Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29

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 illustrates a cafe of a college before it was renovated and how it looks now.

Before the redesign, Serving area including all food and drink was attached with the kitchen corner, however after the reconstruction, the area is only for cooking and providing hot meals. Besides this, additional salad bar and coffee bar are constructed in the renovated cafe. There was no facility of taking parcel of food in the previous one while, an extra corner is created in the renovated one to take away food. The redesigned cafe also offered some recycled bins which were not available in the older cafe. Again, it has a barbecue section outside of the cafe. Although there is no particular dining room for the staff, the renewed cafe provides outdoor seating arrangement.

Both the figures highlights the features before and after renovation. After the redesign, the cafe has delivered many extra facilities that were unavailable, consequently the area has become larger than the past one due to the outdoor facilities of the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student covers the main features of the two plans well, comparing the changes such as the conversion of staff dining rooms into a takeaway and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar, and the introduction of outdoor seating with a barbecue. However, there are some minor inaccuracies; for instance, the student states that the area 'has become larger than the past one due to the outdoor facilities', whereas the building's physical footprint remains the same, only with expanded outdoor usage. Despite this slight misinterpretation, all parts of the prompt are addressed with relevant comparisons, earning a solid band score.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression, moving from the general introduction to specific structural changes inside and outside the café. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Before the redesign', 'however', and 'Besides this'. However, paragraphing is somewhat weak; the text is split into two very brief paragraphs, and the second paragraph clusters multiple distinct points together ('Both the figures highlights...'). Referencing is mostly clear, but the sequencing of ideas could be better structured into logical thematic paragraphs to achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully using terms like 'renovated', 'reconstruction', 'facilities', and 'arrangement'. There are occasional awkward word choices and phrasing, such as 'facility of taking parcel of food' instead of 'takeaway facilities' and 'recycled bins' instead of 'recycling bins'. Spelling is generally accurate, but some collocations are slightly unnatural. Nonetheless, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main transformations clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing subordinating conjunctions such as 'although' and 'while'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures, such as 'Serving area including all food and drink was attached with the kitchen corner' (missing articles and preposition issues) and 'Both the figures highlights' (subject-verb agreement error). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent minor inaccuracies prevent the text from achieving a higher band.

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

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