Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-30

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 layouts illustrate the circumstances of Beechwood Farm in 1950 and after the development depicts its current condition.

Overall,the farm has been located at the right side of highway road and river covers all the other sides of farm. There are many changes done at this farm.

Like,the first sketch shows in 1950,it was just a farm providing out-dated facilities of fruit trees,soft fruits,vegetables,sheep,having a track,chickens,farmhouse and a barn. All the aspects are not in order.

In contrast,the second picture demonstrates the developments held. For instance,the developers replace the sheep with camping field and install solar panels mainly but also give a little area to parking slot which is accessible by both;by highway and by road. The other main changes are building a road over the track and adding holiday cottages furthermore they changed the barn location and attached barn with road nearby vegetables.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the two time periods and mention several relevant changes, including the replacement of the sheep area with camping, the addition of solar panels and holiday cottages, and changes to the road and barn. However, the response only partially summarises the plans: it gives little precise information about where features are located, and the overview that the farm is “at the right side of highway road” is unclear and does not capture the main pattern of development. The claim that the barn was “attached” to the road is also not an accurate description of its position. The response is 145 words, below the required minimum of 150. To strengthen the summary, describe the main changes and locations more clearly, including the farm shop and two parking areas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the earlier and current plans. This helps the reader recognise the comparison being attempted. However, progression within the paragraphs is limited, and several ideas are presented as a list rather than grouped by location or type of change. Linking expressions such as “In contrast” and “For instance” are useful, but “Like” is not an effective way to introduce the next point, and the final sentence joins several changes without clear relationships. Organise the details into logical groups—for example, changes to the western fields and new facilities in the east—and use clear references to connect them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing maps, including “replace,” “install,” “camping field,” “solar panels,” and “holiday cottages.” This shows a minimally adequate range for the task. However, several choices are imprecise or unnatural, which sometimes makes the meaning difficult to follow: “circumstances” does not describe the plans, “out-dated facilities” is not an appropriate description of the 1950 land uses, and “parking slot” is less suitable than the standard term “parking area.” Phrases such as “highway road” and “developments held” also show limited control of collocation. Aim for precise map vocabulary and use neutral terms such as “features,” “land uses,” “added,” and “relocated.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a comparison introduced by “In contrast” and a clause beginning “which is accessible.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “Overall,the farm has been located” uses an unsuitable tense and lacks spacing after punctuation; “the developers replace” does not maintain the past tense needed for changes; and “they changed the barn location and attached barn with road” has faulty sentence construction. Articles and sentence boundaries also need attention. Practise writing clear past-tense descriptions of the 1950 plan and present-tense descriptions of today, checking subject–verb agreement and punctuation in each sentence.

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