Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-26

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 4.5)

The map illustrate changes to college cafe before it was redesigned and how it look now. Overall, the area underwant significant transformation with the most noticeable changes being outdoor areas some seating chairs.

At regard to north west corner look staff dining rooms two rooms together. East south corner small bin exact to the main entrance beside and south side their is toilets. Ih the center of map tables and chairs when cross the staff rooms you can see right side kitchen and serving ares.

In today map was significant changes tables and chairs was same place but recycling bin was increasing size, but toiletsare same position. before stuff dining rooms replace by two separate roome fisrt one which locate on directly entance front of this is a coffee bar than second one is take away food. west corner new develop that was salad bar, up side which north corner kitchen but there is changes service area replace hot meals. The main changes which first look down side their was 2 door open but previously not, after that south west corner their barecue small and also outdoor seating throughout the areas.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the task by comparing the two maps of the college cafe, identifying several key alterations such as the addition of the salad bar, outdoor seating, and the transformation of the staff dining rooms into a coffee bar and takeaway food area. However, the response suffers from serious flaws in task completion. The overview provided in the introduction is extremely vague ('the area underwent significant transformation with the most noticeable changes being outdoor areas some seating chairs'). More critically, the text contains numerous inaccuracies and misinterpretations of the visual data, such as confusing spatial orientations (e.g., placing the toilets incorrectly) and struggling to coherently link the labels. Due to these underdeveloped ideas and inaccurate reporting of features, the response falls into the Band 5 category.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The structural progression of the essay is heavily disrupted by flawed referencing, poor cohesion, and a lack of clear paragraphing. The introduction and body paragraphs are disjointed, and the reader struggles to follow the spatial descriptions due to confusing transitions like 'At regard to north west corner' and 'In today map was significant changes'. Cohesive devices are either missing or misused, and referencing pronouns lack clarity, leaving the spatial relationships between the old and new layouts obscure. Paragraph boundaries are arbitrary and do not logically guide the reader through the comparison. This level of organization aligns with Band 4 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.0

The student's vocabulary is extremely basic, repetitive, and restricted to simple terms directly lifted from the prompt or poorly remembered. Words are frequently used with incorrect collocations and non-standard forms (e.g., 'underwant', 'exact', 'stuff dining rooms', 'barecue'). There are numerous word-choice and spelling errors that consistently strain the reader's understanding (e.g., 'fisrt', 'locate', 'up side'). While the student attempts to name specific features from the visual data, the lack of control over basic lexical items prevents them from achieving a higher score, placing this performance firmly at Band 4.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.0

Grammatical control is weak throughout the response, featuring a very limited range of structures. Most complex or attempted multi-clause sentences are structurally faulty, incomplete, or lack necessary verbs and prepositions (e.g., 'The map illustrate changes to college cafe before it was redesigned and how it look now' and 'before stuff dining rooms replace by two separate roome fisrt one which locate on directly entance'). Punctuation and subject-verb agreement errors are pervasive, and frequent non-systematic errors severely impede clear communication. This performance matches the criteria for Band 4.

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

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