Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06

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 following maps show the structure of the old Beechwood Farm and the current structure of it. Many significant changes has happened according to the given maps. The old one had less features than the current one, the present one looks more astonishing and have more features and amenities.

Overall, the 1950's Beechwood farm consisted only areas like fruit trees, soft fruit, vegetables, farmhouse and a gigantic sheep land and also there are no permanent roads and alot of facilities are still missing. However, the current one has more facilities and each section of the land is precisely divided for various departments. The current one has a farm shop in the fruit trees for the collection of fruits.

Although the soft fruits and vegetables section remained the same but in the current one, the road are made instead of tracks and barn has connected with the road. in the barn's position the holiday cotteges have taken the place. The old one does not have a designated parking area but the new one have two designated areas for the parking, one is loacted in the West side while the other one is located in the East side across the road of holiday cottages. The current one has solar panels and camping field area in the sheep's land.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of Beechwood Farm in 1950 and today, and makes some comparisons, such as noting that tracks were replaced by roads and that holiday cottages replaced the old barn. However, some parts are more fully developed than others. For example, while the introduction and second paragraph outline general changes, certain details are under-developed or imprecise, such as mentioning solar panels and camping fields without fully describing their exact locations relative to the former sheep area. The overview is somewhat basic, noting that the modern version has more features, but it could be extended to better highlight the major spatial transformations across the site.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a logical division into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and detail paragraphs. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. Words and phrases like 'The old one', 'the current one', and 'However' are used repeatedly, and referencing is not always clear, such as in the sentence starting with 'Although the soft fruits and vegetables section remained the same...' which lacks a proper main clause completion. Paragraphing is present, but the internal logical flow between sentences occasionally feels disjointed, preventing a smoother progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'amenities', 'precisely divided', 'designated parking area', and 'solar panels'. However, there are noticeable word-choice inaccuracies and inappropriate collocations, such as 'gigantic sheep land' instead of 'sheep pasture' or 'grazing area', and 'road are made instead of tracks'. Additionally, there are minor awkward phrasings like 'cotteges have taken the place', which reflect an attempt to use less common vocabulary with some resulting inaccuracies, though communication is generally maintained.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like relative clauses and concessive clauses (e.g., 'Although the soft fruits and vegetables section remained the same...'). However, there are frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, and agreement that persist throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement errors like 'Many significant changes has happened' and 'the new one have two designated areas', incorrect article usage ('the road are made'), and missing commas or incorrect punctuation in compound-complex sentences. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they restrict the grammar score.

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

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