Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-17
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 given maps represent a harbour in the year 2000 and how the harbour looks today.
Overall, some features of both harbours are the same, whereas the locations are different in many places.
In the first map, Porth Harbour shows only one set of showers and toilets above the car park in the west of harbour, while today's harbour shows two sets of showers and toilets with both car parking lots. Moreover, the placement of marina private yatch and fishing boats is changed in both maps. In the previous harbour, castle is located in the south-east of harbour which is disused, and this castle is now replaced by a hotel. The beach is present in both harbour, however in 2000 it was for bulic use, whereas today it is hotel's private beach.Passenger ferries are present in north side of the harbour. Additionally, there is only one dock in 2000 and two docks in today's harbour.The link road coming from the main road is heading towards a lifeboat. In 2000's harbour, there are no cafes and shops near lifeboat, but today they are present.The main road is towards the west. The direction for public beach is same in both maps which is towards the north.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student addresses the main task by identifying and reporting key transformations between the two maps of Porth Harbour. An overview is attempted in the second sentence, noting that some features remained identical while others changed locations. However, the response lacks a fully developed overview and fails to group the data logically. Several key details are accurately reported, such as the replacement of the disused castle with a hotel, the addition of a second set of showers and toilets, and the inversion of the marina and fishing boats. Yet, there are minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as stating there are 'two docks' when the map shows an expanded single dock with an extra jetty. The detail about the public beach and private beach is correctly noted, but the overall report lacks the clear, structured selection expected in a higher band. Consequently, this performance aligns best with Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement, guiding the reader through the various changes from west to east or feature by feature. However, paragraphing is poorly managed, as the entire response—aside from the introductory sentence—is lumped into a single block of text rather than being structured into logical paragraphs (such as an overview and body paragraphs). Cohesive devices are used, but some transitions feel mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'while today', 'whereas', and 'in the previous harbour'. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of proper paragraph breaks significantly hampers the overall visual structure and logical progression of the essay, restricting the score to a 5.5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating specific terms from the visual prompt such as 'marina', 'fishing boats', 'passenger ferries', and 'lifeboat'. There are some attempts to use less common vocabulary, but these are accompanied by lexical errors and typos, such as 'yatch' instead of 'yacht', 'bulic' instead of 'public', and awkward phrasing like 'both car parking lots'. Word choice and collocations are occasionally imprecise, but communication is not impeded. To reach a higher band, the student needs to eliminate spelling mistakes and demonstrate greater precision and variety in vocabulary choice.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like relative clauses ('the link road coming from the main road') and contrastive clauses ('while today's harbour shows...'). However, there are noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing throughout the text, including article omission ('west of harbour', 'in both harbour') and tense inconsistencies. Punctuation is generally acceptable, though sentences occasionally run together or lack smooth transitions. The grammatical errors do not impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from rising into the higher bands.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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