Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-15

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 of porth harbour illustrates the developments from 2000 till today.

Overall, it can be clearly seen that this porth harbour is situated on the right side on the main road. The castle which was not in use from a long time in converted in a hotel .

Another dock in added for more fluency of ferries. In 2000, the place for private yachts named as marina exchanged with the place for fishing boats. A cafes&shops added on the left side of lifeboat area. However, the public beach is now owned by the hotel and now it is a private property.

In addition to that, a showers&toilets added above the southern car park. The way of southern car park has changed, in 2000 the route for bigger car park was opend on the road which goes to lifeboat but now it opened on the main road. Other than that a route is also added which connect hotel to the local road which attach lifeboat area to the main road.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the exchange of the marina and fishing-boat areas, the castle’s replacement by a hotel, and the addition of cafés and shops. These are relevant and mostly consistent with the plans. You also give an overall statement, but it is not fully accurate: the harbour is not simply “situated on the right side” of the main road; the road runs along its western edge. The claim that the public beach is now hotel-owned confuses the southern beach, which becomes private, with the north-eastern public beach that remains. Some details, such as the new jetty and changes to facilities, are unclear or incomplete. A more precise overview and clearer reporting of the main spatial changes would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, a summary of major changes, and further details. This helps the reader follow the comparison, and linking phrases such as “Overall” and “In addition to that” show an attempt to connect ideas. However, the progression is not consistently clear. Several changes are crowded into one paragraph, and the final sentences about the car-park access and road connections are difficult to visualise. “Other than that” does not clearly signal how the next point relates to the previous one, while “However” introduces a contrast that is not fully explained. Grouping the changes by area or by type, and using clearer references to north, south, and the two beaches, would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “marina,” “fishing boats,” “lifeboat,” “private property,” and “route,” so the reader can recognise the main features being described. There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “exchanged with the place for fishing boats.” However, several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise: “for more fluency of ferries” does not clearly describe the additional jetty, and “the way of southern car park” is difficult to interpret. Spelling and written forms such as “cafes&shops” and “opend” also reduce accuracy. Choose standard map-description expressions and check spelling and compound labels to make the information clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and more complex forms, including “The castle which was not in use…” and the comparison beginning “in 2000… but now…”. The intended meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in sentence structure and verb forms are noticeable. For example, “The castle … in converted in a hotel” has an incorrect verb construction, while “A cafes&shops added” omits the auxiliary needed for a passive sentence. Articles and prepositions are also problematic in phrases such as “on the right side on the main road” and “from a long time.” Punctuation and sentence boundaries need attention, particularly in the long final sentence. Practise accurate passive forms and build comparisons in shorter, complete sentences.

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