Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-27

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 pictures compares the changes of the facilities of Porth Harbour in 2000 and today.

Overall, today the place looks more developed with more facilities compared to that of 2000's outlook.

The East side of the harbour in the first plan had one dock which has been increased into two today whereas, the North public beach is still the same. On the other hand, the abandoned castle has been turned into a hotel now. The public beach at the South became the private beach for the hotel. As the hotel has been constructed now, so for comfortable transportation road has been developed upto the hotel which was not seen in 2000. LIfeboat facility is kept unchanged but beside that cafes and shops have been built.

The West side of the illustrations give evidence that now the second parking facility has been connected with the main road in contrast to that of 2000 which shows it was previously connected to the road inside. Due to two car parks, in the past showers and toilets where insufficient as there was only one beside the first parking at the North-West side. As a result, new space for showers and toilets have been made beside the second car park at the South-West side. However, fishing boats and Marina private yachts are still kept in the harbour but their places have been interchanged causing the fishing boats to occupy larger space which was used for the yachts in 2000.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You identify several major changes accurately, including the castle becoming a hotel, the southern beach becoming private, cafés and shops being added, and the marina and fishing boats exchanging locations. The overview that the harbour is more developed is relevant, and you compare the two plans rather than listing features in isolation. However, some details are misreported or overgeneralised: the dock itself has not become two docks; it has an additional jetty and two boats. The road to the hotel is also not newly developed, as a road already ran towards the castle in 2000. The claim that the second car park’s road connection changed is unclear and not supported by the plan. More precise reporting of these features would strengthen an otherwise clear account.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall shape: an introduction and overview are followed by comparisons of the eastern and western areas. This makes the main changes reasonably easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “On the other hand” and “However” help signal contrasts. At times, though, connections are mechanical or the sequence becomes difficult to track. For example, the sentence beginning “Due to two car parks” introduces a cause-and-effect claim that is not clearly established, while “As the hotel has been constructed now, so…” combines linking structures awkwardly. The east/west division is useful, but grouping changes more systematically—waterfront changes together, then land-use changes—would create smoother progression and clearer relationships between details.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a suitable range of map vocabulary, including “facilities,” “interchanged,” “occupy,” and “constructed,” and the reader can generally understand the comparisons. There are, however, several imprecise or unnatural choices that limit flexibility and precision. “The pictures compares” is an awkward description of the plans, while “increased into two” does not accurately express the dock and jetty change. “The West side of the illustrations give evidence” is also an unnatural way to introduce map information. Spelling and form issues such as “LIfeboat” and “cafes” further reduce polish. Aim for conventional map-reporting phrases and choose words that describe the exact physical change rather than a general increase.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, using relative clauses and contrast structures, as in “which has been increased into two today” and “whereas, the North public beach is still the same.” Meaning is usually recoverable, but some errors in agreement, tense, articles, and sentence construction remain. For example, “The pictures compares” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “the West side … give evidence” has the same problem. The construction “As the hotel has been constructed now, so…” is not grammatically well formed, and “showers and toilets where insufficient” uses the wrong verb form. Review agreement and avoid joining “as” and “so” in this pattern. More consistently accurate complex sentences would improve control.

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