Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-07

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 illustrate the changes that have occurred in and around the Porth harbour from 2000 to the present day.

Overall, the Porth harbour underwent several significant changes, including the addition of dock, amenities such as showers and toilets, the construction of cafe`s and shops, and the conversion of the castle into a hotel.

In 2000, the Porth harbour consisted of two car parks, as well as showers and toilets. It had a dock for passenger ferries, a public beach, a marina for private yachts, designated area for fishing boats, and a disused castle adjacent to the public beach.

Meanwhile, the present-day Porth harbour has several additional amenities, including an another showers and toilets facility beside the car park which previously had only one such facility. Cafe`s and shops have also been constructed, while the castle has been converted into a hotel. A further dock for passenger ferries has also been added. The fishing boats and the private yacht marina have exchanged positions, while their respective have remained unchanged. An additional road has been constructed from a car park to the main road to improve accessibility.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response identifies the main overall changes, including new facilities, the castle’s conversion into a hotel, and the exchange of locations between fishing boats and the marina. It also gives a useful comparison between the harbour in 2000 and today. However, some details are inaccurate or insufficiently developed: the dock has an additional jetty, rather than “a further dock,” and the maps do not show an additional road from a car park to the main road. The description also misses the change from a public beach to a private hotel beach and gives little detail about the northern public beach, which remains. The overview is relevant, but more precise reporting of these changes would make the account more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear introduction, overview, and two chronological descriptions, so the reader can follow the comparison easily. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Meanwhile,” and “while” help signal the relationship between ideas, and the final paragraph groups several present-day changes together. Some information is compressed into long lists, particularly the sentence beginning “It had a dock for passenger ferries,” which makes the spatial relationships less clear. The reference in “their respective have remained unchanged” is also difficult to follow. To strengthen progression, group changes by location or feature and use explicit references, such as naming the marina and fishing-boat areas again.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

There is an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “conversion,” “designated area,” “amenities,” and “exchanged positions.” These choices help describe the harbour’s development, and the meaning is generally clear. Some wording is imprecise or awkward: “addition of dock” needs a more natural form, “an another” is not idiomatic, and “a further dock” mislabels the extra jetty. The repeated use of “constructed” also limits flexibility, while “cafe`s” contains an incorrect apostrophe and accent-style mark. Use precise map vocabulary such as “jetty,” “facility,” and “was relocated,” and vary verbs for changes, for example “added,” “replaced,” and “converted.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the overview clause “including the addition…” and the contrast introduced by “while.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. In “the addition of dock,” the article is missing; “an another showers and toilets facility” has an incorrect determiner and number agreement; and “their respective have remained unchanged” is an incomplete construction. The sentence about the additional road also makes an unsupported claim, though the issue is factual rather than grammatical. Review articles, singular/plural agreement, and complete clause structure, and proofread punctuation and spacing, as seen in the double space before “has been constructed.”

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