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.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The map illustrate a college cafe before it was redesigned and what things change in it and how it looks now.

Overall, it is clearly seen that kitchen ,toilets and tables and chairs at the same place that is not replaced. The outdoor seating area is made in cafe which is main change.

Moreover, serving area where all food and drinks is replaced with hot meals . In the lobby, staff dinning rooms was before the redesign,but now, its changed with take away food and coffee bar. In additional, The new change is salad bar area added in today cafe.

Furthermore, bin was replaced with recycling bin. In today cafe, there are big change outdoor seating area and barbecue made which is attractive area for customers.Others things like kitchen, toilets and tables and chairs is not changed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the replacement of the serving area with a hot-meals counter, the former staff dining rooms becoming takeaway and coffee areas, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. Your overview also notes that the kitchen, toilets and central tables remain. However, some features are only briefly mentioned, and the description could be more precise about the new salad bar and recycling bins. The response is 129 words, below the required 150; the eight words copied from the prompt are excluded from this count. Add relevant details about the layout, such as the southern doors connecting the café to the outdoor seating, to develop the comparison more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview and paragraphs describing changes. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Moreover” and “Furthermore” help signal progression. However, the sequence is not consistently clear: the final paragraph repeats that the kitchen, toilets and tables have not changed, which was already stated in the overview. Some connections are also awkward, particularly “In additional” and the shift from the lobby to the new facilities. Organise the details by location or by what stayed and what changed, and avoid repeating the same comparison. This would make the progression easier to follow and the linking less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “replaced,” “added,” “outdoor seating area” and “recycling bin,” so the main changes can generally be understood. However, the range is limited and several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, such as “what things change in it,” “big change” and “at the same place.” There are also spelling and word-form errors, including “dinning” for “dining,” which reduce accuracy. Choose more specific terms for the facilities and describe their positions clearly. For example, “the staff dining rooms were converted into a takeaway counter and coffee bar” is more precise than saying they “changed with” those facilities.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the reader can usually understand the intended comparisons. However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “The map illustrate” needs subject–verb agreement, while “staff dinning rooms was” has an agreement error and an unclear time reference. “Kitchen, toilets and tables and chairs is not changed” also needs plural agreement and a more accurate passive form. Use past tense for the former layout and present tense for the current one, and check each sentence for a clear subject and matching verb. More accurate sentence patterns would make your comparisons easier to read.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.