Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-05

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 4.5)

The plan provides information about a harbour in 2000 as well as how it looks today. At present, there were few places in the period of 2000, while it is more places in now.

Overall, at last period of 2000 the plan had not more effective, but now there are more categories of facility for people in itv Porth Harbour

At 2000 year, the plan little more impressed for citizen because variety of places created at Porth Harbour such as, showers and toilets, car park, and fishing area, public beach.

The Porth Harbour at today, it is becoming more effective for all visitors however the amount of facilities made for children and teenager.

For example, lifeboat cafe and shop, Marina private yachts and hotels, these places enjoyments for spare time.

In conclusion, the plan had not more attractive because the place had not more exited at the period of past time while, the plan more developed in now.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response attempts to address the task by comparing the two maps of Porth Harbour, but it only partially covers the requirements. While it mentions a few general changes, such as the addition of cafés, shops, and hotels replacing the disused castle, the selection of main features is very limited and lacks precision. Key spatial relationships and significant transformations—such as the swapping of the fishing boats and marina areas, or the addition of extra jetties at the dock—are either omitted or described vaguely. Furthermore, the commentary relies heavily on subjective opinions rather than objective reporting of visual data, stating that the place is more 'effective' or 'impressed for citizen'. To move to a higher band, the response must provide a clearer, more comprehensive overview of the key changes and report specific visual details without drifting into personal evaluations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The text is organized into paragraphs, attempting an introduction, an overview, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the overall progression of ideas is difficult to follow because the sentences often lack clear logical connections. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or inaccurately, such as starting sentences with 'At 2000 year' or 'The Porth Harbour at today', which creates a mechanical and disjointed flow. Pronoun referencing is also weak, leading to confusion about what specific nouns are being referred to. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal structure within paragraphs lacks unity and clear progression. Achieving a higher band would require logical sequencing of information, smoother transitions between sentences, and appropriate use of cohesive devices to guide the reader seamlessly through the comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

Vocabulary usage is basic, repetitive, and restricted to simple terms, frequently straining the reader's comprehension. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'facilities', 'categories', and 'impressed', but these are used inaccurately or inappropriately in context, as seen in phrases like 'the plan little more impressed for citizen'. There are frequent word-choice and word-form errors, including 'exited' instead of exciting, and 'at today' instead of today or currently. Spelling errors and awkward collocations further limit the precision of the descriptions. To improve, the writer needs to expand their lexical range beyond everyday words, learn accurate word forms, and use terms specifically suited to describing map transformations, such as 'relocated', 'converted', and 'demolished'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is very limited, consisting predominantly of simple or faulty sentence structures. The response contains frequent grammatical errors, including incorrect prepositions ('at the period of past time'), missing articles ('at today'), incorrect verb tenses ('there were few places in the period of 2000, while it is more places in now'), and awkward passive and active voice constructions. Subject-verb agreement is also problematic throughout the text. These frequent errors cause significant difficulty for the reader and obscure the intended meaning. To reach a higher band, the student must demonstrate better control over basic sentence patterns, use accurate verb tenses for describing past and present time frames, and reduce the frequency of fundamental grammatical mistakes.

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

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