Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The map plans illustrate the harbour in 2000 and today.

Overall, it is clear that the porth harbour underwent a significant transformation over the period. Most notably, the southern castle was demolished to make way for a hotel, while the northern area experienced further expansion.

Turning to the castle, which was disused, formerly situated in the southern side, was demolished to make way for the construction of a hotel, and the public beach that was situated on the left side of the castle, was also transformed into a private beach for the hotel. Another major development occurred directly to the western side of the hotel, where cafes & shops were erected. Additionally, the dock, which was situated on the northern side, expanded to now having two docks.

Moreover, the marina for private yachts was located in the northern side, while the fishing boats were in the southern side; however, today, they have been switched. There used to be a single area for showers and toilets, which was located in the north-western side of the map but now the addition of a new place for that has been added in the western side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all major changes presented in the two maps, providing a clear overall trend showing the transformation of Porth Harbour. You have selected key features such as the demolition of the disused castle to make way for a hotel, the addition of cafes and shops, and the switching of the marina and fishing boat locations. However, some areas are slightly under-developed or lack complete precision; for instance, describing the expansion of the dock to 'now having two docks' misses the specific detail of the additional jetty and berthed vessels. To reach a higher band, all selected features would need to be fully elaborated with greater precision regarding spatial relationships and minor updates, such as the second set of showers and toilets.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The report displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from an introductory overview to specific body paragraphs detailing key changes. You make reasonable use of cohesive devices to guide the reader through the comparisons, such as 'Overall', 'Turning to the castle', and 'Moreover'. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel a bit mechanical or slightly awkward, particularly in sentences with dense clauses like 'Turning to the castle, which was disused, formerly situated in the southern side...'. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate general statements from specific spatial details, but smoother transitions between the swapped zones and the newly erected amenities would elevate the structure to a more sophisticated level.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, successfully attempting less common items and functional language such as 'significant transformation', 'demolished', 'reconstructed', and 'erected'. However, there are some minor word-choice inaccuracies and awkward phrasing, such as writing 'the porth harbour' with a lowercase letter and phrasing the dock expansion as 'now having two docks' rather than describing the added jetty structures. Spelling is mostly accurate, and although some lexical choices lack precision or idiomatic collocation, communication is never impeded. To achieve a higher score, you should incorporate a wider variety of precise geographical and architectural terminology with flawless collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, successfully employing relative clauses and passive constructions such as 'was demolished' and 'have been switched'. There are some grammatical errors and awkward structural overlaps, notably in the sentence 'Turning to the castle, which was disused, formerly situated in the southern side, was demolished...', which suffers from a grammatical misalignment of clauses. Preposition and article usage also show occasional lapses, such as 'to the western side' instead of 'on the western side'. Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, and the majority of sentences are clear. Greater control over complex sentence architecture and error-free execution would be required for a higher band.

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

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