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 plans show a college cafteria before and after refurbishment.
Overall, the cafe now has a large space of barbecue but staff dining rooms were totally dimentled.
The cafe has now a take away option which was missing in last building, while there is also a salad bar now. The staff dining rooms are entirely converted into new feslities like take away food and coffee bar. Previouslyn serving area for food and drink in now converted into hot meals section, while kitchen and toilets are remain the same even after the upgradation.
Furthermore, cafe expands it's outdoor seating by introducing the barbecue section. The indoor sitting was quiet big in previous plan. Recycling bin area is also expended. Drink area is n
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 summarise the main features of the college cafe plans before and after refurbishment, noting key changes such as the introduction of a takeaway option, a salad bar, and a barbecue area. However, the text is cut off at the end and contains noticeable omissions in fully developing the comparison. More importantly, the response falls short of the word count requirement, containing only 122 words compared to the minimum 150-word requirement. This under-length issue negatively impacts the overall task achievement, as key details and comparisons remain underdeveloped. Based on these limitations, the response is awarded a band score of 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The response makes an attempt to organise information logically, starting with an overview sentence and moving into specific changes across paragraphs. However, paragraphing is poorly handled, with very short, abrupt paragraphs and an unfinished final sentence that trails off. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes repetitive. Referencing between the old and new plans is occasionally confusing, and the lack of a complete conclusion detracts from the overall progression. These limitations align closely with the descriptors for Band 5.0, where organisation is present but overall progression is unclear and cohesion is faulty.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates a minimally adequate vocabulary to describe the plans, using terms such as 'refurbishment', 'take away', 'salad bar', and 'barbecue section'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'cafteria', 'dimentled', 'feslities', 'Previouslyn', 'remain', 'expends', and 'expended'. These lexical errors and awkward collocations occasionally impede communication and restrict the vocabulary to a limited and repetitive range. Therefore, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate for this criterion, reflecting noticeable errors that cause some difficulty for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentences, but grammatical control is weak. There are frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and prepositions, such as 'The cafe has now a take away option', 'while kitchen and toilets are remain the same', and 'The indoor sitting was quiet big'. Additionally, punctuation and sentence boundaries are flawed, and the response ends abruptly in the middle of a sentence ('Drink area is n'). The frequency of these grammatical errors and the limited successful control of complex structures place this performance firmly at Band 5.0, where frequent errors can cause difficulty for the reader.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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