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)
The map illustrates the changes that took place a college cafe in past and now.
Overall, the college cafe has significant changes of its layout and facilities, Several areas were relocated and replaced, while new facilities, such as hotel meals, a take away foods, and coffee bar, were introduced.
In the past, the cafe had Kitchen and Serving area in northeast corner, while the Toilets were southwest corner. In the centre of the cafe, there were Tables and chairs, Staff dining rooms was situated in the north side of the cafe, while the bin was west side of the cafe.
At present, Serving area has been converted in to Hot meals, while Staff dining rooms has been replaced with Take away food and Coffee bar. Bins has been converted with Recycling bins and Salad bar has been installed. Barbecue and Outdoor seating have been installed in south side of the cafe.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response covers the main changes shown in the maps, noting the transformation of the kitchen, dining rooms, and the addition of outdoor facilities such as the barbecue and outdoor seating. However, there are several inaccurate locational references in the text. For instance, the student states that the kitchen and serving area were in the northeast corner in the past, whereas the diagram clearly shows them in the upper-left (northwest) area. Similarly, the toilets are placed in the southwest corner instead of the southeast. While an overview is attempted, these directional errors and some awkward phrasing regarding the data prevent the response from achieving a higher band. Overall, it addresses the task partially and contains noticeable spatial inaccuracies.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay is divided into a short introduction, an overview paragraph, and two body paragraphs comparing the past and present layouts. Basic cohesive devices and transitional phrases such as 'Overall', 'In the past', and 'At present' are used to structure the text. However, paragraphing is basic, and the logical flow is sometimes disrupted by inaccurate descriptions and mechanical linking. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the overall progression lacks seamless connection between sentences. The essay meets the minimum length requirement of 150 words, but the structural execution remains somewhat disjointed and repetitive in its sentence openings.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for a basic description of the maps, utilizing terms like 'relocated', 'replaced', 'converted', and 'facilities'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocational errors throughout the text, such as 'hotel meals' instead of 'hot meals', 'a take away foods' instead of 'takeaway food', and 'Bins has been converted with' instead of 'replaced by'. The range of vocabulary is limited, and these frequent word-choice and grammatical-collocation errors restrict the score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5
The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences and basic active forms. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and prepositions, such as 'significant changes of its layout' instead of 'in its layout', 'Staff dining rooms was situated' (plural subject with singular verb), and missing articles ('a college cafe'). Punctuation is basic, and errors occur in almost every sentence, sometimes causing slight difficulty for the reader in tracing the exact meaning.
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