Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-16

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)

The map displays a harbour in 2000 and how it looks today.

Overall, it can be seen that there is an increase in dock now. another interesting point is fising boats are now marine private yatch and vice versa along with opening of cafes and shops with the formation of hotel in replacement of disused castle.

In 2000 it is visable that there was only one dock which now turned to two due to increase in demand while fising boats and marine private yatch swap place with one another. furthermore there is an increase in number of showers and toilets along with the increase in development of the harbour.

there is a major development of leisure activities as there was no set up in 2000 as of today there are cafes and shops for people coming to harbour. the disused castle has now turned into hotel which may be used for comfortable stays.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to describe the main changes between the two maps, noting the swap of fishing boats and the private marina, the addition of cafes and shops, and the replacement of the castle with a hotel. However, there are several inaccuracies and omissions in reporting the data. For instance, the student states 'there is an increase in dock now' and 'turned to two', whereas the visual shows an additional jetty and extra boats berthed rather than an entirely new dock basin. Furthermore, key features like the beach transformations are missed, and some descriptions are vague. The overview is somewhat disjointed, leading to a partial fulfillment of the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is divided into short paragraphs, but the overall structure and logical progression are weak. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes inaccurate, such as 'another interesting point is fising boats are now marine private yatch and vice versa along with opening of cafes'. Sentencing lacks smooth transitions, and referencing is occasionally unclear. Paragraphing is attempted, but ideas within paragraphs are bundled together without clear signposting or logical sequencing, resulting in a somewhat mechanical flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive, with numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text (e.g., 'fising' instead of fishing, 'marine' instead of marina, 'yatch' instead of yacht, 'visable' instead of visible). There is little evidence of less common lexical items, and attempts at specific terminology are flawed. Lexical control is weak, and these frequent errors occasionally impede communication and require the reader to guess the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

Grammatical control is poor, featuring frequent errors in punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. Many sentences lack proper punctuation or run together without appropriate conjunctions (e.g., 'In 2000 it is visable that there was only one dock which now turned to two due to increase in demand while fising boats and marine private yatch swap place with one another.'). There is a very limited range of accurate structures, and complex sentence attempts often result in heavy grammatical errors that cause difficulty for the reader.

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

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