Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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)

This Map illustrates that how college cafe look before and now.

Overall, the cafe before redesign show that there is no proper organized setup of cafe. On the other hand the cafe today shows that there is an organized kitchen and setup of cafe.

Here, as we see that in cafe before redesign has one kitchen and there is only one counter for serving all the good and drinks and two staff dining rooms anf only has the indoor very limited seating area for customers and also has a toilets.

As we see, in cafe today it has one kitchen and there are seprate counter for every food category. In today's kitchen we clearly see that staff dining rooms were replaced by the food take away and cofee bar counters and also has recycling bins means that the waste can be recycled and cafe also has toilets.

As we see, in cafe before redesign there is very limited area for seating and in cafe today that there is indoor as well as has the outside dining area and there is proper barbecue setup for customers as well.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The candidate attempts to summarise the main features of the two plans, noting key changes such as the replacement of staff dining rooms with a take-away food counter and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar, outdoor seating, and a barbecue area. However, the response falls short of fully satisfying the requirements for a higher band. The overview is repetitive and lacks precision ('the cafe before redesign show that there is no proper organized setup'). Furthermore, some of the information is generalized rather than supported by specific comparisons, and the layout features could have been integrated more cohesively into a structured overview of spatial changes. This corresponds to Band 5.0, where the response addresses the task partially and key features are not fully or clearly developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response is structured into paragraphs, but the overall progression of ideas is hindered by repetitive phrasing and a lack of varied cohesive devices. The writer heavily relies on repetitive introductory phrases such as 'As we see, in cafe before redesign' and 'As we see, in cafe today', which makes the reading mechanical and clunky. Paragraphing is present, but the internal logical links between sentences are weak. Reference words and substitution are handled poorly, causing the text to feel disjointed. These issues place the response firmly at Band 5.0, as there is some basic organisation but no clear overall progression, and cohesive devices are inadequate or overused.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive. Words such as 'cafe', 'kitchen', 'counter', and 'seating' are repeated constantly without synonyms or paraphrasing. There are also noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'all the good and drinks' (instead of food), 'food take away' (instead of take-away food), and 'cofee bar' (spelling error). The candidate attempts to use some less common items like 'redesign' and 'category', but the limited vocabulary range and frequent inaccuracies constrain the response to Band 5.0, where the language is minimally adequate but noticeable errors cause some difficulty and strain for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures. Most sentences are simple or poorly controlled complex structures joined by coordinating conjunctions. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('this map illustrates that how college cafe look', 'cafe before redesign has one kitchen... and also has a toilets'), missing articles ('a toilets'), and tense inconsistencies ('look before and now'). Complex sentences are often faulty in execution. Because of the high frequency of errors and the limited control over sentence structures, this performance meets the criteria for Band 5.0.

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

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