Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-26
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 pictures illustrates the comparison between a Port harbour in 2000 and today.
nowadays, Port harbour is modernized. It has become tourist attraction, after development there are cafes and shops, Marina and hotel. While in past there was no such places. It was a simple port.
In 2000, on west area was the main road to the port, there were two car parking north and south sides of the road. Showers and toilets were near left side of car parking at northern area, near that was Marina ( private yachts) linked to sea. In nourthern east side was public beach and a dock. In addition, there was castle (disused) near public beach on the southern east side of the port.
In recent time, main road, showers and car parking remained at same location. Bi
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5
The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 150 words, stopping abruptly at 134 words and remaining incomplete. Furthermore, the selection and reporting of main features are quite superficial. While the student attempts an overview and mentions several changes, such as the addition of cafes, shops, a marina, and a hotel replacing the disused castle, key spatial relationships are inaccurately described or overly generalized. For instance, the location of the marina and fishing boats swapped places between the two years, which is not clearly conveyed. Due to the incomplete nature of the response and under-developed details, it falls short of the higher bands.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay is poorly paragraphed and breaks off mid-sentence at the end ("Bi"), indicating a lack of control over overall text structure. While there is a rudimentary attempt at introduction and body paragraphs, the logical progression is disrupted by fragmented sentences and abrupt shifts between locations. Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, such as "While in past" and "In addition". Paragraphing is ineffective due to the unfinished text and lack of proper conclusion or sustained body development. Consequently, the flow is disjointed and cohesion is faulty.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, such as "pictures illustrates", "modernized", "tourist attraction", and "simple port". There are noticeable word choice and collocation issues, for example, "on west area" instead of "in the western area" and "in nourthern east side". The student attempts some topic-specific vocabulary like "Marina ( private yachts)", "dock", and "castle (disused)", but the overall lexical range is limited and minimally adequate for the task. Spelling and morphological inaccuracies, such as "nourthern", further restrict the score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The text demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic descriptive patterns. There are several grammatical errors, including missing articles ("in past", "on west area"), incorrect prepositions, and subject-verb agreement issues ("These pictures illustrates"). Complex structures are rarely attempted, and the text ends abruptly with an incomplete fragment ("Bi"). Errors occur frequently across the short text, though they do not completely obscure the basic meaning, placing it firmly in the lower-intermediate bracket.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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