Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
The illustrations depict how a harbour was in 2000 and how it seems now. Overall, it shows the significant development in the modern harbour with a hotel, cafes and shops, a private beach and an additional ferry.
In the harbour of today, marina and fishing boats have been replaced their locations and there are an addition of showers and toilets on the west-southern side. Previously, the car park was connected to the road of lifeboat but now, it is constructed with the main road on the west. There is an addition of new ferry and dock in the modern horbour. The old harbour had a public beach which is now converted into a private beach for the hotel. Now, a separate raod is constructed from the main road to the lifeboat and hotel. On the east-sourthen side, the castle is converted to a hotel in today's harbour. There was no cafes and shops parallel to lifebaot in the harbour of 2000.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response covers the main changes between the two maps, noting key developments such as the relocation of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of cafes, shops, a hotel, and a private beach. An overview is provided in the second sentence. However, there are some inaccuracies in reporting specific features; for example, the student states that 'the car park was connected to the road of lifeboat', which misreads the original map. Furthermore, some comparisons lack precision. Despite these minor misinterpretations, the response successfully addresses the core requirements of the task by identifying the overarching transformation of the harbour. Therefore, it satisfies the criteria for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text exhibits a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division between the introductory statement and the body details. Logical links are attempted using cohesive devices such as 'Previously', 'but now', and 'In the harbour of today'. However, the paragraphing is underdeveloped, as the entire body of the report is crammed into a single block of text rather than being structured into logical thematic paragraphs. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the phrase 'have been replaced their locations'. Cohesive devices are at times mechanical or faulty, pulling the score down to Band 5.5.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to describe common map features such as 'marina', 'fishing boats', 'car park', and 'ferries'. There are some successful attempts at less common vocabulary, including 'significant development' and 'converted'. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'replaced their locations' instead of 'swapped locations', 'west-southern side' instead of 'south-west', and 'horbour' spelling errors. These errors do not impede overall communication but restrict the score to Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating passive voice ('have been replaced', 'is constructed') and temporal clauses ('Previously, the car park was... but now...'). However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('there are an addition'), incorrect prepositions ('parallel to lifebaot'), and awkward syntactic structures ('have been replaced their locations'). Punctuation and word-formation errors ('raod', 'horbour') also occur. While meaning remains generally clear, the density of errors keeps the performance at Band 5.0.
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.