The plans below show the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.
Sample Response
The two maps illustrate the current layout of the Southwest Airport and its planned redevelopment next yearplanned modifications for the next year.
In general, the airport is set for significant expansion and modernisation, with a substantial increase in facilities and improved passenger flow, particularly regarding gates and amenities for both arrivals and departures.
Currently, the airport features separate departure and arrival areasa single arrival and departure area, with eight gates served by a central walkwaytwo walkways. Amenities are somewhat limited, including only a café in the departure arealounge and no amenities in the arrival areanothing in the arrival area.
Next year, the redeveloped airport will undergo substantial transformation. The number of gates will more than double to eighteen, while the gate concourse will become Y-shapedsuggesting a much higher passenger capacity. A key addition will be an internal sky train, connecting the terminal to the expanded gate concoursevastly improving connectivity within the expanded complex. New facilities are planned for departing passengers, including shopsadditional shops and a dedicated bag-drop areadedicated bag drop areas. For arrivals, new amenities will encompass a café, ATMs, and a car hire facility, indicating a more comprehensive service offering.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response gives a clear overview of the airport’s expansion and selects the most important changes, including the increase in gates, the sky train, and new facilities on both sides of the terminal. Its main limitation is that some unchanged features and layout details are omitted. Add one concise comparison of the retained controls and check-in areas to make the coverage more complete.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The main transformation is accurately summarised and the most significant additions are well selected, with only minor layout details omitted.
Briefly identify the facilities that remain in place and clarify how the gate area changes shape as well as size.
Coherence and Cohesion
Clear paragraphing and a well-managed progression from overview to the current site and future plan make the report easy to follow.
Strengthen the final paragraph further by ordering changes spatially from departures through the gate area to arrivals.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible and precise, with effective language for redevelopment, capacity, connectivity, and amenities.
Prefer strictly visual description over interpretive phrases such as suggesting higher capacity when a direct comparison is available.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately, and errors are rare and do not impede communication.
Maintain this control while using slightly more concise sentence structures for dense lists of future facilities.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The plans below show the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.