Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-14

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 plans illustrate the changes that have taken place in harbour between 2000 and the presant day.Overall, the harbour has been considerably modernised, with sereral facilities added tourists,while some original features, such as the fishing area and castle, have replaced or changes. the area has become more focused on leisure and tourism.In 2000,the western side of the harbour contained two car parks, showers and toilets, a marine for private yachts,and a separate area for fishing boats.To the noth-east,there was a dock and a passenger ferry service, while a publice beach was located further north.A lifeboat station was situated near the road in the southern part of the harbour, and a castle was found on the south-eastern side.Today the harbour has undergour severa developments.The fishing boats area has been moved to the noth-west, where new showers and toilets have been built, while the previous fishing boat area has been converted into a larger marina foe private yachts, in addition cafes and shops have been constructed along the area near the lifeboat station, providing more facilities for visitors, Another

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall change as modernisation for tourism and report several relevant comparisons, including the relocation of fishing boats and the marina, the addition of cafés and shops, and the change from a castle to a hotel. These details show a sound understanding of the plans. However, the response does not fully report the present-day layout: it ends with “Another” and leaves the final developments incomplete, including the hotel’s private beach and changes to the dock. Some locations are also imprecise; for example, the public beach is described as “further north” rather than to the north-east. A more complete account of the key changes would make the summary more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction and overview are followed by descriptions of the 2000 plan and the present-day changes. This helps the reader follow the broad comparison. However, progression becomes difficult in the final section, which ends abruptly with “Another” and does not complete the point. Several ideas are crowded into long sentences, particularly the overview and the sentence beginning “The fishing boats area has been moved…”. Linking is also sometimes mechanical or unclear, as in “in addition cafes and shops…”. Use separate paragraphs for the overview and each time period, and divide the changes into shorter, clearly connected sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a harbour plan, including “marina for private yachts”, “lifeboat station”, “converted into” and “facilities for visitors”. The language also conveys the broad shift towards tourism. However, spelling errors and imprecise or awkward expressions are noticeable, such as “presant”, “sereral”, “marine” for “marina”, and “a publice beach”. Some phrases are not natural in this context, including “the previous fishing boat area” and “focused on leisure and tourism”. These errors do not prevent the main meaning from being understood, but careful proofreading and more precise map-description vocabulary would improve clarity and control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including the overview clause “with some original features…” and the sentence explaining that cafés and shops provide more visitor facilities. However, grammatical control is uneven. The opening needs an article (“changes that have taken place in a harbour”), and the overview contains an incomplete or unclear construction: “some original features … have replaced or changes.” Sentence boundaries and punctuation are also problematic, particularly where “In 2000” and “Today” run directly into the preceding text, and where several clauses are joined by commas. The final “Another” is an unfinished sentence. Check articles, verb forms and sentence boundaries, and ensure every sentence is complete.

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