Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-07

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 pictures illustrates the college cafe of the past before redesigned and in the present looks,has been noticed.

In an overview, it is readly apparent that the college cafe in today provide more favilities instead of in the past.

Turning to details,the kichen has been unchanged in the east north side of this area,yet the area of serving s removed to build hot meals.Staff dining rooms are demolished and botk take away food and coffee bar have been established in the centre of west direction.Tables and chairs same in the heart of cafe;however, dustbin is also remove and build recycling bus in the west side.

Moving towards ,toilets are unchanged in the west south direstion. On the oposite of recycling bus to build salad bar.In the outer part of collefe cafe, bathbecue and outdoor seating have been located on below of the formar place.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main change—that the café now offers more facilities—and mention several relevant features, including the kitchen, hot-meal counter, former staff rooms, recycling bins, toilets and outdoor seating. However, some locations are misreported: the take-away and coffee-bar sections are along the north side, not “in the centre of west direction”; the recycling bins are on the eastern wall, not the west; and the salad bar is on the western wall, opposite the bins. The overview is also broad and does not clearly summarise the major transformation. The response is 144 words, below the required 150, and several changes, such as the new southern doors and barbecue, are only briefly described. Develop the overview and report positions more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing details. This gives the reader some sense of how the information is organised. However, progression within the detail paragraphs is difficult to follow because locations and changes are combined in unclear sequences, as in “On the oposite of recycling bus to build salad bar.” Linking phrases such as “Turning to details” and “Moving towards” are attempted, but the latter is awkward and does not clearly signal a new area. Some references, including “the former place,” are also unclear. Organise the description by moving systematically around the plan, and use straightforward links such as “In addition” or “Along the southern wall” to make relationships explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt vocabulary relevant to describing a redesigned space, including “established,” “unchanged,” “demolished” and “outdoor seating.” These choices show an effort to vary your language beyond basic labels. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word choices are frequent enough to make parts of the description difficult to understand: “favilities,” “kichen,” “dustbin,” and “recycling bus” obscure the intended meaning. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “in the present looks” and “in the centre of west direction.” Use the exact plan labels where possible, and practise collocations for describing location and change—for example, “located along the western wall” and “was replaced by.” Proofreading spelling would also improve clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and more complex contrasts, for example, “the kitchen has been unchanged … yet the area of serving …” and “Tables and chairs same …; however…”. This shows some awareness of how to compare the two plans. However, grammatical errors are frequent and sometimes make the relationships between features unclear. The opening has faulty agreement and sentence construction (“The pictures illustrates … and in the present looks, has been noticed”), while “Tables and chairs same” is missing a verb. There are also problems with articles, prepositions and sentence boundaries, as in “on below of the formar place.” Build accurate simple sentences first, then combine them with “while” or “whereas”; check that every clause has a subject and a correctly formed verb.

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

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