Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-13

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 map illustrate the changes of harbour in 2000 and how it look currently.

Overall, the porth harbour has significant development in term of torism and visitor facilities. The most noticeable changes are cafes & shop ,hotel, private beach.

In there 2000 the porth hobour beach is simple. No privacy of visitor and seperate family area.In the west side have a car parking who attach the main road and beside the parking is shower and toilet area. one road who attach the main road gone to lifeboat place. the north side have dock for passengers and the south east side have a one castle inside the water.

After the changes the porth Harbour adding more facilties for visitors. Inserting cafe and shops, castle was converted in to hotel who are directly connect to the main road and provide the private beach for families in south side and for local public beach is north side. Morever provide a seperate area in beach for fishing boats and passenger ferries allocate seperate area. The car parking and showers & toilet divided into two places in western side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the broad shift towards visitor facilities and mention several relevant changes, including the hotel replacing the castle, the private beach, and the addition of cafés and shops. This gives the reader a general sense of the harbour’s development. However, some key map changes are missing or unclear: most notably, the marina and fishing-boat areas exchange locations, and the dock gains an additional jetty. The statement that the hotel is “directly connect to the main road” is not supported by the plan, and the claim about a “separate area in beach for fishing boats” misrepresents the layout. Develop the overview around the main spatial changes, then report the facilities and transport features accurately and distinguish the two beaches and boat areas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable four-paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, a description of the earlier plan, and a description of the current harbour. This provides an overall progression from past to present. Some linking is also attempted through phrases such as “Overall,” “After the changes,” and “Moreover.” However, the sequence within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, and several references are unclear—for example, “Inserting cafe and shops” does not clearly connect to a subject or explain their location. The description also jumps between beaches, the hotel, boats, and parking without a consistent spatial route. Organise each map description by area or feature, and use clear links such as “in contrast,” “while,” and “in addition” to show how features changed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “harbour,” “dock,” “lifeboat,” “private beach,” and “passenger ferries,” and you attempt to describe change with “converted” and “provide.” However, the range and control are limited, with repeated general terms such as “changes,” “area,” and “side.” Several spelling and word-choice errors—“torism,” “facilties,” “hobour,” and “seperate”—make the description less clear, while phrases such as “castle inside the water” and “car parking” are not natural in this context. Build a more precise map vocabulary, including “relocated,” “replaced,” “adjacent to,” and “on the southern shore,” and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the past-to-present comparison is generally understandable. Nevertheless, grammatical errors occur throughout and sometimes make relationships between features hard to interpret. For example, “The map illustrate” has incorrect subject–verb agreement, while “how it look currently” uses the wrong verb form. Articles and sentence construction are also problematic in “the south east side have a one castle,” and “Inserting cafe and shops” is a fragment rather than a complete sentence. Use a consistent past tense for the 2000 plan and present tense for today, and practise complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs. Check agreement, articles, plurals, and punctuation when editing.

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