Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 shows that the institution cafe is in a state of disrepair and how to seen now. In the overview, the bin was converted into the recycled bin, and the serving room can be changed into a hot-meal area on the lower right side, with a takeaway food and coffee bar.

The condition of the cafe before the redesign: the front of the cafe has a kitchen, and below the kitchen is a serving area on the lower side; there will be staff dining rooms in the lower right corner; there are toilets upstairs; there is a bin in the center; there are tables and chairs.

Today, the cafe condition and the kitchen remain unchanged, and the serving area is converted into a hot meal area. The staff dining room will be replaced by a takeaway and coffee bar. On the left side, the salad bar was newly build.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task only partially, presenting some key features of the cafe before and after the redesign, but with significant omissions and inaccuracies in reading the visual data. For example, the student claims the institution cafe is 'in a state of disrepair' and mislocates features, stating that the staff dining rooms were in the lower right corner and toilets upstairs, which contradicts the provided plan. While there is an attempt at an overview, it focuses on minor details rather than the main overall changes, such as the addition of outdoor seating and the barbecue area. Ideas remain limited and under-developed, preventing the response from achieving a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is some basic organisation in the response, dividing the text into an introduction with an overview, a description of the past layout, and a description of the current layout. However, there is no clear overall progression, and the logical flow is disrupted by inaccurate reporting of spatial relationships. Cohesive devices are minimal, mechanical, and occasionally inaccurate, such as repetitive use of prepositional phrases and conjunctions. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of information lacks the clarity and cohesion needed for a higher score, making the progression of ideas sometimes difficult to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a building layout, including terms like 'kitchen', 'serving area', 'coffee bar', and 'salad bar'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice and word formation, such as 'recycled bin' instead of 'recycling bins' and 'newly build' instead of 'newly built'. Furthermore, inappropriate lexical choices like describing the cafe as being 'in a state of disrepair' cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted vocabulary range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent errors in tense usage, prepositions, and clause formation. Examples of structural and tense errors include 'how to seen now', 'the serving room can be changed', and 'there will be staff dining rooms'. Attempts at complex structures are often faulty, and frequent errors in grammar and punctuation cause strain and difficulty for the reader, placing this aspect squarely at the lower level.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.