Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-30
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 map illustrates the changes in the layout of a Porth harbour today compared with 2000.
Overall, there used to be only one dock in the northen part near the ramp leading to public beach. However, there are two dock at the present. The area used for keeping fishing boats and marina (private yachts) has been swapped, along with the construction of buildings for showers & toilets, cafe and shops. Furthermore, the public beach has been changed into private beach and castle disused near the coastline of public beach is now a hotel.
In 2000, a main road at the west lead to road that branched to a car park and a place where life boat were kept. The fishing boats was just beside the car park at the southwest part of the plan. In addition, The main road was adjoined to another car park toward the east with showers & toilets building and a marina at the east and there were only a dock with two passenger ferries in 2000.
Moreover, the main road has three branches at the moment, one branch road leads toward the cafe & shops and branches to lifeboat and a hotel, another two connects to a car parks. There are three passage ferries in the porth harbour today.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by identifying and reporting the main features and changes shown in the two maps of Porth Harbour. You provide a clear overview in the first paragraph, noting the swapping of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of new amenities like cafés and shops, and the conversion of the disused castle into a hotel. Specific details are highlighted throughout, such as the changes to the docks, car parks, and the beach. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in detail reporting, such as stating there are three passenger ferries today when the transcription notes standard passenger ferries alongside increased jetty development, and minor confusion regarding road configurations. Nevertheless, the response covers all major structural transformations required for a Band 6.5 to 7.0 performance.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is arranged into a logical overall structure, beginning with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing the past and current layouts. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the comparison, using connectors such as 'Overall', 'However', 'Furthermore', and 'In 2000'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the overview from the detailed spatial descriptions. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise or mechanical, and the transitions between sentences in the second and third body paragraphs feel slightly disjointed. Overall progression is clear, supporting a solid Band 6.0 performance.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'layout', 'marina', 'private yachts', 'jetty', and 'passenger ferries'. You attempt less common vocabulary items and functional verbs such as 'swapped', 'relocated', and 'conversion' (implied). However, there are several lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'northen part', 'two dock' (pluralisation error), 'life boat' (spaced incorrectly), and 'passage ferries'. These errors do not impede communication but prevent the lexical score from reaching Band 7.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses and conditional-like temporal contrasts (e.g., 'The map illustrates the changes...', 'there used to be only one dock...'). There are, however, frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('there are two dock', 'The fishing boats was'), missing plural markers, and article omissions ('the west lead to road', 'to a car parks'). While these errors rarely impede overall comprehension, they occur with enough frequency to restrict the grade to a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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