Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-14

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)

This picture illustrates the side by side differcence of college's cafe before and after some renovation and opening of many food spots:

Firstly, the serving area is upgraded for the facility of hot meals similarly in the middle of cafe previously that side of cafe was fixed for the staff dinning facilities which changed into the take way facilities and a cafe bar is also introduced adjoining the takeway and on the left side of the cafe the salad point also introduced similarly when we go outside the cafe, previosuly there was nothing for outside sitting but now the beautiful outdoor sitting introduced with a barbecue point also present there.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify several genuine changes, including the hot-meal counter, the former staff dining rooms becoming takeaway and coffee-bar areas, the new salad bar, and the outdoor seating with a barbecue. However, the report addresses the plans only partially: it gives no clear overview of the main changes and omits important features such as the recycling bins, the unchanged toilets and central seating, and the new access doors to the outdoor area. Some details are unclear, for example, “in the middle of cafe” does not accurately locate the former staff rooms along the north wall. The response is also 40 words below the required minimum, which limits the detail and comparisons you can provide. Organise the main changes into a fuller summary and include the key features.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic sequence, signalled by “Firstly” and “when we go outside,” and the reader can follow the broad movement from indoor changes to the new outdoor area. However, the response is presented as one long sentence, with several changes joined by “and” and “similarly.” This makes the relationships between features difficult to follow and gives the report little overall progression. The opening does not provide a distinct overview, and the indoor details are crowded together rather than grouped by location or type of change. Use separate paragraphs for an overview and the main details, and connect each comparison clearly—for example, explain which former facilities were replaced and which features remained.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “serving area,” “hot meals,” “take away,” “salad,” “outdoor sitting,” and “barbecue,” so the main subject is generally recognisable. However, the range is limited and several choices or spellings are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “differcence,” “dinning,” “take way facilities,” and “salad point.” “Beautiful” is subjective and not suitable for a neutral plan description, while “cafe bar” is less precise than “coffee bar,” the label shown. These errors sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Build a more accurate set of words for describing locations and changes, and use the plan’s labels where possible, such as “outdoor seating area” and “recycling bins.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts to combine several ideas in a complex sentence, but the sentence structure is often faulty and punctuation does not clearly separate the changes. For example, “the serving area is upgraded … similarly in the middle of cafe previously that side…” joins clauses without a clear grammatical link, and “the salad point also introduced” lacks an auxiliary verb. There are also recurring problems with articles and possessives, as in “college’s cafe” and “in the middle of cafe,” and tense control shifts between “is upgraded,” “changed,” and “introduced.” These errors can make the reader work to understand the comparisons. Use shorter, complete sentences with consistent past/present forms, and check that each clause has a subject and verb.

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