Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-04

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 6.0)

Given figures illustrate a Porth Harbour in the year of 2000 and the most recent one.

Overall, in 2000 there were limited facilities in the the harbour located along main road. It includes public and private beach, a dock, passenger ferries, a marina, restrooms and bathrooms, car parking, a large fishing boat, a life boat and a castle. However, contemporary harbour underwent considerable development. Some of the existing facilities either removed or replaced. There were some new additions and also few of them were extended.

In the presented diagram related to the Porth harbour in 2000, there were single showers and toilet area along with a car parking at the western side. Additionally, at the southern region there were another car parking just close to fishing boat. Moreover, at the northern area it was consisted of a public beach, a dock and passenger ferries. Ultimately, eastern site contained a life boat, a castle, and another small beach.

In stark contrast, today harbour is well developed with an increased of additional shower and toilets in southern side. Furthermore, fishing boat and mariana were replaced by each other in present map. Other than this, cafes and shops were constructed in southern part. Meanwhile castel in eastern region was replaced by hotel but the private beach remained same and reserved for hotel. In nortern site, number of docks were increased while public beach and passenger ferries remained stable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by presenting an overview of Porth Harbour in 2000 and comparing it with the current layout. Key features such as the relocation of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of cafes and shops, and the replacement of the castle with a hotel are appropriately highlighted. However, some areas lack full development or precision, such as stating that 'number of docks were increased' rather than describing the addition of a second jetty or the reorganization of facilities. The overview adequately summarises the main trends of modernisation and extension, placing the response securely at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing specific spatial changes. Information is logically sequenced from west to east and across the two time periods. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader, with phrases like 'In stark contrast', 'Furthermore', and 'Meanwhile' providing appropriate transitions. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on formulaic transitional phrases at the start of sentences. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the comparison, satisfying the requirements of this band.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to map features such as 'contemporary harbour', 'relocated', and 'reserved for hotel'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies, word choice issues, and minor spelling slips throughout the response, such as 'today harbour' instead of 'today's harbour' or 'the harbour today', 'mariana' for 'marina', 'castel' for 'castle', and 'nortern' for 'northern'. While these vocabulary errors and typos do not severely impede communication, they prevent the piece from achieving a higher mark, demonstrating the typical lexical control of this band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at relative clauses and comparative structures. There are several grammatical errors, including missing articles ('in the the harbour', 'today harbour', 'with an increased of additional shower'), incorrect prepositions ('along main road', 'in southern side'), and subject-verb agreement slips ('there were another car parking'). Fortunately, punctuation and sentence boundaries are generally controlled, and these errors rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the descriptions easily and placing the grammatical control squarely at this level.

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

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