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 structure describes the design related to the a college cafe that the do changes in it . First of all the first design that are quite simple and easygoing. On the second side the new structure is quite unique and good showing. They do a lot changes in it . On the starting stage the Designer remove the staff sitting room . And in the kitchen they serve all meals at one place now the change in it only to serve the hot meals in kitchen. On the other side the sitting dinning tables that are removed by designer change into the place of takeaway food and coffee bar . Also they add a spot that is serving salad in college. On the point of entrance they do a setup for barbecue that is good and impressive point for students. They also introduced the outdoor seating area for students and teachers too .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response attempts to address the prompt by outlining the changes between the two college cafe plans, successfully meeting the minimum word length. However, the task is only partially addressed because the coverage of key spatial features is limited and lacks a clear, structured overview. While the writer mentions the removal of the staff sitting room, the addition of the salad bar, and the introduction of outdoor seating and a barbecue area, these points are presented as a list of isolated details rather than a cohesive summary of main features and comparisons. Certain elements are under-developed or imprecise, such as the description of the kitchen changes. To reach a higher band, the response would need to present a well-developed overview outlining the overall transformation of the layout and ensure all major visual shifts are fully reported and compared with greater precision.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The text suffers from significant organizational issues that prevent a clear overall progression. There is an absence of proper paragraphing, as the entire response is clumped together into a single block of text. Cohesive devices are used in a very mechanical and repetitive manner, such as starting multiple sentences with phrases like 'First of all,' 'On the second side,' and 'On the other side.' Furthermore, referencing is frequently unclear, and ideas jump between different parts of the map without a logical sequence guiding the reader from one area to another. To improve Coherence and Cohesion, the writer must divide the response into logical paragraphs—such as an introduction with an overview, followed by body paragraphs grouping spatial changes logically—and employ a wider, more natural range of cohesive links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is quite basic and repetitive, employing a limited range that is only minimally adequate for the task. The writer relies heavily on simple words and phrases like 'design,' 'change,' and 'place,' and struggles with appropriate word choice and collocation, as seen in expressions like 'the do changes in it,' 'good showing,' and 'on the starting stage.' There are also some awkward word formations and phrasing that occasionally strain the reader's understanding. To achieve a higher score, the writer needs to incorporate a more flexible and precise vocabulary suited for describing visual data and spatial changes, utilizing appropriate academic terms such as 'relocated,' 'converted,' 'replaced,' and 'expansion.'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The grammatical range is severely limited, consisting mostly of simple and frequently faulty sentence structures. There are frequent errors in basic grammar, including tense usage ('that the do changes in it'), subject-verb agreement ('the sitting dinning tables that are removed'), missing or incorrect articles ('the college cafe,' 'the second design'), and awkward prepositional patterns ('on the point of entrance'). These frequent errors can cause difficulty for the reader and impede fluent comprehension. To move up to the next band, the student must demonstrate better control over basic sentence construction, reduce the frequency of errors across simple and complex forms, and pay closer attention to verb tenses, plurals, and article usage.

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

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