Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-30

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 pictures, illustrates the difference between Porth Harbour in 2000 and today.Ceratin changes has been over the period of time.Several things have been transformed and freshly built.

Overall, there is an addition of new dock, a place for shower and toilets and a cafes along shops. Some changes have been done to the road extention and turned a disused castle into a hotel on the southeast part of the map.

Since 2000, things were changing alongside time such as roads connecting with the main road is now extended to the hotel and cafes and shops next to the lifeboat. Car park enterance were different previously but now they facing towards the main road. Formarlly, only one place was availble for showers and toilets but now there is another one beside another car parking.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the two maps and mention several relevant developments, including the hotel replacing the disused castle, new cafés and shops, and additional showers and toilets. However, the summary addresses the task only partially: it omits major changes such as the relocation of the marina and fishing boats, and the extra jetty at the harbour entrance. The overview is also incomplete, focusing on additions rather than summarising the main pattern of redevelopment. Some details are inaccurate or unclear: the road is not described as extended to the hotel, and the car-park entrances are not a clearly reported feature in the map. The response is also 17 words below the required minimum. Include the principal changes and describe their locations accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph describing changes. This gives the reader a basic route through the information, and phrases such as “Since 2000” help signal a time comparison. However, progression within the final paragraph is limited: road changes, cafés, car parks, and facilities are listed without a clear grouping or consistent spatial order. Some linking is awkward or unclear, as in “Car park enterance were different previously but now they facing towards the main road.” Organise details by area or by type of change, and use clear comparisons such as “In the north…” and “By contrast, in the south…”. This would make the relationships between features easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “disused castle,” “hotel,” “lifeboat,” and “showers and toilets,” so the reader can identify several mapped features. There is also an attempt to describe change with “transformed” and “addition.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or forms are inaccurate, which makes parts of the account difficult to interpret: “a place for shower and toilets,” “road extention,” and “Car park enterance.” Spelling errors such as “Ceratin,” “Formarlly,” and “availble” are noticeable. Use precise map language, for example “relocated,” “replaced,” “adjacent to,” and “on the southern side,” and check spelling and natural collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including “Some changes have been done to the road extention and turned a disused castle into a hotel…” However, grammatical errors are frequent and sometimes make relationships unclear. The opening has faulty agreement and punctuation: “The pictures, illustrates…”; “Ceratin changes has been…” also has subject–verb disagreement. In “Car park enterance were different previously but now they facing…,” the plural subject does not agree with “were,” and the second clause lacks an auxiliary verb. Tense and passive constructions are also inconsistent, as in “things were changing alongside time.” Use controlled past-versus-present comparisons, check singular and plural agreement, and separate sentences with appropriate punctuation.

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