Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-07

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 picture shows a harbour in 2000 and how it looks today. Along the main road, there were spaces for the showers and toilets and car parking as well. There were two areas for the car parking infront of eachother. Besides the showers and the car parking, there were spaces for private yachts named as Marina. On the left of Marina, there was a place specified for the fishing boats. Whereas, when the Porth Harbour constructed there are spacious areas for two docks near the Passenger ferries. There are few cafes and shops in the constructed plan of Porth Harbour at the entrace and the road leads straight to the hotel. There is a private beach as well at the left side of hotel. The Marina lies infront of the car parking along the road. In todays Harbour, there are two allocated spaces for the toilets and showers. Fishing boats area is infront of Marina.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5

You identify the two time periods and mention several relevant features, including the marina, fishing boats, cafés and shops, hotel, and private beach. However, the account does not give a clear overview of the harbour’s main changes, and some locations or relationships are inaccurate or unclear: for example, the fishing boats were not to the left of the marina in 2000, and the response does not clearly explain that the marina and fishing-boat areas exchanged locations. The dock is also described as two docks, whereas the plan shows one dock with an additional jetty today. The response is 146 words, below the required 150. To improve, summarise the major changes accurately and compare the two plans systematically.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 3.5

The response includes a sequence of observations and uses basic linking expressions such as “Whereas,” “Besides,” and “as well,” so the reader can identify some connections between features. However, there is no clear paragraph structure or overall progression from an overview to specific comparisons. The account moves between the 2000 plan and today without consistently signalling which period is being described, and references such as “there” and “the constructed plan” are not always clear. Some details are repeated, particularly the marina, car parking, and showers. Organise the response into an overview followed by a paragraph for the main changes, and use clear time markers such as “In 2000” and “Today.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic vocabulary, including “harbour,” “private yachts,” “Passenger ferries,” “cafes and shops,” and “private beach.” These terms help communicate the general subject, and some attempts to describe location are evident. However, several choices are imprecise or unnatural, such as “spaces for the car parking,” “infront of eachother,” and “spacious areas for two docks.” “Constructed plan” is also not an appropriate way to refer to the present-day map, and spelling errors such as “entrace” reduce accuracy. Aim for concise, conventional map-description language, for example “car parks,” “opposite one another,” and “the present-day layout.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple sentences and longer structures, including “Whereas, when the Porth Harbour constructed…” and “The Marina lies infront of the car parking along the road.” However, control is uneven, and several sentence patterns are faulty or incomplete. For example, “when the Porth Harbour constructed” needs a passive verb form (“when the harbour was redeveloped”), while “there were spaces for the showers and toilets and car parking as well” has awkward article and coordination patterns. Tense shifts between “there were,” “constructed,” and “lies” also make the time reference unclear. Practise accurate past and present forms, and build comparisons with complete clauses, such as “In 2000…, whereas today….”

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

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