Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-23
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 gives the appearance of Porth Harbour in 2000 and now.
Overall, In 2000 Porth Harbour has beaches, car park and showers. It also has castle which is not in use, life & fishing boats, yachts and passenger ferries. As of Now cafe's & shops were provided, constructed dock, toilets, hotel with private beach. The fishing boats and yachts places were swapped.
In 2000, On the north side of harbour public beach is located besides to that dock and passenger ferries are avaialbe for water ride. Going towards northwest side entrance, showers & toilets including car park is built, infront of that facing towards east Marina Yachts is connected to sea. On the southwest, entered from main road, another car park is provided to the left and fishing boats on the other side. Continuing on the road reaching to life boat and a disused castle with public beach on south side.
As of now, additional dock is built to accomodated more passenger ferries. On the west side new entry going to showers & toilets were constructed closed to the car park. The places were swapped for fishing boats and marina is now private yachts. The cafe's and shop's constructed in the center, left to lifeboat, the castle converted to hotel with private beach.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student covers the main features of the maps, such as the additions of the hotel, cafés, and shops, as well as the swapping of the marina and fishing boats. However, the overview is extremely brief and lacks proper synthesis of the overall spatial transformation. There are also several inaccuracies in reporting specific locations and features (e.g., stating that the public beach was added when it was already present in 2000, and confusing some directional details). While the general task is addressed, the development and precision fall short of higher bands. This places the performance firmly at Band 5.5, as it addresses the prompt partially with some limited and under-developed ideas and minor inaccuracies in data reporting.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is divided into paragraphs, but the logical progression within paragraphs is weak. The sequencing of features feels somewhat disjointed, jumping erratically between locations without a clear spatial thread. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes awkward (e.g., 'As of Now', 'Besides to that'). Referencing is also occasionally unclear, making it hard for the reader to follow the exact layout being described. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal structure lacks smooth transitions and clear thematic grouping. This corresponds to Band 5, where there is some organisation and an attempt at paragraphing, but overall progression is lacking and cohesive devices are inadequate or clumsy.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses a limited range of vocabulary, relying heavily on basic terms directly lifted from the prompt (e.g., 'car park', 'showers & toilets', 'fishing boats', 'passenger ferries'). There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'gives the appearance of', 'constructed dock', and 'the places were swapped for fishing boats and marina is now private yachts'. Spelling errors and incorrect word forms appear throughout the text (e.g., 'accomodated', 'cafe's'). This vocabulary range is minimally adequate for the task, but errors in word choice and morphology cause occasional strain for the reader, fitting the Band 5 descriptor.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences dominate, and attempts at complex or passive structures are frequently faulty or unnatural (e.g., 'showers & toilets including car park is built', 'cafe's and shop's constructed in the center'). There are frequent errors in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Porth Harbour have', 'the castle converted to hotel'), and punctuation, including missing articles and misuse of apostrophes. These persistent errors can cause difficulty for the reader and restrict the grammar score to Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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