Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-13

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 4.5)

there are two pictures here, which show the report how the porth harbor was in 2000 and today , this is basically comparison of them , it was in 2000 main road is still same which connected to porth, so there was only one dock in 2000 but now it has 2 dock near the public beach, where three ship are docked at a time .in 2000 there is the marina ,private yachts, near the ship docking and now it change to fishing boats and now the marina is changed to the fishing boats , also there are two showers and toilets now , near the car parkings. a new cafe and shops also open near lifeboat and castle is now change into hotel, public beach is now private beach just for them who is in hotel. on the west their is a main road where these are all connected .thats it

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response covers several key changes between the year 2000 and the present, such as the expansion of docks, the addition of a cafe and shops, and the conversion of the castle into a hotel. However, the overview is missing, and the information is presented in a somewhat disorganized, stream-of-consciousness manner rather than a structured summary. While the student attempts to make comparisons ('now it has 2 dock near the public beach' and 'castle is now change into hotel'), key trends and overall patterns lack clarity and full development. This places the response firmly within Band 5, as it addresses the task only partially and lacks a clear, structured overview of the main features.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text suffers from severe issues with cohesion and paragraphing. The entire response consists of a single, run-on paragraph linked by comma splices and conjunctions like 'and' ('...and now it has 2 dock near the public beach, where three ship are docked at a time .in 2000 there is the marina...'). There are no logical paragraphs to separate introduction, overview, or body details, and cohesive devices are virtually absent or used incorrectly. Referencing is also unclear in places, such as 'just for them who is in hotel'. These structural shortcomings significantly disrupt the flow of reading, aligning with the Band 4 descriptor where information is not arranged coherently.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently relying on everyday words like 'pictures', 'change', 'now', and 'big'. There are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'port harbor', 'ship docking', and 'car parkings' (parking is generally uncountable here). While the writer manages to communicate basic concepts related to the visual data (e.g., 'cafe', 'shops', 'hotel', 'fishing boats'), the restricted range and frequent lexical errors impede fluency. This performance fits the Band 4 profile, characterized by basic vocabulary and errors that strain the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

Grammatically, the response is heavily reliant on simple, poorly connected clauses joined by commas rather than proper subordination or coordination. There are frequent, persistent errors in tense consistency, subject-verb agreement, and articles (e.g., 'there are two pictures here, which show the report how the porth harbor was', 'main road is still same', 'where three ship are docked', 'castle is now change'). Complex sentence structures are rare and mostly faulty. Due to the high frequency of basic grammatical errors and lack of structural variety, the appropriate score for this criterion is Band 4.

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

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