Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-13

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.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

The picture displayed the college cafe that was redesigned

Overall the cafe before design having five potions kitchen, serving area , staff dining room and toilets however after designed it they convert into different sectors like kitchen, hot meals, salad bar and coffee bar and also they added outside seating area.

before redesign the cafe just have kitchen and after kitchen the food were represented on serving area . and their were two staff dining rooms where staff were sitting at the time of eating and tables and chairs for students . additionally toilet on the corner.

In contrast after resign it kitchen area were on back hot meal area occurred in fort of kitchen also they added salad bar on side and food take away area with coffee bar they both were connecting also tables and chairs were available on inside additionally recycling bins on right side and outside sitting are also available . toilet were on the same position before resigned the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have successfully identified the main features of the cafe redesign, including the changes in layout and the addition of new facilities like the salad bar and outside seating. However, the response lacks a clear, professional overview. While you mention the changes, the description of the 'before' and 'after' states is somewhat repetitive and lacks precise comparative language. To improve, ensure you group information logically rather than listing features sequentially. The summary of the changes is accurate, but the lack of a formal structure and the informal tone of the overview prevent this from reaching a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is organised into paragraphs, but the flow between ideas is often disjointed. You rely on basic transitions like 'before' and 'after', but there is a lack of sophisticated cohesive devices to link sentences smoothly. The paragraphing is present but the internal structure of the paragraphs is somewhat chaotic, making it difficult for the reader to follow the spatial changes clearly. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when you refer to 'they' without a clear antecedent. Using a wider range of linking words (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'in contrast to') would significantly improve the logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is limited and repetitive. You frequently use basic verbs like 'have', 'were', and 'added'. There are also several spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'potions' instead of 'portions' or 'sections', 'resign' instead of 'redesign', and 'fort' instead of 'front'. These errors occasionally impede the clarity of your description. To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use more precise terminology related to spatial descriptions, such as 'situated', 'relocated', 'transformed', or 'adjacent to', rather than relying on simple verbs.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding verb tense consistency and subject-verb agreement. For example, you write 'the cafe... having five potions' instead of 'had five sections', and 'kitchen area were on back' instead of 'the kitchen area was at the back'. There is a lack of complex sentence structures, and the punctuation is inconsistent, which makes the text feel fragmented. You need to focus on mastering basic sentence construction and ensuring that your tenses remain consistent when describing past states versus current states.

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