Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-09

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 5.5)

The two plans illustrates how Porth Harbor has changed since the year 2000.

Overall, porth harbor has become more developed and tourist-oriented,with new hospitility facilities added or existing one expanded, such as hotel, cafes an shops and larger docks.

In the north east side near public beach another dock is adjusted while the fishing boats and marine private yacht places are swapped in the new model while car-park is connected directly with the main road.

in the south eastern side near lifeboat cafe and shops are designed and in the corner, castle was renovated to hotel and public beach is allocated for hotel guests only and route to hotel is connected to the road coming towards lifeboat with another rouste to the hotel.

the new plan was made more for tourist attraction and renovated and added new places to attract t

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the broad change from a harbour to a more tourist-oriented place, and you report several key developments: the marina and fishing-boat areas switch, a hotel replaces the castle, and cafés and shops are added. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear. The extra dock is not on the north-east side near the public beach; the dock is at the northern harbour entrance, where an additional jetty and a second berthed boat appear. The car parks are not described as newly connected to the main road. The response also omits changes such as the added south-west showers and toilets and the hotel’s private beach. The final sentence is unfinished, and the response is below the required 150 words, limiting the detail provided.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and descriptions of changes in different areas. This gives the reader a starting point, and phrases such as “Overall” and “while” attempt to connect ideas. However, progression is difficult to follow because several changes are crowded into long, loosely connected sentences, and the final paragraph repeats the tourism point without adding clear information. The shift from “north east side” to “south eastern side” is not supported by clear paragraphing or transitions, and the unfinished ending interrupts the response. Organise the details into two clear groups, such as changes around the harbour entrance and changes to the southern shore, and use accurate referencing to show where each feature is located.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “harbor,” “public beach,” “fishing boats,” “marina,” and “lifeboat,” which helps communicate the main subject. There is also an attempt to describe change with “swapped” and “renovated.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “hospitility,” “marine private yacht places,” and “rouste.” Some phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “another dock is adjusted” and “the new model,” making the map changes harder to understand. Use the labels from the plans where possible and choose precise verbs for map changes, such as “relocated,” “replaced,” and “added.” Check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a contrast with “while” and a relative clause in “the road coming towards lifeboat.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make relationships between features unclear. For example, “The two plans illustrates” has subject–verb disagreement, while “castle was renovated to hotel” is missing articles and uses an unclear construction. The sentence beginning “in the south eastern side” contains several clauses joined without clear grammatical structure, and the final sentence is incomplete. Capitalisation and punctuation are also inconsistent, particularly at sentence beginnings. Practise writing shorter, complete sentences with accurate articles and verb agreement before combining details into more complex structures.

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