Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-18

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 6.5)

The maps illustrate the changes that occured in the Porth Harbour. It compared the modifications that happened between the year 2000 to the present day.

Overall, Porth Harbour had underwent significant transformations, shifting from a more historical and industrial site to a more tourism-oriented destination. The most noticeable changes include repurposing of the castle and the expansion of the docking facilities.

In 2000, the dock in the northern section is only one with public beach besides it. In the northwest part, it includes private yachts, showers and toilets and car park adjacent to the main road. In the southwest corner, there are another car park with fishing boats near the sea. In the southeast part, the disused castle was located near the lifeboat along the road.

Today, the original dock has been expanded with an additional pier to the west of the public beach. Furthermore, the position of private yachts and fishing boat have been swapped. The showers, toilets and car park remained unchanged, a second set of these facilities have been constructed adjacent to the southern car park. Moreover, the disused castle has been converted into a hotel. Parallel to this, the public beach is now a private beach for the hotel guests. Nearby, the road remains in its original position, but the new cafes and shops have been established next to the lifeboat.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear summary of the main changes depicted in the maps of Porth Harbour between 2000 and the present day. An appropriate overview is included, highlighting the shift from an industrial/historical site to a tourism-oriented destination, along with key changes like the repurposing of the castle and expansion of docks. The details selected are mostly accurate and supported by the visual data, noting the swap of fishing boats and yachts, the addition of cafes and shops, and the hotel conversion. However, there are minor inaccuracies in spatial referencing, such as stating that the dock in 2000 'is only one with public beach besides it' rather than describing its overall layout accurately. Overall, the response fulfills the task requirements effectively and presents a well-structured summary of visual data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organized with a clear overall progression. It begins with an introductory paragraph containing a paraphrased prompt and an overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing the past and present layouts respectively. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different temporal periods. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the comparison, such as 'Overall', 'In 2000', 'Today', and 'Furthermore'. However, some cohesive links and referencing are slightly mechanical or awkward, such as 'Parallel to this, the public beach is now a private beach...' which interrupts the natural flow of ideas. Despite these minor lapses, the text maintains clear logical organization and progression throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for an academic task, attempting less common terms such as 'repurposing', 'transformation', and 'converted'. There are, however, some noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies. For instance, the student writes 'Porth Harbour had underwent significant transformations' (incorrect verb form and prepositional agreement) and refers to the 'position of private yachts and fishing boat have been swapped' (singular/plural mismatch). Spelling and word choice errors do not impede communication, but they reflect a limited precision that prevents the writing from achieving a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including relative clauses and prepositional phrases. While many sentences are clear and communicate the intended meaning effectively, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and article usage. Examples include 'the changes that occured' (spelling error and tense shift), 'the dock in the northern section is only one' (missing article), and 'there are another car park' (plural verb with singular noun). These errors occasionally distract the reader, though they do not impede overall comprehension.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.