Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-13

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 provided map illustrates the layout of harbour in 2000 with it's current appearance.

Overall, it can be observed at a glace that in 2000, the castle was disused and there was only 1 dock in North. Whereas in present plan, they made a hotel, 2 docks and toilets for passengers.

In 2000, there was Marina in west for passengers where they can got private yachts and 1 toilet. Also the fishing boat was very large. Moreover there was a public beach where passengers can spend quality time and 2 car parks connected to main road whereas the castle was disused.

The analysis of second plan reveals that there are 2 car parks that directly links to main road and 2 toilets. The marina area become increased significantly and there are cafes and shops providing delicious cuisine. However there is also a hotel directly links to the road and they have private beach due to which they facilitate their passengers to enjoy beach. Also the number of docks increased to 2.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The candidate successfully addresses the prompt by summarising the main features of the harbour in 2000 and comparing them with its current layout. Key changes, such as the addition of a hotel, a second dock, additional toilets, expanded marina facilities, and the transformation of the disused castle, are clearly reported. An overview is provided, satisfying the core requirements of an Academic Task 1 response. However, some descriptions are slightly under-developed or imprecise, such as describing the fishing boat simply as "very large" or mentioning "delicious cuisine," which is speculative information not directly shown on the map. Overall, the response covers all parts of the task well, earning a band score of 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement and follows a logical structure by contrasting the past and present layouts. Paragraphing is utilized to separate the introduction, overview, and body details. Cohesive devices are employed, such as "Overall," "In 2000," "Moreover," and "However." However, some cohesive links and referencing feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent repetition of temporal markers and sentence starters like "In 2000, there was..." Furthermore, pronoun referencing is occasionally awkward, as seen in "with it's current appearance." Progression is generally clear, but paragraph transitions could be smoother and more sophisticated to reach a higher band level, justifying a score of 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to maps and features, such as "disused," "marina," "private yachts," "public beach," and "docks." There are, however, several lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, including "layout of harbour" (missing article), "at a glace" (spelling error for glance), "marina area become increased significantly" (incorrect verb form and collocation), and the inclusion of unsupported imaginative details like "delicious cuisine." While these vocabulary errors do not prevent communication, they reflect a limited control of less common lexical items, leading to a band score of 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The candidate attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and comparative structures, such as "where they can got private yachts" and "due to which they facilitate their passengers." However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including punctuation and spelling errors like "it's" instead of "its," tense inconsistencies (mixing past and present incorrectly in subordinate clauses), missing articles ("in North", "in west"), and awkward verb forms ("can got"). Complex structures frequently contain errors that cause minor difficulty for the reader, though communication remains generally clear. These patterns align best with the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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