Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 map below illustrate the plan, which shows a college cafe before it was redesigned and how the cafe currently looks like.

Overall, the kitchen, toilets, table and chairs remained unchanged before and after renovation, where as staff dining rooms is replaced by coffee bar and take away food. few other rooms including barbecue section is added.

Initially, the staff dining rooms has been replaced by take away food with coffee bar. on slightly west of it was serving area where food and drink was being served but now it is the area where hot meals are avaliable. and on west corner of cafe salad bar has been establised for customers, and opposite of it trash area was redesigned with recycling facility.

On the other hand kitchen remain unchanged as it was before just like toilets area which was on south-east corner of caf, on opposite end of cafe new section has been introduced which is barbecue, and with that outdoor seating facility is available where costumers can enjoy weather with live barbecue.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features and making clear comparisons between the college cafe before and after the redesign. You provide a general overview in your second sentence, noting that the kitchen, toilets, tables and chairs remained unchanged while the staff dining rooms were replaced. Key transformations—such as the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a coffee bar and take-away area, the addition of the salad bar, recycling bins, outdoor seating, and the barbecue section—are all accurately reported based on the visual data. However, some areas are slightly under-developed or lack full clarity in their spatial description, such as the phrasing "on slightly west of it was serving area", which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. Overall, you cover the required information well, but finer details and precision in referencing layout changes could be extended further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information logically from an introduction to body paragraphs comparing the past and present states. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases and conjunctions are either overused or awkwardly applied, such as starting consecutive clauses with lowercase letters and using repetitive connectors like "and on west corner" and "and with that". Paragraphing is visible, but the logical progression between sentences occasionally falters, making the flow somewhat choppy. Referencing is also not always clear, which requires the reader to work harder to follow spatial relationships between the old and new layouts. To improve, you should employ a wider and more natural range of cohesive devices and ensure smoother transitions between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as "redesigned", "renovation", "established", and "facility". However, there are notable word-choice, spelling, and word-form errors that prevent a higher score. For example, you wrote "avaliale" instead of available, used "trash area" where the prompt shows a bin and recycling bins, and wrote "costumers" instead of customers. Additionally, collocations are occasionally unnatural, such as "enjoy weather with live barbecue". These lexical slips do not completely impede communication, but they highlight limitations in precision and control over spelling and word choice. To achieve a higher band, you should expand your use of precise academic vocabulary to describe spatial changes and carefully proofread your work to eliminate spelling mistakes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text. These include capitalization errors at the beginning of sentences (e.g., "where as",

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