sheep grazing in north eastren part of the site the south west of the areqa were connected by the network of tracks. The south farmhouse and barn were located in south east with a chicken enclosure nearby the farm was bordered by a river to the soth and west while a main road ran along the northren edge.
Today,significant changes can be ovesrved across the site the area previously used for sheep farming has been converted into the leasure zone while the former fruit tree and soft fruit field have been replaced by woodland. The vegetables growing area has been removed for other purposes. Furthermore, the track syestem has been modrenissed and extended providing improved access throughout the farm.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student attempts to summarise the main features of the maps, noting the transition from an agricultural farm in 1950 to a diversified layout today. However, there are significant factual inaccuracies when compared to the visual data. For instance, the student states that the sheep farming area has been converted into a 'leisure zone' and fruit trees have been replaced by woodland, whereas the visual data indicates a camping field, holiday cottages, parking areas, and a farm shop have been added while fruit trees and soft fruits largely remain. Furthermore, the overview mentions that former agricultural zones were removed, but many agricultural features are still present. This pulls the score down to Band 5.5 due to inaccurate reporting of key data.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by an overall summary, a description of the 1950 map, and finally the current layout. Cohesive devices are used to signal transitions (e.g., 'Overall', 'In 1950', 'Today'). However, referencing is sometimes unclear and punctuation errors, such as missing full stops between clauses (e.g., 'site 1950 the modern layout'), disrupt the flow. Paragraphing is adequate, but the mechanical nature of the transitions and organisational slips place this firmly in the Band 6 category.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common collocations such as 'substantial redevelopment' and 'recreational facilities'. However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including 'illustratethe', 'Beachwood', 'redeveelopment', 'activites', 'varity', 'facilites', 'agriculturak', 'north eastren', 'soth', 'northren', 'ovejserved', 'leasure', 'syestem', and 'modrenissed'. These persistent spelling mistakes and occasional word-choice inaccuracies limit the lexical score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'while agricultural activites occupied most of the site 1950 the modern layout features...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak due to frequent missing punctuation, run-on sentences, and omitted prepositions or articles (e.g., 'in north eastren part', 'the south farmhouse', 'area previously used for sheep farming has been converted'). While meaning is generally retrievable, the frequency of basic errors prevents the response from reaching a Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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