Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-04

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 plans show changes in harbour before and after redesigning.

Overall, the harbour has developed and offer several facilities. harbour has introduced car parks, cafes and shopes and many other facilities to the tourist.

Before redesigning, the harbour had showers and toilets and marina (private yachts) on north side the harbour. There was two car parking lots , one near the marina and other one was near the fishing boats. The harbour had a dock and passenger ferries on the north side. The harbour had two public beaches, one on the north side and the other one in on south side of the harbour. There was a castle on south side which was disused. The harbour had a fishing boats and lifeboat

After redesigning, the harbour has change considerably. Marina has been replaced with fishing boat. Showers and toilets has been constructed between car parkings. Cafes and shopes has been constructed near the lifeboat. The south's side beach has been reserved only for hotel. castle has been replaced with hotel.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task partially, attempting to present an overview and select some main features from the two maps of Porth Harbour. However, the overview is somewhat simplistic, and the coverage of features contains notable omissions and lacks full development. For instance, the writer mentions that the marina has been replaced with fishing boats, but omits several other key modifications, such as the addition of the hotel, the expansion of the dock facilities, and the reorganisation of the car parks. Some details are also presented with limited clarity, such as describing the southern beach as being reserved only for the hotel without fully clarifying its previous state or location context. To achieve a higher band, the response would need to provide a clearer, more comprehensive overview of all major spatial changes and support them with fully extended descriptions and comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information chronologically, moving from the past layout in 2000 to the current layout. Paragraphing is utilised to separate the introduction, the initial state, and the redesigned state, which helps the reader follow the general progression. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. Referencing and linking devices are quite basic, relying heavily on simple temporal markers like 'Before redesigning' and 'After redesigning', while some sentences within paragraphs feel disconnected. Additionally, the second paragraph ends abruptly with an incomplete sentence fragment ('The harbour had a fishing boats and lifeboat'). To progress, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure smoother transitions between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task, allowing the student to name various physical features of the harbour such as 'marina', 'passenger ferries', and 'lifeboat'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'shopes' instead of 'shops', 'change' instead of 'changed', and 'car parkings' instead of 'car parks' or 'parking lots'. The range of vocabulary is restricted, and attempts at less common lexical items are either repetitive or inaccurate. To improve this criterion, the student needs to expand their vocabulary related to spatial change and development, while paying closer attention to word formation, spelling, and standard collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple sentences with frequent attempts at basic past and present tense forms. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement, such as 'offer several facilities', 'harbour has introduced', and 'Showers and toilets has been constructed'. Furthermore, article usage and pluralisation are frequently inaccurate, as seen in 'The plans show changes in harbour', 'There was two car parking lots', and 'The harbour had a fishing boats'. These persistent errors and the lack of complex, error-free structures mean the reader's understanding is occasionally impeded. To move up, the writer must focus on mastering basic agreement, article usage, and incorporating a greater variety of accurate complex sentence forms.

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

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