Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The given two maps illustrates the changes in layouts of porth harbour in 2000 and today .Showing the location of different public ameneties , fishing boats and docks.

Overall, the harbour contained a mixture of facilities for commercial and private use , as well as recreational areas. The western side was mainly occupied by parking ,showers and toilets . Meanwhile , eastern side contains docks , public beaches and passenger ferries.

Today, marina replaced with the fishing boats to the north western part of harbour near car park , showers and toilets . Moreover, number of docks enhanced from one to two and there's no changes seen in public beaches and passenger ferries .

The notable change at present is that some cafes and shops are built beside the road to life boats . Furthermore, on the place of castle a hotel is built on south eastern side of harbour port

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by identifying and reporting the main features of Porth Harbour in 2000 and today. An overview is attempted, noting the mix of commercial, private, and recreational facilities. However, some aspects of the task are under-developed or imprecise. For instance, the exact swap between the marina and the fishing boats is described in a slightly confusing way ("marina replaced with the fishing boats to the north western part"), and certain comparisons, such as the addition of the hotel replacing the disused castle, lack full elaboration regarding the surrounding beach changes. Nevertheless, the key transformations are captured, placing the response solidly in this category.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text presents a coherent overall arrangement with a logical division into paragraphs, starting with an introduction and overview, followed by body paragraphs detailing specific spatial changes. Cohesive devices are employed, such as "Overall", "Meanwhile", and "Moreover", though some referencing and transitions feel slightly mechanical or abrupt, as seen in the sentence "Today, marina replaced with the fishing boats..." Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the comparison between the two time periods, ensuring the reader can follow the geographical shifts across the map.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying basic spatial changes and map features like "docks", "passenger ferries", "marina", and "lifeboats". The writer attempts less common lexical items, such as "ameneties" (misspelled) and "enhanced", but these attempts are accompanied by occasional word-choice and collocation inaccuracies. Spelling errors are present, such as "ameneties" instead of "amenities" and spacing/punctuation issues around commas and periods, but these errors do not impede overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and some attempt at complex sentence forms. There are noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly with missing articles ("in 2000 and today", "to north western part"), passive voice construction ("marina replaced with the fishing boats"), and sentence fragmentation. Punctuation issues, such as spacing before periods and commas, also occur. However, these errors rarely impede communication and the basic meaning remains understandable throughout the description.

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