Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-05

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 two different plans illustrates the pictoral representation of before and after picture of a college cafe when it is redesign.

Before redesigning, the kitchen was on the right coner of cafe separated from rest with serving area for food and drinks. Most of space was occupied by the tables and chairs, while two staff dining rooms were on the top near kitchen before. The toilet was on the left below corner, beside this there was a small bin for disposal of waste which is near the entrance of a cafe.

After the changes, take away section is seperated from a kitchen and only hot meals are serving in the kitchen now. New salad bar is installed inside cafe, while the staff rooms are removed and the new coffee bar and take away area are introduced. They also went to greener infrastructure by converting traditional bins into a recycling bins which allows to seperate all kinds of waste at a single time. Sitting area is expended to outdoor, where they brings a new design by adding the barbecue setup with the outdoor setting, which will attracts more students and they will earn more money from this design.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the cafe redesign, including the kitchen, seating areas, and new facilities. However, the analysis is somewhat superficial. You mention that the changes will 'attract more students' and 'earn more money,' which is speculative and goes beyond the objective reporting required for an Academic Task 1. To improve, focus strictly on the visual data provided—such as the relocation of the kitchen or the expansion of the seating area—rather than interpreting the business motives behind the changes. The overview is also missing; a clear summary of the most significant changes (e.g., the shift from indoor-only to indoor-outdoor seating) should be included in the introduction or as a separate paragraph.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into three paragraphs, which is a logical structure for this task. You use some cohesive devices like 'Before redesigning' and 'After the changes' to signal the transition between the two plans. However, the flow within paragraphs is occasionally disjointed. For example, the transition between the kitchen description and the toilet location in the second paragraph feels abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is slightly unclear, such as 'beside this' and 'they also went to greener infrastructure,' where the antecedent is not immediately obvious. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring clear pronoun references would enhance the logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'infrastructure,' 'disposal,' and 'redesign.' However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and minor errors, such as 'pictoral representation' (pictorial), 'coner' (corner), and 'expended' (expanded). The phrase 'they also went to greener infrastructure' is also slightly unnatural in this context. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations related to describing maps and plans, such as 'relocated,' 'transformed,' or 'replaced,' and ensure that your spelling is accurate throughout the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include 'The two different plans illustrates' (subject-verb agreement), 'only hot meals are serving' (passive voice error: 'are served'), and 'which will attracts' (verb form error). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are issues with article usage, such as 'on the right coner of cafe' (should be 'the cafe'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and passive voice construction will significantly improve your accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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