Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-15
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 5.0)
These maps illustrates how a Porth Harbour got changed over the period from 2000 to till date.
Overall, the west-north side has very few changes can be seen, similarly for North as well. In contrast, in southern part, various things got renewed. moving to East, there is no significant development has occur.
In year 2000, Main road was connected with two car park roads, and now there is one more road connected that results in three. Moving further West to east, Floating boats and MArina(private yachts) - these two things exchaged there original places with each other. In northern side, number of dock increased by 1.
Furthermore, In west, cafes and shops are developed just beside lifeboat. Another considerable change is castle(disused) is totally replaced by Hotel, which is worth noticing. Also private beach is stable at it's palce. Where as in east, there is no noticable change occured, it is steady over the time.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The candidate attempts to cover the main features of the maps, noting the swapping of the fishing boats and marina, the addition of cafes and shops, and the replacement of the disused castle with a hotel. However, the response contains several inaccuracies and vague statements, such as claiming that no significant development occurred in the east when the disused castle was actually replaced by a hotel. Furthermore, the overview is rather disjointed and fails to clearly highlight the primary overarching changes. According to the Band 5 descriptors, the response addresses the task only partially and contains ideas that are somewhat unclear or underdeveloped.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text is organised into paragraphs, beginning with an introduction and overview followed by body paragraphs detailing specific spatial changes. However, logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions, informal phrasing ('till date', 'moving further West to east'), and mechanical cohesive devices. Paragraphing is attempted but lacks proper unity and coherence, as sentences jump haphazardly between different areas of the map. Reference words are occasionally unclear or misused. This fits the Band 5 profile, showing some organisation but lacking clear overall progression.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with several spelling errors ('illustrates', 'exchaged', 'palce', 'noticable') and awkward word choices ('Floating boats' instead of fishing boats, 'stable at it's palce'). The range of vocabulary is limited and minimally adequate for the task, with unsuccessful attempts at less common items. While meaning is generally retrievable despite the errors, the lexical control restricts the score to Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response exhibits a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences with frequent structural errors. There are issues with subject-verb agreement and tense consistency, such as 'These maps illustrates how a Porth Harbour got changed over the period' and 'no significant development has occur'. Punctuation and article usage are also flawed throughout the text. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and align closely with the Band 5 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.