Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19

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 diagrams illustrate the development of a college cafe from the past to the present day.

Overall, the cafe experienced a significant development so far, from specialising the kitchen to the expansion of the sitting arrangements. While, some dedicated food counters has been installed at inside and outside the cafe.

Before the renovation of the cafe, the kitchen and the serving area of all types of drink and food were together. Now, it is serving only hot meals, and the kitchen remained as it was. The staff dinning rooms has replaced by a takeaway food counter and a coffee bar. To the west part of the cafe, a salad bar has built inside and a barbecue outside the cafe.

Regarding the sitting capacity, it has now increased by introcuding an outdoor seating facilities alongside the new barbecue counter. The ealier bin facility has been modernised into recyling bin service. However, the toilets in the south-west corner and the tables and chairs in the central part of the cafe remained as it was.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response successfully addresses the task by summarising the main features of the college cafe before and after the redesign. You provide a clear overview in your second paragraph noting the general expansion of the cafe and its seating arrangements. Key changes such as the introduction of dedicated food counters like the salad bar, coffee bar, and takeaway counter are mentioned. However, there are some inaccuracies regarding the location of certain features; for example, you state that the salad bar was built inside and a barbecue outside to the west part, but the barbecue is located to the south-west outside the building. Furthermore, you mention the toilets are in the south-west corner, whereas the visual data shows them in the bottom-right (southeast) corner. Despite these spatial errors, the overall progression and key transformations are adequately reported.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction to an overview, followed by indoor changes and finally outdoor and facility changes. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'Before the renovation of the cafe,' and 'Regarding the sitting capacity,' which help guide the reader through the comparison. However, paragraphing and referencing are occasionally awkward, such as the sudden transition in the second paragraph with 'While, some dedicated food counters has been installed...'. While the text has a coherent overall arrangement, referencing errors like misidentifying the location of the toilets detract slightly from the logical flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'redesign', 'renovation', and 'modernised'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'specialising the kitchen' and 'staff dinning rooms has replaced'. Spelling errors also occur, including 'introcuding' and 'recyling'. While you demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey the main changes, these lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips limit the score to Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentence forms across the response. However, there are several grammatical errors and issues with subject-verb agreement and voice, such as 'some dedicated food counters has been installed at inside and outside' (should be 'inside and outside'), 'the staff dinning rooms has replaced' (should be 'have been replaced'), and 'a salad bar has built' (should be 'has been built'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but commas are sometimes misused, as seen in 'While, some dedicated food counters...'. These errors occasionally impede smooth reading, though communication remains clear overall.

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

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