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 diagram depicts the college cafe before and after renovation. Among all the areas four have been same as before, they are kitchen, toilets, bins, tables and chairs. At the place of serving area (all food & drinks), we now have hot meals. Simultaneously, staff dining rooms are now being used as take away food and coffee bar. The seating arrangements is situated outside with a capacity of 26 along with the barbecue. At the exit gate of the hot meals gate, a new salad bar has been created.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You identify several genuine changes, including the conversion of the former serving counter to hot meals and the staff dining rooms to takeaway food and a coffee bar. However, the response is very brief and only minimally summarises the plans; the required minimum of 150 words is not met. The overview is also inaccurate: you say four areas stayed the same, but the bin became recycling bins, while the kitchen, toilets and central tables and chairs remained. The outdoor seating is not described as having a capacity of 26 in the visual information, and the salad bar is on the western wall, not at an exit from the hot-meals area. Include the new southern doors, outdoor tables and barbecue, and distinguish unchanged features from altered ones.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic sequence, moving from features that remain to changes inside the café and then the outdoor area. Linking expressions such as “At the place of” and “Simultaneously” help show relationships between changes. However, the whole summary is presented as one short paragraph, with no clear overview separating the main transformation from supporting details. Some connections are also unclear, particularly “At the exit gate of the hot meals gate,” which makes the location of the salad bar difficult to follow. Organise the response into an overview and one or two detail paragraphs, and use clear location-based transitions such as “along the western wall” and “to the south of the café.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “renovation,” “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “take away food,” and “salad bar,” so the reader can recognise several key features. The range is nevertheless limited, and some wording is imprecise or awkward: “the seating arrangements is situated outside” does not clearly describe the outdoor seating area, while “exit gate” and “hot meals gate” are not suitable labels for the plan. “Bins” is also too general when the current plan specifically shows recycling bins. Use precise map language and vary expressions for change and location, for example “was converted into,” “was replaced by,” and “along the western wall.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes mostly simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to combine ideas using “Among all the areas” and “At the place of.” Some grammatical errors are noticeable, though the general meaning is usually recoverable. For example, “four have been same as before” needs an article and a more appropriate verb form, and “The seating arrangements is situated” has a subject–verb agreement problem. The phrase “At the exit gate of the hot meals gate” also shows an unclear and poorly controlled sentence construction. Practise accurate comparisons using forms such as “The kitchen and toilets have remained unchanged,” and check agreement, articles and sentence boundaries when revising.

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.