Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-12

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 plan displays the Porth Harbour in 2000 and how does it look today.

The maps compare a few major and minor renovations, replacements and additons to the current plan. The Dock on the north side of the plan was extended from one to two where as the passenger ferries next to it stayed the same. Moving on to the fishing boats right left side to the dock has been replaced with Marina(private yacht) and fishing boats into the previous place of Marina(private yacht). In the southern part of the plan the road which leads to car parking from eastern main road was removed and a new road was added from the main road on the west leading to the car parking. The castle in the south-east part which remain unused in 2000 had been renovated into a hotel and restricting the public beach near to it only to the hotel.

Next to the life boat, new cafes and shops were added to the new plan. Moving up from the car parking on the south there is another showers and toilets added to the plan.

These are some major changes took places in the plan from 2000 to today.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the exchange of the marina and fishing-boat areas, the addition of cafés and shops, and the conversion of the disused castle into a hotel with a private beach. However, the response does not give a clear overview of the harbour’s main transformation, and some details are inaccurate or unclear. For example, the road is not removed or newly added: the main road remains on the west, and the road beside the harbour is still shown. The claim that the passenger ferries stayed the same is not clearly supported by the plan. You also omit notable changes such as the added showers and toilets and the extra jetty. A concise overview and more precise comparisons would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response groups several changes into paragraphs and generally moves from the northern harbour to the southern area, so the reader can follow the broad topic. However, the progression is not consistently clear: the sentence beginning “Moving on to the fishing boats right left side to the dock” is difficult to interpret, and “Moving up from the car parking on the south” gives an imprecise spatial link. Connectors such as “Moving on” and “Next to” are used, but they do not always clarify how features relate or how the account is organised. The final sentence repeats that changes occurred rather than providing a useful overview. Organise the report by area or by major changes, and use clear location references to link each comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “renovations,” “replaced,” “extended,” and “southern part,” and the reader can identify many of the features being compared. However, several word choices or combinations are inaccurate or awkward, which sometimes makes the description harder to understand. “Extended from one to two” does not clearly describe the additional jetty and second berthed boat, while “restricting the public beach near to it only to the hotel” is an imprecise way to describe the change to a private beach. There are also spelling errors such as “additons,” and “life boat” is not written as the standard compound “lifeboat.” Aim for precise map terms and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts a mixture of sentence forms, including longer comparisons, but errors are frequent and sometimes make relationships between features unclear. The opening, “The plan displays the Porth Harbour … and how does it look today,” has an incorrect question structure; use a statement such as “The plans show Porth Harbour in 2000 and today.” Tense and verb forms are also inconsistent in “which remain unused in 2000 had been renovated,” and the clause “fishing boats into the previous place” lacks a finite verb. Other problems include “another showers and toilets added” and the run-on structure in the sentence about the road. Practise complete clauses, consistent past-to-present comparisons, and accurate articles and plurals.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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