Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18
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 represent the overall cafe structure in two phases, before and after. It seems better after redesign.
Overall, the cafe structure looks very good after redesign rather than old one. The new design have more facilties and wider area for serving, but old structure have less space for sevices.
The cafe before restructure looks very simple and have less sevices like seprate meal kitchen and seating area. There is only one small place for recycle bin which can be weird in the cafe and more improvement is needed.
The new plan of cafe look very smart and modern, although it has many facilities for customers. It has a seprate coffee bar place and a isolated take away food room which can be very useful for that customers who want to take food at home. The other big facility is outdoor seating area which can be very beneficial for the customers who enjoyed eating food outdoor. The new barbecue service is also very impressive.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 4.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response attempts to describe the changes shown in the two maps, but it includes significant personal opinion and subjective evaluation rather than objective reporting. Phrases such as 'It seems better after redesign' and 'which can be weird in the cafe' are inappropriate for an academic task, which requires a neutral, factual summary. While some key features are mentioned (such as the outdoor seating, barbecue, and coffee bar), the overview is weak and fails to highlight the most salient overall changes clearly. Furthermore, important spatial relationships and specific label changes (like the conversion of staff rooms) are described superficially. Consequently, the task response is limited and does not fully meet the requirements for a higher band.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is divided into paragraphs, which provides a basic structural framework. However, the logical progression is weak, and the overall organisation feels disjointed. Cohesive devices are either missing or used repetitively and unnaturally (e.g., 'The cafe before restructure looks very simple and have less sevices like seprate meal kitchen and seating area'). Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal flow of ideas lacks smooth transitions. Referencing between sentences is sometimes unclear, making it difficult to follow the comparison between the past and present layouts effortlessly.
Lexical Resource — Band 4.5
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, with frequent spelling errors such as 'facilties', 'sevices', 'seprate', and 'recycle'. The range of vocabulary is limited and minimally adequate for conveying simple ideas, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for describing graphical data (e.g., using 'structure' instead of 'layout' or 'plan'). There is little evidence of less common lexical items, and word choices often sound informal or colloquial, such as 'looks very good' and 'very smart and modern'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5
The essay demonstrates a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences predominate, and attempts at complex structures are frequently flawed, such as in the sentence: 'The new design have more facilties and wider area for serving, but old structure have less space for sevices.' There are numerous basic grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The new design have', 'old structure have', 'cafe before restructure looks') and missing articles. These persistent errors frequently cause strain for the reader and reflect poor control over basic grammar.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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