Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

The given plan demonstrates the changes made to a harbour from 2000.

Overall the changes are made by doubling certain ameneties and refurnishing an ancient castle to use it as a hotel. Cafes and shops are a new trending addition to Porth Harbour.

A new dock is built side by side to the old one to facilitate farries carrying passengers. The locations for fishing boats and privates yachts have been swapped, providing more space for marina now. Moreover, a new building is added for showers and toilets in the empty location near south-west car park.

The abandoned castle in the south-east corner of the harbour is now converted to a hotel by making no structural change. However the public beach is now a privately owned by the hotel for its use. Previously there was no road acces to the castle but now it has been built to facilitate the guests at hotel. Cafes and shops are also built adjacent to lifeboat as they were absent

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify several major changes accurately: the fishing-boat and private-yacht areas exchange locations, a hotel replaces the disused castle, the southern beach becomes private, and cafés and shops are added beside the lifeboat. The opening overview also highlights redevelopment and new facilities, giving the reader a clear sense of the harbour’s transformation. Some details, however, are unclear or not fully supported by the plan. In particular, the map shows an additional jetty at the existing dock, rather than a new dock built beside the old one; it also does not show that the hotel conversion involved no structural change. The added showers and toilets are mentioned, but other important changes, such as the altered arrangement of the northern facilities, receive little attention. More precise comparisons would strengthen the summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable progression: an overview is followed by changes to harbour facilities and then the hotel and beach area. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “However,” and “Previously” help signal relationships between ideas, and the main points are generally easy to follow. The organisation is not fully controlled, though: the dock and ferry sentence is difficult to interpret, and the final sentence ends abruptly after “as they were absent,” leaving the comparison incomplete. Some information is also grouped loosely, rather than being clearly organised by location or type of change. To improve, use complete, clearly connected sentences and group northern harbour changes separately from the southern hotel and beach redevelopment.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic vocabulary, including “amenities,” “converted,” “adjacent,” and “privately owned,” which helps describe the redevelopment. There are also attempts at less common wording, such as “refurnishing” and “facilitate,” but some choices are inaccurate or unnatural in context. “Refurnishing an ancient castle” does not describe its conversion into a hotel, while “new trending addition” is an awkward way to describe cafés and shops. Spelling errors in “ameneties,” “farries,” and “acces” are noticeable, and “privates yachts” has an incorrect form. Aim for precise map-description vocabulary and check spelling and collocations; this will make the meaning clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and more complex sentences, including contrast with “However” and a relative clause in “the public beach is now a privately owned by the hotel.” Most of the intended meaning can be understood, but some grammatical errors make parts awkward or incomplete. For example, “the public beach is now a privately owned” needs a different structure, such as “is now privately owned,” and “there was no road acces to the castle but now it has been built” has an unclear pronoun reference. The final clause, “as they were absent,” is left without a completed comparison. Review articles, verb patterns, and sentence completion, and use punctuation to separate longer ideas. More consistently accurate complex sentences would improve control.

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