Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-14

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.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The Blueprint illustrates how the Cafe was before redesigning it and how it became now.

the cafe before had only indoor dining area contains tables and chairs at the main hall of the cafe and two staff dining rooms. In the north on the main hall there was the kitchen and there was part of it took place as a serving area for food and drinks.

After redesigning the cafe, now there is a multible dining areas, for instance we have the indoor dining hall and the outdoor seating with a barbecue bar.

Inside the main hall of the cafe, reinnovating the staff dining places to serve couple tasks like Coffee bar and Take away food area with adding a salad bar. Also the kitchen was redesigned, and the serving area was replaces by Hot meals area.

Overall, the cafe got bigger and now it's capable of haveing more people with multible seating options to dine in and also will be able to serve take away option.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation: the former staff dining rooms become takeaway and coffee facilities, a salad bar is added, and the serving counter changes to hot meals. You also note the new outdoor seating and barbecue, giving a relevant overview of the café’s expanded dining options. However, some important details are omitted, including the recycling bins replacing the single bin and the toilets remaining in the same position. The statement that the café “got bigger” is not clearly supported by the plans; the outdoor seating is an addition, but the indoor footprint is not shown as enlarged. Develop the comparison more precisely by describing what stayed unchanged as well as what was added or repurposed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a generally coherent sequence: it describes the original layout, moves to the redesigned café, and ends with an overall summary. Paragraphing helps distinguish the two plans, and phrases such as “After redesigning” and “Overall” signal progression. However, the organisation within the redesigned-plan paragraph is less clear: “Inside the main hall…” leads into a sentence fragment, and several changes are compressed together without a clear spatial order. Some linking is also mechanical or imprecise, such as “for instance we have.” Group the changes by location—for example, north wall, western wall, then outdoor area—and use clear comparison links such as “while,” “whereas,” and “in addition” to make relationships easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “indoor dining area,” “staff dining rooms,” “outdoor seating,” and “salad bar,” so the main changes are understandable. There are also attempts at more specific wording, such as “redesigned” and “seating options.” However, several word choices or forms are inaccurate or awkward: “Blueprint” is not the most natural term for these plans, “multible” is misspelled, and “reinnovating the staff dining places” does not clearly express that the rooms were converted. “Barbecue bar” is also not the label shown; simply use “barbecue area.” Aim for precise, conventional plan vocabulary and check spelling and collocations, especially when describing conversion and facilities.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, and the reader can generally follow the main comparison. However, control is uneven, particularly in clauses describing the changes. For example, “the cafe before had only indoor dining area contains tables and chairs” has problems with articles and clause structure, while “reinnovating the staff dining places to serve couple tasks” is not a complete, well-formed sentence. There are also errors in verb forms and agreement, as in “the serving area was replaces” and “capable of haveing.” Capitalisation and sentence openings are inconsistent, including the lowercase “the cafe” after a full stop. Build clearer sentences with a subject and finite verb, and check articles, tense, agreement, and punctuation during revision.

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