Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-17

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 two diagrams illutrate the changes that took place in Porth Harbour between a period of time between 2000 and 2026.

Overall, Porth Harbour has become more modernized. Not only has an extra dock has been added, but also more showers and toilets, and cafes and shops. The unused castle has been transformed to a hotel, with a private beach for it instead of the public one near the hotel.

In the year 2000, one dock existed, with passenger ferries besides it. On the west side of the harbour, a marina for private yachts was on the north-west side, as well as fishing boats on the south of the marina, with showers and toilets, and two car parks on the west of the marina and fishing boats. On the south, a road was connected to the life boats, with a disused castle and a public beach disconnected from the road.

Today, the harbour has two docks instead of one. Furthermore, the marina and the fishing boats switched places, with the marina taking the bigger place, and more toilets and showers have been added. Moreover, the unused castel has been turned to a hotel coonnected to the road, with the public beach near it being turned to a private one for the hotel.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You identify the main transformation clearly: the harbour is modernised, the marina and fishing boats exchange locations, and the disused castle becomes a hotel with a private beach. You also compare the dock facilities and mention new cafés and shops, so the response covers the key changes and gives a relevant overview. Some details are less precise: “two docks instead of one” is not quite accurate, as the plan shows an additional jetty at the existing dock, and the beach described as “near” the hotel is specifically south of the road. The account also omits the added showers and toilets’ locations and the cafés and shops beside the lifeboat station. More exact spatial reporting would strengthen an otherwise clear summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear overview followed by separate descriptions of the 2000 layout and the present-day changes. This gives the reader a logical progression, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Furthermore,” and “Moreover” help signal relationships between points. The comparison that the marina and fishing boats “switched places” is especially efficient. At times, however, long sentences combine several locations and features, making the spatial relationships harder to follow—for example, the sentence beginning “On the west side of the harbour” groups the marina, fishing boats, facilities, and car parks together. Use shorter, more clearly mapped descriptions and refer consistently to north, south, east, and west to make the progression more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for describing changes, including “transformed,” “switched places,” “connected,” and “private beach.” These choices communicate the main developments, and the language is generally adequate for the task. However, some word choices and collocations are imprecise: “extra dock” does not accurately describe the additional jetty, while “bigger place” is vague and does not clearly explain the marina’s expansion. There are also spelling errors in “illutrate,” “castel,” and “coonnected,” and “modernized” is less natural here than a direct description of the facilities added. Aim for precise map vocabulary such as “jetty,” “relocated,” and “adjacent to,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the contrastive construction “Not only … but also” and the clause “with a private beach for it instead of the public one.” Most of the meaning remains clear, but some grammatical errors persist. In “Not only has an extra dock has been added,” the auxiliary is repeated; write “Not only has an extra dock been added, but …”. The opening phrase “between a period of time between 2000 and 2026” is awkwardly constructed, and “on the south of the marina” should be “south of the marina.” The sentence about the road, lifeboats, castle, and beach also needs clearer clause structure. More accurate verb patterns and prepositions would improve control while retaining your range of sentence forms.

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

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