Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-08

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 illustrates the changes that took place in the college cafeteria after renovation.

Overall,the cafe underwent considerable development after the redesigning of cafe,particularly through the construction of seperate barbeque area and addition of food bars in the dinning hall.

Before the redesigning,the kitchen comprises of serving area with food and drinks with the attached room consist of table and chair with Bin and attached toilet followed by two other rooms for staff.After the innovation, the salad bar , take away food and coffee bar stalls were developed inside the dinning room along with the tables and chairs ,recycling bins and attached Toilets remain unchanged.

Another significant addition was the development of Barbecue area in the south of the college cafe just after the dinning room which consist of several rectangular tables and chairs in the outdoor space to enjoy the live barbeque gatherings.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the overall redesign and mention several relevant changes, including the new food bars, recycling bins and outdoor seating. However, the account is incomplete and some spatial details are unclear: the staff dining rooms were replaced by takeaway and coffee sections, while the kitchen remained in place and its counter became a hot-meals area. The outdoor seating is south of the café, but the barbecue is to its south-west; describing the tables as being “just after the dining room” does not clearly report this layout. The overview also focuses on additions without summarising the main contrast between the former indoor staff rooms and the expanded customer facilities. The response is 144 words, below the required 150, so add a little more accurate detail and comparison.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and two paragraphs describing changes. This gives the reader a basic progression from the former layout to the redesigned café. However, the comparison is not consistently organised by location or by before-and-after changes, and the long sentence beginning “Before the redesigning” combines several features in a way that makes their relationships difficult to follow. The final paragraph introduces the outdoor area, but its position relative to the building is not expressed clearly. Use shorter, more controlled sentences and link each change explicitly—for example, explain what replaced the staff rooms, then describe the western and southern additions. This would make the overall arrangement clearer and reduce the mechanical feel of the transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “redesign,” “salad bar,” “recycling bins” and “rectangular tables,” so the reader can recognise the main facilities. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “innovation” for a renovation, “food bars,” and “live barbeque gatherings.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “seperate,” “dinning” and “barbeque,” which reduce the accuracy of the description. Repetition of “development” and “area” also limits the range. Aim for precise plan vocabulary such as “was replaced by,” “was added,” “counter” and “outdoor seating area,” and check spelling carefully. This would make the description more natural and exact.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast between the former and current layouts. However, some sentences are difficult to control. In “the kitchen comprises of serving area … with the attached room consist of,” the verb forms and sentence structure do not fit together; “the kitchen comprised a serving area, while the adjoining room contained…” would be clearer. There are also errors with articles, agreement and punctuation, as in “with the tables and chairs ,recycling bins and attached Toilets remain unchanged.” The opening overview has no space after the comma, and the response uses inconsistent capitalisation. Use a consistent past tense for the former plan and present tense for the current one, and divide long descriptions into complete sentences.

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