Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12
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 diagrams compares the cafeteria, before redesigning to the present structure.
Overall, the cafe has remained the same over the period with a few modifications. Staff rooms are replaced, cafe has been extended to add a Barbecue section. While rest is more or less the same, with the exception of expansion.
Presently the serving area has been replaced with the hot meals section that now enters to the Salad bar, while staff dining rooms have been altered to take away food, where the food is packed for taking away, and coffee bar for sitting and having cofee, sweets, and backery items . Conversely there is some addition of wastage for disposing off diefferent kinds of wastage. Now the Salad bar makes an entrance to the Barbecue section, where an outdoor seating has been arranged with multiple dining tables for people preffreing to enjoy their food outdoors in the fresh environment.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to cover the main features of the before and after plans of the college cafe. The introduction paraphrases the prompt, although with a grammatical error in 'The diagrams compares'. The overview touches upon the main changes, such as the extension for a barbecue section and the replacement of staff rooms. However, the details provided in the body paragraph are somewhat confusing, imprecise, and miss several key features shown in the diagrams, such as the removal of the entrance, the reconfiguration of the counter, and the relocation of the seating areas. Because some parts of the task are addressed only partially and ideas lack full development, this response aligns closely with Band 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text is divided into an introduction, an overview paragraph, and a body paragraph. However, the overall organisation is hindered by abrupt transitions and poor paragraphing. The second paragraph is extremely brief and consists of fragmented thoughts. Within the body paragraph, cohesive devices like 'Conversely' are used inaccurately, as the preceding sentence does not present a contrast that warrants this transition. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as 'where the food is packed for taking away, and coffee bar for sitting and having cofee, sweets, and backery items . Conversely there is some addition of wastage...'. These issues result in a lack of clear progression, placing this aspect of the writing at Band 5.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is a mix of basic and moderately functional terms, such as 'cafeteria', 'barbecue section', and 'outdoor seating'. However, there are numerous spelling errors throughout the text, including 'cofer' for coffee, 'backery' for bakery, 'diefferent' for different, and 'preffreing' for preferring. Word choices are sometimes awkward or imprecise, such as 'addition of wastage' instead of a waste disposal area. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic topic, the frequent spelling and collocation errors restrict the score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar is weak. There is a subject-verb agreement error in the opening sentence ('The diagrams compares'). Punctuation is faulty, with unnecessary commas and spacing issues before punctuation marks. Many sentences are overly long, run-on, and lack clarity, such as the lengthy sentence describing the staff dining rooms transformed into a takeaway and coffee bar. Frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing cause some difficulty for the reader, which corresponds to a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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