Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-10

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 5.5)

The map below illustrates a a port in 2000 and the changes till now.

Overall, the harbour has become more commercial and popular with a few new facilities added and several areas relocated and some features remained the same.

In 2000, in the west side with a main road there were two car parking and a showers & toilets place for refreshment. Near the public beach there were there was a single dock for passengers boats in the west. In the south west corners there was a small public beach and also lifeboat which was connect with the road and there was castle discussed place behind the lifeboat area.

Many changes have taken place. The marine and fishing places are changed with each other and in the corner of marina a restaurant located and also connected with a road. Due to too much busy area the another refreshment place mad in the south west corner and for fishing boat interchange has also extend for the boats and castle disused has totally changed with hotel and lifeboat area has remain the same.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the broad transformation in the overview: the harbour becomes more commercial, with facilities added and some areas relocated. You also report the key exchange between the marina and fishing-boat areas and the replacement of the disused castle by a hotel. However, several details are unclear or inaccurate: the dock is at the northern entrance, not “in the west,” and the southern beach becomes private rather than remaining public. The description also omits important changes, including the added jetty and second berthed boat, cafés and shops by the lifeboat, and the public beach that remains in the north-east. Covering these features more precisely and developing the comparison between the two plans would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph about the original harbour and a final paragraph about changes. This gives the reader a basic route through the information. However, progression within the paragraphs is uneven, and some links between features are difficult to follow. For example, “Near the public beach” does not clearly identify which beach, while “in the corner of marina a restaurant located” leaves the location and relationship unclear. The final paragraph combines several changes in one long sequence, with “and also” and “and” doing much of the linking. Grouping changes by location or by type, and using clearer references such as “in contrast” and “in the southern basin,” would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “harbour,” “facilities,” “relocated,” “lifeboat” and “hotel,” and the overview conveys the general direction of change. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations make details hard to understand. “Two car parking” is not a natural way to describe two car parks, and “castle discussed place” appears to be an unsuccessful attempt to describe the disused castle. “Restaurant” is also not supported by the plan, which labels the new facilities “Cafés & shops.” Use the exact map labels where possible, and choose precise terms such as “basin,” “jetty” and “private beach” to report the changes accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, and the overview sentence communicates the main change. However, errors in articles, agreement, verb forms and sentence construction are frequent enough to make several descriptions difficult to follow. For example, “a a port” repeats the article, “there were there was” gives conflicting verb forms, and “castle disused has totally changed with hotel” has an unclear tense and structure. The final sentence also joins several independent ideas without clear punctuation. Practise building accurate location sentences with a clear subject and verb, such as “The castle was replaced by a hotel,” and check articles, plurals and past-tense forms throughout.

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