Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-08

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 4.0)

The graph illustrates the major changes of porth harbour in 2000 and today.

overall, numerous changes occur from 2000 to today, cafes and shops are constructed for the facilitation of people, hotels occur on the position of castle disused. The number of public showers and toilets are increased for people

In 2000

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

You identify the two time periods and mention several relevant changes, including cafés and shops, the hotel replacing the disused castle, and an increase in shower and toilet facilities. However, the response is only a brief start and does not provide a meaningful summary of the plans. It omits major changes such as the relocation of the marina and fishing boats, the added jetty, and the change from a public to a private beach. The statement about more facilities is relevant but not clearly supported with locations. The response is also 98 words below the required minimum. To improve, give a clear overview and describe the main changes with accurate comparisons between 2000 and today.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence is followed by an overview introduced with “overall.” This gives the reader a small amount of direction. However, the response stops at “In 2000” and has no developed body paragraphs or logical progression through the maps. The ideas in the overview are placed together without clear links, and the final fragment does not complete a point. Develop a simple structure: introduction, overview of the biggest changes, then one or two paragraphs comparing specific areas. Use linking phrases such as “In contrast” or “Meanwhile” to show how features changed, rather than leaving the reader to infer the relationships.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses some task-relevant vocabulary, including “harbour,” “cafes and shops,” “public showers and toilets,” and “castle.” These terms show an attempt to describe map features. However, the range is very limited because the response is so short, and several expressions are imprecise or unnatural: “hotels occur on the position of castle disused” and “for the facilitation of people” do not communicate the changes naturally. “Graph” is also not the appropriate term for a pair of plans. Use precise map language such as “is replaced by,” “is relocated to,” “facilities are added,” and “the beach becomes private.” Check spelling and capitalisation of place names and sentence openings.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt a compound sentence in the overview, and the basic meaning of some points can be understood. However, the response relies almost entirely on short, simple statements and does not demonstrate a range of sentence structures. Several grammatical patterns are incomplete or inaccurate: “hotels occur on the position of castle disused” lacks a clear, correctly formed comparison, while “The number of public showers and toilets are increased” has a subject–verb agreement problem. The final “In 2000” is an unfinished sentence. Practise complete comparative sentences, for example, “The disused castle was replaced by a hotel, and the beach became private.” Use past tense for the earlier plan and present tense for the current one.

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

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