Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-29

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The two maps below show road access to a city hospital in 2007 and 2010.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons wherever relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The two map illustrates the changes made to the road access to a city hospital in 2007 and 2010.

Overall, Road access to the city hospital had made significantly changes between 2007 and 2010. The main changes was introduction of two roundabout, bus station and facility of car park for the staff members while, city roads remained largely unchanged.

In 2007, City hospital is surrounded by ring road with hospital road providing access to the city road. There was a car park facility for staff and public on the eastern side of hospital road. In addition, several bus stops are located along both side of hospital road.

In 2010, several changes had been made to hospital's road access. Two roundabouts were constructed on hospital road, connecting hospital road with ring road and city road. The previous bus station was replaced by the bus station on the western side of hospital road while seperate public car park and staff car park were constructed on eastern side of hospital road.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student covers all the key features of the two maps, providing a clear overview of the main changes between 2007 and 2010. They correctly identify the introduction of the roundabouts, the reconfiguration of the car parking facilities, and the changes regarding public transport (the bus station replacing individual stops). However, there is a minor inaccuracy in the 2010 description where it states that a 'previous bus station was replaced by the bus station' when the 2007 map featured individual bus stops rather than a station. Despite this slight misinterpretation, the overall response successfully fulfills the requirements of the task by reporting the main features and making relevant comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a clear overall progression, moving from an introductory statement and overview to detailed descriptions of the maps in 2007 and 2010 respectively. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate these sections. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkwardly used, such as starting sentences with 'while,' without a proper preceding clause or using repetitive transitional phrases. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of smooth inter-sentence transitions occasionally impacts the flow of reading.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items such as 'reconfigured,' 'constructed,' and 'interchange.' However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'The two map illustrates' (grammatical agreement error affecting lexical presentation), 'significantly changes' (should be 'significant changes'), and 'The main changes was' (plural/singular mismatch). While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect a limited control over more complex lexical choices.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors throughout the response, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The two map illustrates', 'The main changes was'), tense inconsistencies ('City hospital is surrounded' instead of 'was surrounded'), and missing articles ('on eastern side' instead of 'on the eastern side'). While the meaning remains clear despite these errors, they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.