Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-20

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 lot of changes that happened in the college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks today.

Overall, several new facilities were introduced such as, outdoor seating, coffee bar and take away food.The serving area was transferred to hot meals.The salad bar and barbecue was introduced.While, the area of the kitchen and toilets stayed the same throughout the period where, bin replaced by the recycling bins.

Before the redesign, the cafe had limited services available. In serving area all food and drinks served but now, it replaced with hot meals.Where, staff dinnig rooms trasformed to take away food and coffee bar facilities.While tables and chairs inside the cafe reamined in the same location.

However, the salad bar was added to the menu.Where toilets remained unchanged and bin replaced by the recycling bins.Moreover, the outdoor seating area was established for people to sit.The area of the kitchen stayed the same throughout the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the new coffee bar, takeaway area, salad bar and outdoor seating, and correctly note that the kitchen and toilets remain in place. However, the overview and details are incomplete: the barbecue is mentioned, but its location and the new southern access doors are not described, and the outdoor seating layout is not explained. Some statements are unclear, such as “the serving area was transferred to hot meals”; the counter was relabelled for hot meals, rather than moved. The response also falls three words short of the 150-word minimum, with the ten words copied from the prompt excluded. Add a little more accurate detail about the plan and clarify the main changes to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure, with an opening, an overview and two detail paragraphs, and it generally moves from the former layout to the current one. However, progression within paragraphs is weak: the final paragraph repeats that the toilets and kitchen stayed the same and that the bin became recycling bins, points already made in the overview. Linking words are often used mechanically or inaccurately, as in “However” and “Moreover,” where the relationship between ideas is not clear. Several sentences are joined with full stops missing, such as “food.The salad bar” and “introduced.While,” which disrupts the flow. Group the changes by location or by what was retained versus added, and use fewer, more precise links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “facilities,” “remained,” “introduced” and “location,” so the main changes can usually be understood. However, the range is limited and several word choices or forms are inaccurate: “transferred” does not accurately describe the serving counter being relabelled, “added to the menu” misrepresents the salad bar as a menu item, and “the area of the kitchen” is an imprecise way to describe its position or size. Spelling errors such as “dinnig” and “reamined” also reduce accuracy. Choose terms that describe physical changes precisely, and check spelling and collocations before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some complex sentence forms, including clauses beginning with “where” and “while,” but these are often incomplete or incorrectly connected. For example, “Where, staff dining rooms transformed…” is a fragment, and “While tables and chairs inside the cafe remained…” is also left without a main clause. There are recurring problems with articles, agreement and sentence boundaries: “The salad bar and barbecue was introduced” should use a plural verb, while “In serving area all food and drinks served” lacks necessary grammatical elements. The sentence patterns are therefore limited in reliable control, and errors sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Practise complete clauses and use shorter, accurately punctuated sentences before adding subordinate clauses.

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