Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The two diagrams illustrates the college cafe before it was reconstruct and how it look after redesign.

Before the college cafe redesign. it is very simple just have a small kitchen and inside the kitchen one side is making food and other side is serving area of food and drink. The staff sitting area was too simple some chairs and tables and one staff dining room where teachers sit and eat foot and one basket for waste material. one bathroom for cleaning the hand.

After the renovation the college cafe was completely show different. the kitchen look life luxurious one side is making area and other side is for meals. The takeway area moved outside the kitchen. Morever include salad bar ,coofe bar, barbecue area and provide outside siting area chair placed in different ways in grouped or single and adding bins for waste material or bathroom also renovated after the renovation it completely surprised for all staff.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the before-and-after comparison and mention several genuine changes, including the new salad bar, coffee bar, barbecue and outdoor seating. However, the account is only partly accurate and the main features are not clearly summarised. For example, the staff dining rooms were replaced by takeaway food and a coffee bar, rather than being one staff room, and the outdoor seating is outside the café, not simply an area with chairs arranged in different ways. The toilets remained in the same position, while the waste facility became recycling bins; these comparisons could be stated more precisely. Some details, such as the kitchen being “luxurious” and staff being surprised, are unsupported. A clear overview of the major changes and accurate location-based comparisons would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic chronological structure: it describes the café before the redesign and then the café afterwards. This gives the reader a general sense of the comparison, and words such as “Before” and “After” help signal the two stages. However, the first section is broken by an awkward full stop after “redesign,” and most information is packed into two long paragraphs with little internal organisation. The second paragraph moves rapidly between the kitchen, takeaway area, new facilities and toilets, making relationships between details unclear. Linking expressions such as “In addition” and “By contrast,” alongside clearer grouping of indoor and outdoor changes, would create more logical progression and reduce the list-like effect.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a café plan, including “kitchen,” “serving area,” “salad bar” and “outdoor seating.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or spellings make the description unclear or unnatural. “Staff sitting area” is not the same as the labelled staff dining rooms, while “one bathroom for cleaning the hand” does not accurately describe toilets. Expressions such as “making area,” “waste material” and “outside siting area” are imprecise, and “coofe” and “takeway” contain spelling errors. Aim to use the plan’s labels accurately and choose natural collocations for facilities and changes. This would make the information easier to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts to describe both stages and uses some longer sentences, but grammatical control is weak and errors frequently affect clarity. Subject–verb agreement is incorrect in “The two diagrams illustrates,” and tense and verb forms are faulty in “before it was reconstruct” and “how it look.” Several clauses lack a complete or well-formed structure, as in “it is very simple just have a small kitchen,” while “one side is making food” does not form a clear grammatical description. Articles, plurals and punctuation are also inconsistent, including the sentence fragment “Before the college cafe redesign.” Practise accurate past and present forms, and build descriptions from complete sentences with a clear subject and verb before attempting longer structures.

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