Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-28

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 illustrate the changes in porth harbour between 2000 and the present day.

Overall, facilities location has been changed over the island. Some facilities name are changed and redesigned. Cafes and small marts are introduced, while small proportion of beach is renamed.

In 2000, In east-south, there was a tower, whose looks is changed into a castle. In the backward of the castle, there was a public beach. There were two car park, one near to showers and toilets, while another at fishing boats. There was a lifeboat in the opposide side of public beach, connected to the road.

Meantime, showers and toilets location remained unchanged, while fishing boats and marine ( private yachts area) is swapped. Disused castle is now used as a hotel, and the beach near the hotel is used for hotel purpose. In addition, there is an extra showers and toilets area near to the car park. At the left side of the lifeboat there are cafes and shops were people can buy goods.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant changes, including the relocation of the fishing boats and marina, the addition of cafés and shops, and the conversion of the disused castle into a hotel. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the castle was not a tower in 2000, and the beach behind it was not described as a public beach; the public beach is on the north-eastern side. The overview also says facilities changed “over the island,” which does not clearly summarise the harbour’s main transformations. To make the report more complete, accurately compare the northern dock and its extra jetty, the relocated facilities, and the change from a public to a hotel beach.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs, and it uses basic linking expressions such as “Overall,” “while” and “In addition.” This gives the reader some sense of organisation. However, the progression between locations and time periods is not always clear. For example, “In 2000, In east-south” is awkwardly introduced, and “Meantime” shifts to present-day changes without a clear transition. References such as “the backward of the castle” and “the opposite side of public beach” are difficult to interpret. Grouping the description by area or by changes between the two plans, and using clearer location references, would make the comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “car park,” “lifeboat,” “public beach,” “marina” and “disused castle,” and you attempt to describe change with phrases such as “is swapped” and “is now used as a hotel.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning unclear. “Tower” misidentifies the castle, “small marts” is not a natural description of the cafés and shops, and “used for hotel purpose” is imprecise. There are also spelling and form issues, including “Cafes” and “marine” for “marina.” Use precise map vocabulary such as “located,” “replaced by” and “converted into,” and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “a tower, whose looks is changed into a castle” and a contrast with “while.” However, errors in sentence structure, tense, agreement and articles are frequent enough to make some statements difficult to understand. For example, “facilities location has been changed” has agreement problems, while “There were two car park” needs a plural noun. The sentence “At the left side of the lifeboat there are cafes and shops were people can buy goods” combines incompatible clause structures. Keep the past description consistently in the past and the present-day description in the present, and check subject–verb agreement, plurals and sentence boundaries.

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