Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-13

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 diagram shows the transformation of college cafe after refurbishment.

Overall significant changes are seen in the college cafe after redesigned. New sitting area is introduced followed by the addition of salad bar and barbecue.

A major increase is seen in the seating capacity followed by outdoor seating arrangements. The staff dining rooms are replaced with take away food and coffee bar counter. In the kitchen area the serving area is replaced with hot meals.

A salad bar is introduced inside the cafe. Moreover, the barbecue is also added to college cafe reflecting addition in menu. For outdoor eating two doors have been added in the cafe. Before the cafe was limited to selective people, however, after redesign, the increase in number of seating capacity evidences the cafe is popular now.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response makes an attempt to summarise the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign, noting key additions such as the salad bar, barbecue, and expanded seating. However, it fails to fully develop comparisons and misses several prominent features from the visual data, such as the removal of the counter and changes to the entrance and waste/storage areas. Furthermore, the task requires a minimum of 150 words, but this response contains only 131 words. This under-length shortfall directly penalises the task achievement score, as the overview and details are insufficiently extended. Consequently, it fits the descriptor for Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a basic overall arrangement with paragraphs separating the introduction and body details. However, logical progression is weak, and cohesive devices are repetitive or awkward, such as starting multiple sentences with 'followed by' or 'is introduced'. Paragraphing is also erratic, with very short, choppy single-sentence paragraphs that hinder the natural flow of information. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it hard to track spatial relationships between the old and new layouts. These features align closely with Band 5.0 descriptors for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, including topic-specific terms like 'transformation', 'refurbishment', 'seating capacity', and 'salad bar'. However, the range is limited and repetitive, and there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'New sitting area is introduced' instead of 'seating area', and 'redesigned' used as a noun in 'after redesigned'. While communication is not severely impeded, these lexical inaccuracies and the limited variety prevent the response from achieving a higher band, placing it firmly at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and passive structures, such as 'The staff dining rooms are replaced with take away food and coffee bar counter.' However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are missing articles ('transformation of college cafe', 'inside cafe'), preposition errors ('added in the cafe' instead of 'to'), and awkward word forms ('after redesigned'). Complex sentence forms are attempted but often faulty. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader while simple structures dominate, a score of 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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