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 change in porth harbour between 2000 to now.

There are several changes in position such as boats area, private and public beaches, construction of shops and cafes take place.

Firstly, now in harbour there are two boat docks availabe and now if we look at the left west north of the map, we can clearlt recognizes the change in postion between marina (private) yachts and fishing boats. In addition there are now two areas availabe for shower which is added with western south car parking.

Furthermore, if we put insights on southern area, we can witness the significant change. Cafes and shops are build on the road and left side of the lifeboat. Moving forwardon the right side we will have a hotel now along with a private beach which is only reserves for hotel. In 2000 we have public beach and castle which is disused in place of hotel.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The candidate has attempted to address the task by noting several major changes between the two maps, such as the relocation of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of shops and cafes, and the replacement of the disused castle with a hotel and private beach. However, the response lacks a clear overview statement, which is a key requirement for Academic Task 1. Some details are slightly imprecise or under-developed, falling short of a fully articulated report. Nevertheless, the main features are identified and comparisons are made, aligning the response with a Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptor. Overall, it addresses the prompt adequately but misses some structural conventions of a high-scoring report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response shows a basic attempt at logical organisation, using transitional markers such as 'Firstly', 'In addition', and 'Furthermore' to structure the points. However, paragraphing is underdeveloped, and the text tends to cluster multiple disparate ideas together rather than grouping them logically by location or theme. Referencing is sometimes unclear, for example in sentences like 'there are now two areas availabe for shower which is added with western south car parking'. Cohesive devices are occasionally mechanical or inaccurate, preventing the response from reaching higher bands. Overall, the arrangement provides a coherent general picture, placing it firmly at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some topic-specific terms like 'marina', 'fishing boats', 'lifeboat', and 'private beach'. However, there are frequent word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'boats area', 'availabe for shower', 'western south car parking', and 'reserves for hotel'. Spelling errors also appear, including 'availabe' and 'clearlt'. The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive, preventing the score from exceeding Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are numerous grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues and tense confusion (e.g., 'construction of shops and cafes take place', 'cafes and shops are build', 'In 2000 we have public beach'). Punctuation and article usage are also faulty in places. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, their high frequency restricts the score to a Band 5.0.

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

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