Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The plans below show a public park when it first opened in 1920 and the same park today.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The illustration depicts the changes made to a public park in 1920 and now.

Overall, the park have been considerably upgraded and several areas have been repurposed. The major changes include the additions of the amphithreather area, a rose garden with seats and a water feature. The minor changes are the conversion of previous areas into new facilities.

The Stage for musicians have been removed and replaced with a amphithreatre located appoximately in the same location. An additional rose garden with seats have been installed to replace the fountain situated at the center of both entrance. Similarly the glasshouse has removed and a water feature has been added in its place.

What used to be the rose garden and ponds for aquatic plants at the northern right-hand side of the park have been redeveloped into a cafe and playing area for children, respectively. Additionally, the seats that was scatter at each ends of the park have been removed, however the previous rose garden area at the top left of the park remains the same.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by comparing the two plans of Grange Park in 1920 and today. An overview is provided, highlighting the main changes such as upgrades, repurposing of areas, and the introduction of new features like an amphitheatre and a water feature. Key spatial details and transformations are reported accurately, such as the conversion of the pond into a children's play area and the glasshouse into a water feature. While some minor descriptive details are omitted, the essential features are well covered and supported by visual data, meeting the requirements of a Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptor. The response is clear and adequately addresses the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and distinct body paragraphs detailing specific spatial transformations. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'Additionally', 'Similarly', and 'What used to be'. However, paragraphing could be slightly better balanced, and referencing is occasionally affected by grammatical inaccuracies (e.g., 'the seats that was scatter'). Overall progression is clear throughout the text, allowing the reader to follow the comparison easily, supporting a Band 6.0 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'repurposed', 'aquatic plants', and 'redeveloped'. However, there are several spelling and word-choice errors, including 'amphithreather', 'amphithreatre', 'appoximately', and 'scatter' instead of 'scattered'. Despite these inaccuracies, the vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning of the map comparison, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

A mix of simple and complex sentence forms is attempted throughout the response. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and agreement issues, such as 'the park have been', 'The Stage for musicians have been', 'the glasshouse has removed', and 'the seats that was scatter'. These errors occasionally draw attention and impede smooth reading, placing the response firmly at Band 5.5 for grammatical accuracy and control.

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

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