Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17

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 maps compares the development in infrastructure of college cafe from then and now

overall,a significant devlopement in infrasturcture has been made. many new sites have been added a siginificant addition of outside seating has been developed

kitechen is same as before however serving area is eaxpanded to 3 different locations with a specialised food (salad bar,,barbecue and hot meals)at each site as infrastucture for outside sitting has also been introduced

staff dining rooms has been developed into takeaaway food and coffee bar.well,the site or space for recycling bins has been expanded while toilets ad inside sittinf has bnot been redesigned

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to summarise the main features of the two plans, noting key changes such as the addition of outside seating, a barbecue, a salad bar, and the conversion of staff dining rooms. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word length requirement of 150 words, containing only 101 words. This severely limits the depth of data reporting and comparison. Furthermore, there are several inaccurate details or misreadings of the visual data; for instance, stating that 'toilets ad inside sittinf has bnot been redesigned' misses details regarding layout shifts, and the overview is brief and underdeveloped. Consequently, the task is only partially addressed, leading to a lower band placement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response shows some basic organisation, opening with an introductory statement and an overall summary, followed by body details. However, the lack of proper paragraphing, severe punctuation errors (such as missing spaces after commas and lack of capitalisation), and poor mechanical control limit overall cohesion. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes awkward ('well,the site...'). While the progression of ideas can be followed generally, the structural integrity of the text is hindered by poor formatting and run-on phrasing, preventing it from reaching higher bands.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic concepts related to the maps, using terms such as 'infrastructure', 'development', 'specialised food', and 'recycling bins'. However, there are numerous spelling and typographical errors throughout the text, including 'devlopement', 'infrasturcture', 'siginificant', 'kitechen', 'eaxpanded', 'sittinf', and 'bnot'. These errors reflect limited control over word spelling and form, occasionally requiring the reader to guess the intended meaning, which keeps the lexical score in the lower bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The grammatical range is quite limited, consisting mostly of simple and attempted complex sentences that contain frequent structural and punctuation errors. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('staff dining rooms has been') and missing articles ('the maps compares the development in infrastructure of college cafe'). Punctuation is largely neglected, with missing capital letters at the start of sentences and after full stops, alongside spacing errors around punctuation marks. These frequent errors cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and reflect a weak grasp of sentence mechanics.

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

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