Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

The plans illustrates modifications that are made toady in a harbour and how did it look in 2000.

overall, porth harbour has undergone significant redevelopments today as compared to 2000.

In 2000, the harbour was located at east side of main road with two enterances, as one entrance directly leaded to car park while other was directed to life boat through a link road with car park situated at the north side of linkroad. A diused castle was found at the south east corner of the harbour with a public beach at its right side. Furthermore, public beach had dock with passengers ferries at the noth east corner of the harbour. Marina private yachts with shower and toilets were locted at the north west corner of the harbour.

since the harbour has witnessed extensiverenovation in current plan keeping two entrance same side of main road as that of 2000. However, there was addition of cafes and shops at the right side of link road and to the left side of life boat. The disused castles has been repaced by hotel with private beach at the sameside forthe hotel. Moreover, fishing boats in the north west corner of harbour has been replaced by marina private yachts. Finally, in public beach number of passangers ferries increased than that of 2000 wth location of showers and toilets remainig unchnged.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You provide a relevant overview that Porth Harbour has undergone significant redevelopment, and you identify several important changes, including the castle becoming a hotel, the southern beach becoming private, and the marina and fishing-boat areas changing. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the public beach is not to the right of the castle, and the ferries do not increase in number at the public beach. The northern dock has an additional jetty and two boats today, while the public beach remains in the north-east. You also say showers and toilets remain unchanged, although facilities are added in a second location. Covering these changes accurately and explaining the main relocations more fully would make the summary more complete and precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction and overview are followed by a description of the 2000 plan and then the present-day changes. This chronological organisation helps the reader compare the two maps, and linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “However,” and “Finally” signal progression. At times, though, the connections between locations are difficult to follow. For example, the sentence about “two enterances” and the “link road” combines several features without making their positions clear, while “in public beach number of passangers ferries increased” is hard to interpret. Use shorter, more clearly focused sentences and refer consistently to the north, south, and harbour entrance to make the comparisons easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt relevant map vocabulary, including “redevelopments,” “corner,” “link road,” “private beach,” and “replaced,” which helps convey the broad changes. However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural combinations are noticeable, such as “diused castle,” “extensiverenovation,” “same side,” and “passangers ferries.” Some descriptions also use the wrong term or location, which weakens precision—for example, describing the public beach as having the dock. Aim for accurate spelling and natural collocations, and use specific map language such as “harbour entrance,” “southern shore,” and “was relocated” to describe changes clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple statements and attempts at more complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “as” and “while,” and the overall meaning is generally recoverable. However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction occur across the response. Examples include “The plans illustrates,” “how did it look,” “castle has been repaced,” and “fishing boats … has been replaced.” The opening sentence also has an unclear tense sequence, and several long sentences join multiple ideas without clear punctuation. Practise consistent past and present forms when comparing the maps, check singular–plural agreement, and divide sentences that contain several separate location changes.

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