Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-14

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)

As shown in the diagram above, there wasn't much development in 1950. There is a huge barn and alot of land for cattle i.e sheeps and there is land for vegetations. There are alot of fruit trees, soft fruits and vegetables grown on the land. There is a track instead of a road. In todays farm the land has been utilized much more efficiently. Solar panels have been installed to generate free electricity from sunlight. There are proper roads intead of tracks and parking for the vehicles that will travel to the farm or even the camp sight that is now present there. Holiday cottages are built at the place of barn so the visitors can stay comfortably and the barn is shifted somewhere else and size of it is reduced.There is also a farm shop now that can come in handy for buying farm equipments or cattle feed. Overall the development makes the place much more usable and people can now visit easily with newly built roads. In both eras the place for the chickens is the same. I personally like todays farm layout more than the 1950s one.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the addition of solar panels, roads, parking, a camping area, holiday cottages and a farm shop, and you note that the chicken enclosure remains in the same place. However, the comparison is not consistently accurate: the cottages are described as being built “at the place of barn,” although they are south of the eastbound road and the barn remains elsewhere on the site. The claim that the barn is “huge” in 1950 is not supported by the plan, and the response does not clearly explain the overall shift from a mainly agricultural layout to one that also accommodates visitors and energy generation. Personal opinions and speculation about free electricity or what the shop sells take space from objective map description. A clearer overview and more precise location comparisons would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic chronological structure, moving from 1950 to today, and uses some linking expressions such as “In todays farm” and “Overall.” This gives the reader a general sense of comparison. However, the information is mostly presented as one continuous sequence rather than grouped into clear paragraphs or themes, so the progression is limited. Several points are loosely connected: the discussion moves from roads to parking, camping, cottages, the barn and the shop without consistently showing where each feature is located or how it relates to the earlier plan. Repeated “There is” constructions also make the description list-like. Organise the response into an introduction and overview, followed by paragraphs comparing agricultural areas and new facilities, and use location-based links to guide the reader.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing the plans, including “solar panels,” “holiday cottages,” “farm shop,” “track” and “vegetables,” so the main changes are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more descriptive language, such as “utilized much more efficiently.” However, several choices are informal, imprecise or unsuitable for an objective report: “huge barn,” “free electricity,” “come in handy” and “I personally like” do not describe the maps neutrally. Some spelling and word-form errors are noticeable, including “alot,” “intead,” “camp sight” and “vegetations.” Aim for precise map vocabulary and accurate collocations, such as describing facilities as “added” or “introduced” and land as “used for” a particular purpose.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes both simple statements and some longer sentences, for example, “Holiday cottages are built at the place of barn so the visitors can stay comfortably and the barn is shifted somewhere else.” Meaning is usually recoverable, but control is uneven. Tense use shifts between past and present when comparing the two plans (“There is” and “There are” for 1950, then “are built” and “is shifted” for changes), and articles are missing in phrases such as “at the place of barn.” The sentence beginning “There is a huge barn and alot of land” also has an awkward agreement pattern, while punctuation is missing before “There is also a farm shop.” Use past forms for the 1950 plan, present forms for today, and check articles and sentence boundaries.

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