Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-22

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 plan reflects modification to the Porth Harbor from 2000 to the present day.

Overall, the Porth shows various modifications including renovation of existing ones and introduction of new ones. More recreational space is added.

In 2000, the main road was divided into two main branches. One went to the car park at the front of showers and toilets and adjacent to the Marina for private yachts. Other went to lifeboat with another parking lot next to the fishing boats. There was disused castle with public beach at Eastern corner of road. The Northern side contained single dock for passenger ferries alongside with the Public beach.

Now, the main road distributes itself into three pathways. First one going to the car park. Marina for private yachts at the right has been repurposed for fishing boats. Other facilities remain unchanged. Other path goes to another car park with toilet and showers built and fishing boats has been transformed into Marina for private yachts. Along the third path going to the lifeboat, cafes and shops are introduced . Abondoned castle is now being useda as a hotel that contains private beach for the hotel. Another dock is added beside the old one for passenger ferries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by comparing the features of Porth Harbour in 2000 and today. An overview is provided, noting that the harbour underwent various modifications and gained more recreational space. Key changes, such as the swapping of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of cafes and shops, and the replacement of the disused castle with a hotel and private beach, are correctly reported. The selection of features is mostly accurate, though there are minor inaccuracies in prepositional phrasing and specific locations (e.g., describing the disused castle as being at the Eastern corner of the road rather than the south-eastern headland). Overall, the task is well covered and achieves a Band 6.5 to 7.0 standard; it fits best at Band 6.5 due to slight under-development in synthesizing spatial relationships comprehensively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression, moving logically from an introduction and overview to the past layout, and finally to present-day modifications. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different time periods and themes. However, cohesion at the sentence level is sometimes mechanical or awkward, notably with transitions like 'Other went to lifeboat' and 'Other path goes to another car park'. Furthermore, referencing and pronoun use can be unclear, such as the repetitive and incorrect use of 'Other' instead of 'Another' or 'The other'. These cohesive flaws place the writing securely in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common items such as 'repurposed', 'modification', and 'renovation'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'distribution itself into three pathways' instead of 'branches into three roads', and spelling errors like 'Abondoned'. Lexical repetition is also present, with words like 'path', 'car park', and 'fishing boats' repeated frequently without much variation. While communication is never impeded, these inaccuracies and limited flexibility restrict the score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent missing articles (e.g., 'reflects modification to the Porth Harbor', 'to lifeboat', 'with public beach') and errors with determiners and plurals (e.g., 'existing ones and introduction of new ones'). Preposition usage is also faulty in places (e.g., 'at the front of showers'). Although some complex structures are used successfully, error-free sentences are not frequent enough for a Band 7. The errors do not impede communication, making Band 6.0 an accurate reflection of the grammatical control shown.

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

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