Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-09

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)

This first map shows the main features of Porth Harbour in 2000. The other map shows the changes in the Port Harbour present day.

Overall, the harbour has undergone a dramatic transformation from a fishing and industrial port into a tourist-oriented area. The main dock area has been redeveloped, the castle and its surroundings has become a major tourist attraction, and many new commercial facilities have been constructed.

In 2000, the harbour was primarily for fishing and industry. In the north-west , there was a car park next to showers and toilets. To its south were fishermen's boats and dock areas. There were also two public beaches at the top and at the end of the port.

Today, the car park, the showers and the toilets remain in the same place but are larger. The fisher men's area has been replaced by cafes and shops with a new life boat building. A new hotel was built near the private beach. In the center of the port there were a huge space accomodated for passengers ferries and private yachts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You provide an overview of the harbour’s shift towards tourism and mention several relevant changes, including the hotel, private beach, and commercial facilities. However, some key details are inaccurate or unclear: the north-west car park and facilities are not described as larger, and the cafés and shops were added beside the lifeboat station rather than replacing the fishing area or a new lifeboat building. The marina and fishing boats also exchanged locations, but this important change is not clearly reported. The statement about a “huge space” for ferries and yachts is vague and does not explain their different positions. More precise coverage of the main changes would make the summary more complete and better supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear basic structure: an introduction, an overall summary, and paragraphs describing the earlier and current layouts. This gives the reader a generally coherent progression, and time markers such as “In 2000” and “Today” help distinguish the maps. However, the final paragraph moves between locations without a consistent spatial order, making some relationships difficult to follow. For example, the sentence about the fishing area, cafés, shops, and lifeboat building combines changes in different parts of the harbour. The reference to “the center of the port” is also not clearly connected to the preceding details. Organising the comparison by area and using clearer links between old and new features would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing change and location, including “undergone a dramatic transformation,” “redeveloped,” “replaced,” and “near.” These choices help communicate the broad shift in the harbour’s function. Some wording is imprecise or awkward for map description, however. “Fishermen’s boats” is less accurate than the map’s “fishing boats,” while “a huge space accommodated for passengers ferries and private yachts” is difficult to interpret and uses an unsuitable collocation. There are also spelling and form errors, such as “accomodated,” “fisher men’s,” and “cafes” without the accent, though the meaning is generally recoverable. More precise location and facility terms would strengthen the description.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple sentences and more complex forms, including the overview sentence beginning “Overall” and the contrast between “In 2000” and “Today.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur. In “the castle and its surroundings has become,” the plural subject requires “have become.” The phrase “a huge space accomodated for” has an unclear and faulty structure, and “passengers ferries” needs a possessive form or a different construction, such as “passenger ferries.” Tense use is also inconsistent in “Today … remain” followed by “In the center … there were.” Maintaining present tense for the current map and checking agreement and sentence construction would improve accuracy.

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