Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-13

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 illustrate the past and present layout of the porth arbour, showing how it has been transformed with several new facilities.

Overall, the area has been significantly transformed with the addition of several new facilities such as a hotel and cafes and shops. The castle has been demolished and replaced with the hotel. Public beach has been replaced with private beach specially for the hotel. Lifeboat, passenger ferries and car park remaine untouched.

In the past, the

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the maps as showing change over time and mention several genuine developments, including the hotel replacing the castle and the addition of cafés and shops. However, the response addresses the task only minimally: it stops mid-sentence at “In the past, the” and gives no account of the harbour’s main spatial changes, such as the marina and fishing boats switching areas or the added facilities and jetty. The claim that the public beach was replaced by a private beach is inaccurate: the north-eastern public beach remains, while the southern beach becomes private. The statement that the lifeboat, passenger ferries and car park remain untouched is also unsupported. The response is 79 words, below the required 150. Develop a complete overview and report the key changes accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an opening sentence is followed by an overview beginning “Overall,” and then a move towards describing the past. This gives the reader some sense of the intended structure. However, the final paragraph is unfinished, ending with “In the past, the,” so there is no progression into a description of the maps or a concluding comparison. The overview also lists changes and unchanged features without grouping them clearly, and the short sentences are not linked into a developed account. Use separate paragraphs for the overview and the main changes, then organise details by area or by what changed and what remained. Linking phrases such as “By contrast” and “Meanwhile” can help make comparisons clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The response uses some relevant vocabulary for describing a harbour plan, including “layout,” “transformed,” “facilities,” “demolished” and “replaced.” These choices show an attempt to use more than basic location words. However, the range is limited because the response is very short, and some wording is inaccurate or awkward: “past and present layout” could be more precisely expressed as “the layout in 2000 and today,” while “Public beach has been replaced” misrepresents the map. There are also spelling and form issues in “porth arbour” and “remaine.” Use the map labels accurately and include terms such as “relocated,” “harbour entrance,” “southern shore” and “additional jetty” to describe the changes more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You produce several understandable simple sentences, and the opening sentence uses a participle clause in “showing how it has been transformed.” This demonstrates some structural variety. However, the range remains narrow, and errors appear in basic sentence construction and agreement. In “Public beach has been replaced,” the singular count noun needs an article (“The public beach”), although the factual description itself is inaccurate. “Lifeboat, passenger ferries and car park remaine untouched” has inconsistent number and missing articles; for example, “The lifeboat station, passenger ferry facilities and car park remain unchanged” would be grammatically clearer. The unfinished final sentence also prevents the reader from seeing how you would develop more complex comparisons. Practise accurate articles, plurals and complete sentences.

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