Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-06

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)

The maps illustrate changes in the Porth Harbour from 2000 to present time. They show construction, replacement and changes in buildings and beaches.

In 2000, large public beach was located on the north-eastern part of the harbour. The dock where passenger ferries were parked is right next to the beach. In north-west, the small car parking was connected to the main road with showers and toilets right beside it. Marina where private yachts were parked is situated in backside of the parking and fishing boats were parked in area just below the Marina. While another car parking was on small road that leds to lifeboat. The castle was left unused on the south-east of the maps with small public beach next to it.

In present time, the dock is further developed to increase parking capacity for the passenger ferries. Marina and fishing boat parking have swap their places, whereas new showers and toilets are built next to the Marina. The new cafes and shops are built on the coastal area next to the life boat. Once unused castle is aquired by hotel along with the beach beside it. Moreover, other buildings and overall structure of the Harbour remain unchanged over the timeperiod.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making clear comparisons between the two maps. An overview is present, highlighting the key modifications such as the swapping of the marina and fishing boats, and the transformation of the castle into a hotel. However, some aspects are slightly under-developed or imprecise; for instance, describing the passenger ferries as being 'parked' is somewhat imprecise for watercraft. The information selected is generally accurate and relevant to the source diagrams, showing a coherent attempt to cover the spatial changes over the period.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a logical division of paragraphs, separating the initial state in 2000 from the present-day layout. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the comparisons, such as 'In 2000', 'In present time', and 'While another car parking'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally a bit mechanical or repetitive in structure. Paragraphing is handled sufficiently, and the progression of information from the north to the south of the harbour is generally clear, though transitional links between sentences could flow more smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to map descriptions, such as 'construction', 'replacement', and 'capacity'. There are, however, some noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies that reflect a band six level, such as 'car parking' instead of 'car park', 'on backside of the parking' instead of 'at the rear of the parking area', and 'leds' (spelling error for 'leads'). Words like 'aquired' also contain spelling slips. Nevertheless, these lexical shortcomings do not seriously impede overall communication of the visual data.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and adverbial time markers. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly concerning articles and prepositions, such as 'large public beach' missing an article, 'in north-west' instead of 'in the north-west', and 'have swap their places' instead of 'have swapped their places'. Other errors include 'over the timeperiod'. Despite these various grammatical lapses, the majority of sentences are understandable, and the errors rarely impede communication, keeping the grammar firmly within the expected parameters.

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

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