Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-03

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 illustrates that how harbour was in 2000 and how currently it is looking.

Overall, there are some significant changes happen in the past years and some location was being replaced. some has been removed. And others are being repolished.

In 2000, porth harbour has a clear division of area, along with the main roads there were two car parks, one of which was adjacent to the showers and toilets. The marina private yachts was located on the northwest side of the harbour. Fishing boats were moored in the southwest part. There were dock near the public beach in the northeast, where a passenger ferries were anchored, beside there a lifeboat station is set on the south side, There were the public beach beside the castle disused in the south side.

Currently, Several changes have taken place.An extra showers and toilets is built in the southern car park. The fishing boats and marina private yachts has been swapped with each other.Along there Cafes and shoes is introduced at the southern side.A extra boat have been expanded on the dock side. p

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify that the harbour has changed and report several relevant features, including the exchange of the marina and fishing-boat areas and the addition of cafés and shops. However, the account is only partial and some locations are misreported: in 2000, the marina was in the northern basin, not the “northwest side,” and the dock was at the northern entrance rather than near the north-eastern beach. The lifeboat station was on the harbour’s southern edge, but the response’s description of it beside the dock is unclear. The overview is also too general to highlight the main pattern of redevelopment. To strengthen the report, accurately compare the hotel and private beach with the former castle and public beach, and describe the dock’s added jetty and second berthed boat.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an opening, an overview, a paragraph about 2000, and a paragraph about today. This gives the reader some sense of the time sequence. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and several details are joined in long, unclear sentences. For example, the sentence beginning “There were dock near the public beach” combines the dock, ferries, lifeboat station, beach and castle without clear relationships. Linking phrases such as “Along there” and “beside there” do not clearly connect the ideas, while the overview repeats the general point that changes occurred without organising them into categories. Use shorter sentences and group features by area or type of change, with clear references such as “In the south” and “At the harbour entrance.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “car parks,” “moored,” “lifeboat station” and “private yachts,” so the reader can recognise several map features. However, the range is limited and word choice or spelling errors sometimes make the description difficult to interpret. “Repolished” does not convey the intended idea of redevelopment, and “Cafes and shoes” appears to misname the cafés and shops. Phrases such as “a clear division of area” and “an extra boat have been expanded” are also imprecise. Aim for accurate map vocabulary and natural collocations, for example “was converted into,” “was relocated to,” and “an additional jetty was added.” Check spelling and use the exact labels shown on the plans.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and longer sentence forms, but control is inconsistent, and errors frequently affect clarity. The opening, “The two maps illustrates that how harbour was,” has subject–verb disagreement and an incorrect clause structure. There are also problems with articles, plurals and verb forms, as in “a extra showers,” “a passenger ferries were anchored,” and “the fishing boats and marina … has been swapped.” Several sentences run together or use punctuation incorrectly, particularly the long sentence beginning “There were dock near…” and the fragment-like ending “A extra boat have been expanded on the dock side. p”. Practise accurate past and present passive forms for map changes, and check agreement, articles and sentence boundaries before submitting.

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

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