Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The plans below show a harbour in 2000 and how it looks today.

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

 

 

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The given plans illustrate how horbour looked back in 2000 and how it looks now.

Overall, the majority of the changes occured along the roads on the west side of the plan as well as on the south side. There were also construction of new buildings in the horbour and some of the businesses switched their places.

One of the major change is the construction of new showers and toilets area between the car parkings on the west side. There is also a new location now for cafes & shops which is next to the lifeboat area on the south side of the plan. Castle building is now used as hotel and the public beach which is on the left side of the castle is now reserved for the hotel guests only.

Other than that, the public beach on the north side of the horbour is still there but there are multiple dock now. The marina private yachts switched their location with fishing boats and now they have more area than before. There are still two car parkings in the horbour as of 2000.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify several important changes, including the hotel replacing the disused castle, the southern beach becoming private, and the marina and fishing-boat areas exchanging locations. The overview also recognises development around the harbour. These points address the task, and the main changes are generally accurate. However, some details are unclear or imprecise: “multiple dock” does not explain that an additional jetty was added and two boats are now berthed there, while “new showers and toilets area between the car parkings” does not clearly describe the facilities added beside the marina. The claim that the changes were mainly along the roads is also not a particularly clear summary of the overall transformation. Include the relocation of the fishing boats to the northern basin more explicitly and describe the key changes with greater precision.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a broad overview, and two paragraphs describing changes. The sequence from facilities and the southern area to the harbour entrance and water uses is understandable, and phrases such as “Overall” and “Other than that” help signal progression. This gives the report a coherent arrangement. Some connections and references, however, are not fully clear. For example, “the public beach which is on the left side of the castle” makes the beach’s location harder to follow than a compass-based description, and “There are still two car parkings” is added without explaining whether their positions changed. The linking phrase “Other than that” is also somewhat conversational. Grouping changes by location and using precise references such as “to the south of the road” would make the progression more controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a suitable range of map vocabulary, including “construction,” “switched their places,” “reserved,” and “location,” and the reader can generally understand the changes being described. There are also some inaccurate or unnatural choices that limit precision. “Horbour” is misspelled repeatedly, “car parkings” is not the natural plural form, and “multiple dock” is both imprecise and awkward. “Castle building is now used as hotel” also does not express the change as naturally as saying the castle was replaced by a hotel. Aim for accurate spelling and standard collocations, and use specific terms such as “additional jetty” and “private beach” rather than broad descriptions. This would make the vocabulary more precise while retaining your relevant range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “the public beach which is on the left side of the castle” and the contrast in “Castle building is now used as hotel.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “One of the major change is” needs plural agreement (“changes are”), and “There were also construction” needs a suitable noun form and verb agreement. Articles are missing in “used as hotel,” while “there are multiple dock now” has a number-agreement problem. The opening also shifts from past to present in “looked back in 2000 and how it looks now,” which is understandable but could be more controlled. Review agreement, articles, and plural forms, and check each sentence for consistent tense.

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

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