Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-03

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 6.5)

The two maps illustrates devlopment taken place at Porth Harbour from 2000 to present day.

Overall, Hourber has seen significant development, going form simple fishing harbour to a tourist hub. Key structural changes include a hotel, new cafes and shops, and more facilities for tourists.

In 2000, the northwestern side contained showers and toilets, a car park, a marina for private yachts, fishing boats, and a car park. Today, while the shower and toilets remain in the same position, the marina and fishing boats have swapped their places. Additionally, new showers and toilets are constructed near car park which now connects to the main road.

In the central eastern area, new cafes and shops are constructed just beside the Lifeboat area. Furthermore, on the south side of harbour, an old castle was transformed into a hotel. The hotel now includes a private beach for guests, which was a public beach in 2000. If we move towards the northeast side of the plan, an extra dock has been added for the ships

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview and highlighting key changes such as the swap between the marina and fishing boats, the addition of cafes and shops, and the conversion of the castle into a hotel. The progression from a simple fishing harbour to a tourist hub is successfully captured. However, the development of ideas leans towards listing features rather than fully synthesising every spatial relationship, which keeps the response at this level. To reach a higher standard, the selection of data could be more sharply focused to draw out broader structural shifts without relying on overly granular descriptions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The writing demonstrates a clear logical organisation, beginning with a broad introduction and overview, followed by specific comparisons moving generally from north to south and west to east. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different areas of the harbour. Cohesive devices are generally well managed, though referencing phrases like 'today, while the shower and toilets remain' and transitional expressions such as 'if we move towards' feel somewhat mechanical or formulaic. To achieve a higher score, the transitions between sentences and paragraphs need to be smoother and more natural, avoiding predictable spatial formulas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully employing terms like 'tourist hub', 'marina', and 'transformed'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('illustrates' instead of 'illustrate', 'devlopment' instead of 'development', 'Hourber' instead of 'Harbour', 'form' instead of 'from') and minor word-choice inaccuracies, such as 'ships' instead of 'ferries' or 'boats'. The attempts to use less common vocabulary are somewhat restricted by these slips and spelling mistakes. To improve, the writer needs to demonstrate greater precision in word choice and eliminate basic spelling errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and time markers effectively. There are some good structures, but also several grammatical errors, particularly with missing articles ('a hotel', 'the south side') and prepositional usage ('swapped their places' instead of 'swapped places'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and the errors present rarely impede communication. To move up to the next band, the writer must demonstrate greater control over complex sentence structures and produce a higher frequency of error-free sentences, particularly regarding article usage and verb tense consistency.

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.