Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-05

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 5.5)

The diagram display a college cafe before and after revised the design. How it looks today, what are the changes they maked it and how it is different for before the redesign.

College cafe before redesign consists of kitchen with serving area for all drink and food on north-west of the area, down the kitchen slighthly towards north-east there is staff dining rooms and hall with tables and chairs while the east thiere is bin and lower in south east there is toilets.

The cafe today is little bit different and well mannered. There is salad bar on west while down to west-south there is barbecue area with that out door seating till south-east and obove it there is area for toilets. In the east there is recycling bins and then they intrdouce in take away food and coffee bar in the same place where staff dinning rooms were available with that there is also area for chairs and tables and lastly their is kitchen in the same place as before redesign but they have add hot meals in places of all drinks and food.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the new salad bar, recycling bins, outdoor seating and barbecue, and note that the kitchen remains in the same place. However, the response does not give a clear overall summary of the redesign, and some details are inaccurate or unclear. For example, the staff dining rooms were replaced by takeaway food and a coffee bar, but the description says these were introduced “in the same place” without clearly explaining the change. The outdoor seating is south of the café, not “down to west-south,” and the hot-meals counter replaced the former serving area rather than all food and drink being replaced by hot meals. Select the main changes and describe their locations more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic before-and-after structure: one paragraph describes the original café and the next describes the current layout. This gives the reader a general sense of the comparison. However, progression within the paragraphs is difficult to follow, particularly in the long second description, which strings together locations with “while,” “and then,” and “lastly.” Some references are also unclear, such as “down to west-south” and “above it,” so the reader must work to interpret the layout. Use shorter sentences and group details by area—for example, changes inside the café first, followed by the new outdoor facilities. A concise overview would also help organise the report around the most significant changes.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “kitchen,” “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “recycling bins,” and “outdoor seating.” This gives you a minimally adequate range for the task, but several word choices and spelling errors make parts of the description awkward or less clear. “Well mannered” does not naturally describe a redesigned café, and “maked it” and “intrdouce” are inaccurate forms or spellings. Phrases such as “down to west-south” are also imprecise for describing position. Build a reliable set of location expressions, such as “along the western wall,” “in the south-east corner,” and “to the south of the building,” and check spelling before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, but control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make relationships between features difficult to understand. The opening, “The diagram display a college cafe before and after revised the design,” has problems with subject–verb agreement and sentence construction. In “there is staff dining rooms,” the verb does not agree with the plural noun, while “they have add hot meals” uses an incorrect verb form. Several sentences also run together, especially the long description beginning “The cafe today is little bit different,” making punctuation and clause boundaries hard to follow. Practise accurate past and present forms, agreement, and articles, then divide complex descriptions into shorter, complete sentences.

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