Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-11

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 illustrates how the plans of Porth Harbour changed from 2000 to present following day,

Overall, Major transformations happened in the harbour, Mainly in south-east the coastal road is connected to hotel, the castle is disappeared and beach becomes private.

In 2000, the north-west part comprises of showers and toilets, marina and car park connected to southern part of road . The south-west consists of car park and fishing boats. Now private yachts and fishing boats exchanged their places and showers and toilets are added beside the parking area. Car parking is directly connected to the main road.

In the southern part of sea there is no proper way to enter the castle but it is transformed to hotel and the roads are directly connected to it and beach becomes a private it is maintained by the hotel only . Now cafes and shops are newly emerged between lifeboat and marina. There is two passenger ferries one is smaller and the other is bigger and now there are two docks for passengers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main overall changes: the castle is replaced by a hotel, the southern beach becomes private, and the marina and fishing-boat areas switch locations. These are relevant comparisons, and the overview gives the reader a useful sense of the harbour’s redevelopment. The response also mentions new cafés and shops and changes to the facilities. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the north-west description does not clearly distinguish the original marina from the fishing-boat area, and “two docks for passengers” is not what the plan shows; it shows an additional jetty and two boats at the dock. The northern public beach and other key changes could also be reported more clearly. The main features are present, but coverage and precision are uneven.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an overall structure, moving from an overview to descriptions of the harbour’s northern and southern areas. This gives the reader some progression, and phrases such as “In 2000” and “Now” help signal the time comparison. However, the paragraphing and sequencing do not consistently make the spatial relationships easy to follow. For example, the first body paragraph combines the north-west, south-west and water areas, while the next shifts between the southern road, hotel, beach and northern facilities. Several sentences are joined with “and” or lack clear links, and references such as “it” are sometimes ambiguous. Grouping changes by location and using clearer comparison links would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “marina,” “fishing boats,” “car park,” “lifeboat,” and “private beach,” and you attempt more formal expressions such as “transformed” and “newly emerged.” This gives you a workable range for describing the plans. However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural, including “the castle is disappeared,” “beach becomes a private,” and “two docks for passengers.” “Plans … changed” and “connected to southern part of road” are also imprecise for describing map changes. These word-choice and collocation problems sometimes make the intended feature difficult to identify. Aim for precise map language such as “was replaced by,” “was converted into,” and “an additional jetty was added.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including a general overview and comparisons between the two plans. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make relationships difficult to understand. Examples include “the castle is disappeared,” “the beach becomes a private,” and “There is two passenger ferries,” where verb forms, sentence structure or agreement are faulty. Articles and prepositions are also often missing, as in “in south-east” and “beside the parking area,” and punctuation and spacing around clauses need attention. Practise forming accurate past and present passive structures for map changes—for example, “The castle was replaced by a hotel”—and check subject–verb agreement and complete sentence boundaries.

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