Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-16

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 below shows a harbour in 2000 and the changes that made today.

The marina private yachts were built where the fishing boat used to be, in 2000, and the fishing boats were built in place of the private yachts. The spaces between the boats increased, which made it easier for each boat gets its own dock to get launched. There used to be a single place for toilets & showers, in 2000. Therefore, another Shower & toilets were made before the carpark near the main road. Beside the lifeboat, cafes & shops were built near the yachts and road. As the road moves along, there used to be a Castle loacted in the southeast, along with the public beach. It was never used before, so it renewated into a hotel with the same public beach only made accessible for the hotel visitors. Public beach across the northeast side remained at the same spot, as well as, the passenger ferries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several important changes, including the exchange of the marina and fishing-boat areas, the addition of cafés and shops, and the replacement of the castle with a hotel. However, the response only partially covers the plans: it gives no clear overall summary of the main changes and omits notable details such as the extra jetty and the altered facilities and car-park arrangements. Some information is inaccurate or unclear: the north-east public beach remained public, while the beach by the hotel became private; the passenger-ferry area is not shown as unchanged in the present plan. The explanation that the castle was unused and that boat spacing was increased to help launching is not supported by the plans. Select the main changes and report only what the maps show.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The response contains relevant details, but the ideas are not arranged in a clear overall progression. It moves from the marina and fishing boats to facilities, then the lifeboat, and finally the castle and beaches, without an overview or a consistent spatial or chronological structure. Linking expressions such as “Therefore,” “Beside,” and “As” are attempted, but some connections are unclear or do not express the relationship accurately. For example, “As the road moves along” does not clearly introduce the change to the castle area. Organise the report into a brief overview followed by grouped details—for example, changes around the harbour basin and changes along the southern shore—and use references that make each location easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant map vocabulary, including “marina,” “fishing boats,” “lifeboat,” and “southeast,” so the reader can identify several features. However, the range is limited and some word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which makes parts of the description difficult to interpret. “The spaces between the boats increased” is not a clear or supported description of the plans, while “made accessible for the hotel visitors” does not accurately express the change to a private beach. There are also noticeable spelling and word-form errors, such as “loacted” and “renewated,” and inconsistent forms such as “carpark.” Use precise terms such as “relocated,” “converted,” and “private beach,” and check spelling and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including a contrast between the former castle and the present hotel. However, the range is limited, and errors in sentence structure, tense, agreement, and articles occur frequently enough to make some sentences awkward or unclear. For example, “The plans below shows” has subject–verb disagreement, and “the changes that made today” is missing a grammatical subject and passive construction. In “another Shower & toilets were made,” the determiner and verb do not agree with the plural noun. The sentence beginning “It was never used before” also has an unclear reference. Practise accurate past-versus-present comparisons and passive forms, such as “The castle was replaced by a hotel,” while checking agreement and sentence boundaries.

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