Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-30
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 two maps provide information regarding the a harbour between 2000 and recent days.
Overall, it is evident that the harbour witnessed a dramatic change. The southeast side completely replaced by other facilities, whereas some new facilities such as cafes and shops, a hotel, and a car park have been constructed.
To begin with, there was passenger ferries in the middle of the map and it remaided uchanged in recent days. In the past, there are was a marina on the west side, which converted into fising boats. In 2000, fishing boats was replaced by marina. In the past, the horbour has no showers and toilets; however, there were a showers and toilets have been added nowadays.
In 2000, on the southeast side was a castle, which replaced by a new hotel. In addition, some areas such as lifeboat, public beach and road were rea
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response attempts to describe the main changes between the two maps of Porth Harbour, providing an overview and mentioning several specific alterations such as the conversion of the marina and fishing boats, the addition of a hotel, and the inclusion of cafes and shops. However, the response is incomplete due to stopping abruptly mid-sentence at the end ("were rea..."), which leaves parts of the task unaddressed. Furthermore, the under-length penalty applies here as the student wrote only 145 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum. While some key features are accurately identified, the confusion regarding which area became fishing boats and which became the marina ("In 2000, fishing boats was replaced by marina") results in inaccuracies in reporting the visual data.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response attempts to organise information using some basic cohesive devices and introductory phrases, such as "Overall, it is evident that..." and "To begin with...". Paragraphing is attempted, with an introductory sentence, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs. However, logical progression is disrupted by contradictions and confusion in describing the spatial changes. For instance, the transition between ideas becomes muddled when describing the swapped locations of the marina and fishing boats. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, and the text ends abruptly without a complete concluding paragraph, severely impacting the overall cohesive structure and logical flow of the summary.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and task-specific terms such as "facilities", "constructed", "passenger ferries", and "marina". However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as "recent days" instead of "the present day" or "today", and errors in collocation and preposition use. Spelling is generally acceptable, but word-choice errors, such as confusing how features were converted, occasionally impede clear communication. The limited vocabulary range and repetition of terms like "facilities" restrict the score to this band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses ("which replaced by a new hotel") and introductory subordinate clauses. However, control of grammar and verb tenses is inconsistent and weak throughout. There are frequent grammatical errors, including tense confusion ("there are was a marina", "the horbour has no showers"), missing verbs or auxiliary verbs ("which converted into", "which replaced by"), and subject-verb agreement issues ("passenger ferries... it remaided"). Because the response cuts off abruptly mid-sentence, it also displays incomplete grammatical structures. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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