Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-21

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 plans shows the development of Porth Harbour sice the year 2000. Overall, the Porth Harbour has become more developed and tourist-oriented, with new hospital facilities added or existing ones expanded such as, hotel, cafes and shops and a private beach for the hotel.

Since the year 2000 Porth Harbur has improved significantly. Few addtions were made to provide facilities for tourists.In year 2000 the Porth Harbour has only a single dock and less passenger ferries. However as the Porth Harbour started devoloping another dock was added to carry more passenger ferries. The Marina and Fishing boats swapped places.

Another significant change was that in the year 2000 there was a disused Castle and also a public beach. The Castle is demolished and a hotel is built in it's place. The public beach was privatised for the tourists staying at that hotel, along with other facilities such as cafes and shops.However the public beach beside docks remained unchanged.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main direction of change: the harbour becomes more tourist-oriented, the marina and fishing-boat areas exchange locations, and the disused castle is replaced by a hotel with a private beach. These are relevant, central features, and your overview gives the reader a useful overall impression. The account also notes the new cafés and shops and the unchanged north-eastern public beach. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the plan shows an additional jetty at the dock, not an additional dock, and it does not indicate that the new arrangement carries more passenger ferries. The comparison of facilities is also underdeveloped; for example, the added showers and toilets and car-park arrangements are omitted. More precise reporting of these changes would make the coverage more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introductory overview is followed by paragraphs describing harbour changes and the hotel/beach development. This gives the information a generally logical progression, and linking expressions such as “Overall,” “However,” and “Another significant change” help signal relationships. At times, though, the progression is somewhat mechanical, with repeated time references such as “Since the year 2000” and “in the year 2000.” Some connections are also unclear: “along with other facilities such as cafes and shops” could suggest that these facilities are part of the private beach rather than nearby additions. Improve cohesion by grouping changes by location or feature and using clearer references, while avoiding repeated introductory phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing development and comparison, including “tourist-oriented,” “swapped places,” “demolished,” and “privatised.” These choices communicate the main changes, and there is some variety beyond basic words. However, several spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural expressions limit the range and control: “sice,” “Harbur,” “addtions,” and “devoloping” are noticeable, while “hospital facilities” does not accurately describe the harbour’s new amenities. “Less passenger ferries” is also an imprecise description of the map. Proofread carefully and choose terms that match the plan exactly, such as “additional jetty” and “tourist facilities.” This would make the vocabulary more precise and consistently appropriate to an IELTS map report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including the contrast in “However, as the Porth Harbour started developing…” and the relative clause “the tourists staying at that hotel.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “The plans shows” has subject–verb disagreement, and “In year 2000 the Porth Harbour has” combines an incorrect article pattern with an unsuitable tense for describing a past plan. The sentence beginning “Overall” also has an awkward construction around “such as,” and punctuation is inconsistent where sentences run together after “tourists” and “shops.” Use the past simple for the 2000 plan, present simple for today, and check agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.