Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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 maps illustrate a college cafe before it was redesigned and how its looks now.

Overall, cafe before redesign was staff dining rooms changed and separated by take away food and coffee bar and major change is barbecue add in outdoor area.

In cafe before redesign was top of the cafe was kitchen then down was serving area for drinks and food. In middle was tables and chairs while in southern east side was toilets upper side was mini bin. In north side was staff during rooms.

At present, the changes is serving area converted into hot meals. Staff dining rooms area was rebuild by take away food and coffee bar. Bin is replaced by recycling bin. saled bar is added in middle corner side of tables and chairs. The major changes is barbecue add in outside of cafe and some outdoor seating chairs and tables in outside of cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the conversion of the serving area to hot meals, the replacement of the staff dining rooms, recycling bins, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. However, the overview is unclear and does not summarise the main changes accurately: the staff rooms were replaced by takeaway and coffee facilities, rather than “changed and separated.” Some locations are also misreported or vague; for example, the salad bar is along the western wall, not “in middle corner,” and the toilets are in the south-east corner. The response contains 141 words, below the 150-word minimum. To improve, give a clear overview and describe the key changes and positions more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an attempted overview, and separate descriptions of the earlier and current layouts. This gives the reader some sense of organisation. However, progression within paragraphs is often difficult to follow, and the repeated use of “In” and “At present” does little to show how details relate. The overview sentence, “Overall, cafe before redesign was staff dining rooms changed and separated by take away food and coffee bar,” is especially hard to interpret. Some location descriptions, such as “southern east side” and “upper side,” are not clearly connected to the plan. Use clearer topic sentences and sequence details by area, with accurate linking phrases such as “along the north wall” and “in contrast.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing plans, including “redesigned,” “converted,” “replaced,” “recycling bin,” and “outdoor seating.” These terms help communicate the general nature of the changes. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the description unclear. For example, “staff during rooms” appears to be an incorrect form of “staff dining rooms,” while “barbecue add in” and “how its looks now” are not natural expressions. “Mini bin” is also not an appropriate description of the labelled bin. Build a more precise set of location and change phrases, and check spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response relies mainly on short, simple clauses, with little variety in sentence structure. There are frequent errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For instance, “cafe before redesign was staff dining rooms changed” lacks a clear grammatical structure, and “At present, the changes is” has incorrect subject–verb agreement. The phrase “The major changes is barbecue add in outside” also needs a complete clause and an appropriate verb form. These errors sometimes make relationships between features difficult to understand. Practise forming complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and use past tense for the earlier plan and present tense for the current layout.

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