Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-09

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 given plan here shows the before and after the redesign of a college cafe.

While looking at the image we can see a huge difference about the serving area and the seating places.

Before the reconstruction was done the we can see the serving room area where all the food and drinks was aviliable and aslo there was only two dining room

After the reconstruction was done we can see huge improvement on seating places, trash bins which has been improved, the serving place also.

overall the redesign was very useful and efficient

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify the topic as a before-and-after redesign and mention changes to the serving area, seating and bins, so the response is relevant to the plans. However, the description is minimal and does not clearly report the main changes: for example, the former staff dining rooms became takeaway and coffee-bar areas, a salad bar was added, and outdoor seating with a barbecue was created. The statement that seating places were greatly improved is vague and does not explain what changed. The overall comment that the redesign was “useful and efficient” is an opinion rather than a summary of the plan’s key features. The response is also below the required 150 words, leaving too little space to select and describe the important comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic sequence from the original café to the redesigned one, signalled by “Before the reconstruction” and “After the reconstruction,” and “overall” attempts to introduce a concluding comment. This gives the reader a simple framework. However, the response is not divided into clear paragraphs, and the ideas within the before-and-after sections are not developed in a consistent order. The sentence beginning “Before the reconstruction” ends without clear punctuation, making the transition to the next point difficult to follow. Cohesive links are limited and sometimes mechanical, particularly the repeated “we can see.” Organise the response into an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the original and current layouts, using clear links between specific changes.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The response uses a small set of relevant terms, including “serving area,” “dining room,” “seating places” and “trash bins,” so the general subject is understandable. However, vocabulary is repetitive and often imprecise: “huge difference,” “huge improvement” and “the serving place also” do not identify the actual changes shown. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “aviliable” and “aslo,” and “trash bins” is less precise than the plan’s label, “recycling bins.” Build a more specific range of language for describing layouts and changes, such as “was replaced by,” “was added,” “remained in the same position” and “outdoor seating area.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt to connect ideas with “While looking at the image” and use time clauses such as “Before the reconstruction was done,” showing some effort beyond isolated simple statements. However, the range of sentence structures is limited, and several sentences are faulty or incomplete. In “Before the reconstruction was done the we can see…,” the article and pronoun combination is incorrect, and the sentence lacks clear punctuation. “All the food and drinks was available” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “there was only two dining room” has incorrect agreement and singular/plural form. The final sentence is also not clearly punctuated. Practise accurate past-tense descriptions and check agreement, articles, plurals and sentence boundaries.

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

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