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 given plans illustrates the site of a farm in 1950 and do the same for today.
Overall, the layout of Beechwood farm stayed the same but the area designated for sheep, now, has been divided into a camping field, parking areas and an area for solar panels. The track has been converted into a road.
The main changes made to the farm includes conversion of the track in the center of the form into a road and the barn has been shifted at the intersection of road from the both sides which used to be in the far side of the farm from main road. And older location of the bar has been converted into three holiday cottages. At the entrance to the farm from the main road, a farm shop has been built on one side and a parking on the other side. The area used to be reserved for sheep now has been divided into a camping field and a solar panels area. A new parking area has also been designated on the other side of the farm.
The rest of layout of the farm remains unchanged.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response successfully covers all parts of the task by outlining the main changes between 1950 and today at Beechwood Farm. An overview is provided, noting the main transformation of the sheep area and the track. However, some areas are under-developed or lack full clarity in comparison to others. For instance, the exact positioning of the new features in relation to the unchanged fruit and vegetable plots could be integrated more smoothly into a comprehensive overview. Some details, such as the exact transformation of the barn, are slightly confused in the wording ("barn has been shifted at the intersection of road from the both sides"). Overall, the essential information and main trends are reported, satisfying the core requirements of this level.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5
The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to group information logically into an introduction, an overview, body details, and a concluding remark. However, the progression and paragraphing are somewhat disjointed. The single-sentence paragraphs and brief concluding remark ("The rest of layout of the farm remains unchanged") disrupt the flow and logical sequence of the response. Furthermore, cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or mechanical, and referencing is not always clear, leading to abrupt transitions between sentences and ideas, which pulls the overall cohesion down to this level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to maps and geographical changes such as "layout", "designated", "converted", and "intersection". There are, however, several lexical errors and awkward collocations that reveal limitations, such as "conversion of the track... into a road", "far side of the farm from main road", and the spelling/word choice slip "bar" instead of "barn". While these errors do not seriously impede communication, they demonstrate a lack of precision and control that prevents the vocabulary from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as relative clauses and passive voice ("has been divided into", "has been built"). However, there are noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ("The given plans illustrates", "main changes... includes"), missing articles ("at the entrance to the farm", "on a parking"), and awkward prepositional usage ("at the intersection of road from the both sides"). While these errors rarely impede overall communication, their frequency across different structures keeps the grammatical score at this level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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