Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The plan illustrates how the Porth Harbour looked in 2000 compared to the present day.

Overall, there has been additional of several amenities such as a hotel, private beach, a dock, cafes and shops. Some features that remained unchanged throughout the period is areas of car parking, showers and toilets, roads, public beach and lifeboat.

To begin with, in the north western region, the Marina which was facilitated for private yachts is not replaced by fishing boats, while the car parking, showers and toilets remained as it was.While there is an addition of a dock beside the fishing boats for passenger ferries, the public beach is untouched.

In the south eastern part of the Porth Harbour, the castle which was being disused is now transformed into a hotel, and the public beach was converted into a private beach for the use of hotel. Cafes and shops are also built besides the lifeboat area. The fishing boat region is now a Marina for private yachts. There is also an addition of showers and toilets beside the Marina.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation from a disused castle to a hotel and the change from a public to a hotel-only beach, and you note the relocation of the marina and fishing boats. These are relevant comparisons, and the overview recognises that new facilities were added. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the marina was not in the north-west; it was in the northern basin in 2000 and moved to the southern water area. The dock was already present, with an additional jetty and a second berthed boat added today, rather than being a new dock beside the fishing boats. The overview also overstates unchanged facilities, since showers and toilets were added in another location. More precise coverage of these changes would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing changes in different parts of the harbour. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with” and “In the south eastern part” help the reader follow the account, and the main comparisons are generally grouped sensibly. Some links between ideas are less clear, however. The sentence beginning “While there is an addition…” does not make the relationship between the dock, fishing boats and beach easy to follow, and the north-west paragraph combines several features without a clear spatial progression. Organising each paragraph consistently by location, and using references such as “the former marina basin” or “the southern area,” would make the progression more precise and cohesive.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a reasonable range of map-related vocabulary, including “transformed,” “converted,” “remained,” and “addition,” and terms such as “private beach” and “passenger ferries” are relevant to the task. This gives you some flexibility beyond basic description. However, several choices are inaccurate or awkward: “additional of several amenities” is not a natural construction, “facilitated for private yachts” does not clearly describe the marina’s function, and “the public beach is untouched” is imprecise because the southern beach changes its status. “Car parking” is also less suitable than the map label “car park.” Aim for accurate collocations and use location-specific wording so that vocabulary supports, rather than blurs, the comparisons.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including a relative clause in “the castle which was being disused” and a contrast clause beginning “While.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors persist. For example, “there has been additional” needs a noun form such as “an addition,” while “Some features … is” has a subject–verb agreement error. The phrase “the Marina … is not replaced by fishing boats” also uses an unsuitable tense and passive construction for a past-to-present comparison. There are punctuation and spacing issues, including the missing space after “it was.” Practise accurate past and present forms and check agreement and sentence boundaries while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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