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 layout shows the harbour site in 2000 and now. Overall, Porthharbour has undergone siginficant changes. Previously it was a public facility but now a part of it has been privatized.Most sigificant change is privation of an area whichs includes development of a hotel, car parking and retails. Most facilities are still same and open to public, however, docks has been added to facilitate more people on the site.

Previously, a main connects runs along the western side of harbour which give access to the site from southern and eastern side. On eastern side, Just to the right side of the main road, there were car parking and bathrooms. Private yatches are tied close to these facilities, which give access to beach. howover in the far north, public beach could be acessed by people. the central feature is Dock, to carry people via ferries. On southern side, a road give access to car parking and fishing boat. there were fishing boats adjacent to car parking. On the far end of this side there was a castle and pubic beech. Today, the major developments occured on southern site and it is largely private section. A hotel has taken the place of castle, while public beech is privatized now. Road has been extended to give access to a hotel. Some retails has been added near to life boat. Previously marine boats area is now shifted to private yatch. Car parking remained the same, however some washroom facility is added near to it. Rest of the features remain the same of the other side except dock space has been enlarged.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by summarizing the main features of Porth Harbour in 2000 and today, noting key changes such as the privatization of the southern area, the replacement of the castle with a hotel, and the shifting of the marina and fishing boats. An overall trend is identified in the introduction. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in reporting specific spatial relationships and features (for instance, stating that 'marine boats area is now shifted to private yatch' rather than detailing the swap between the marina and fishing boats accurately). Nevertheless, the core comparisons are clear and supported by the visual data.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is organized into readable paragraphs, starting with a general overview followed by descriptive body paragraphs comparing the past and present layouts. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Previously', 'however', and 'Today', to signal time shifts. However, paragraphing is somewhat cramped, and referencing is occasionally unclear or mechanical (e.g., 'Rest of the features remain the same of the other side except dock space has been enlarged'). Progression is generally logical, but transitions between ideas can feel abrupt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some topic-specific terms such as 'privatized', 'facilities', 'ferries', and 'retail'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text (e.g., 'siginficant', 'Porthharbour', 'privation', 'whichs', 'yatches', 'howover', 'acessed', 'pubic beech', 'retails', 'life boat'). These lexical errors and awkward collocations reduce precision and demonstrate limited control over less common vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent errors with subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, and verb tenses (e.g., 'a main connects runs', 'which give access', 'major developments occured', 'some retails has been added'). While the meaning can generally be followed, the high frequency of grammatical and punctuation errors places the writing firmly in the Band 5 category.

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