Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 two plans below illusrate the design of cafe in college. The first layout of cafe was before redesign and the next one shows the transformation version.

Overall, There is significant changes in the plan. The today's cafe layout completly different from previous one. New facilities was created for the students. There is addition of salad bar, coffee bar and take away food. However, Serving area was eliminated.

In the minor changes, Serving area was replaced by Hot meals. Staff dining room space was completly finished in indoor and in that area Take away food and Coffee bar facilities was made.

In today's cafe there is addition of outdoor seating in the north. The size of toilets remain unchanged whereas bin was converted into recycling bins. Moreover there is addition of outdoor seating in the north beside barbecue. There is massive increase in sitting capacity for the students. Moreover,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response partially addresses the task. While it attempts to summarise the main changes between the two plans, several features are inaccurate or misreported—such as stating that the outdoor seating was added in the north, whereas it is located in the south. Furthermore, the response is cut short mid-sentence at the end and fails to meet the minimum word length requirement of 150 words (coming in at 149 words). An overview is attempted, but key features are under-developed or inaccurately described. To reach a higher band, you need to ensure all directional references match the visual data precisely, provide a clearer overall summary of the spatial transformation, and write slightly above the minimum word limit to fully develop your ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some organisation with the use of basic transition markers like 'Overall', 'However', and 'Moreover', but there is no clear overall progression of information. Paragraphing is attempted, but sentences are often disjointed and repetitive in structure. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or awkward, such as starting a paragraph with 'In the minor changes'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear. To improve, you should group related features together logically—for instance, grouping all food-related changes and all seating changes—and use a wider and more natural variety of cohesive links to guide the reader smoothly through the spatial comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic changes, including terms like 'redesign', 'transformation', and 'facilities'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, awkward word choices, and spelling mistakes, such as 'illusrate' instead of 'illustrate', 'completly' instead of 'completely', and 'sitting capacity' instead of 'seating capacity'. These errors occasionally cause slight confusion for the reader. To achieve a higher band, you should incorporate a wider range of precise, less common vocabulary suited to describing diagrams and maps, such as 'demolished', 'converted', 'relocated', and 'expanded', while paying close attention to correct spelling and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text relies on a very limited range of sentence structures, primarily simple sentences and basic subject-verb-object patterns. When you attempt more complex constructions or passives, errors occur, such as 'New facilities was created' (subject-verb agreement error) and missing articles like 'design of cafe in college' or 'The first layout of cafe'. Frequent errors in grammar, articles, and singular/plural agreement are present throughout the text. To lift your grammar score to the next level, you need to demonstrate a better mix of complex sentence forms with accurate verb agreements, correct use of countable and uncountable nouns, and proper article usage.

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

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