Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-09

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 plan illustrates a cafe before the development and its current design after redevelopment.

Overall, cafe has experienced a substantial transformation and modrenisation, completely shifting from indoor facility to more modren space with outdoor dine-in plus take away. the structural footprint of the kitchen and toilets remained unchanged while internal layout of cafe is heavily reorganized to add more food stations and outdoor dining area.

In the original layout, nothren area has two staff dining rooms that are redevloped into take away food and coffee bar section. Bin area is updated,recylings bins are added whereas serving area present in front of kitchen originaly, is specifically reallocated to hot meals. Salad bar is introduced along the westren wall of cafe while seating capacity and accessibilty is considered in redevlopment by introducing outside dinning with barbecue, accessible via two newly added entrances.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main change from staff dining rooms to takeaway and coffee facilities, and note the new salad bar, outdoor seating and barbecue. Your overview also correctly contrasts the unchanged kitchen and toilets with the reorganised interior. However, some details are unclear or incomplete: the serving counter is described as “reallocated to hot meals,” when it is more accurate to say it was relabelled or converted to a hot-meals counter, and the central tables and chairs are not mentioned. The entrance changes are reported, but the two new southern doors could be located more precisely. The response is 140 words, below the required 150, and several features are compressed into a single paragraph, limiting development. Add a little more precise comparison of the layout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall progression: an introduction, a broad overview, and then details of the northern rooms and other changes. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “whereas,” and “while” help show contrast. However, the final paragraph packs many separate changes into one long sequence, so the reader has to work to distinguish the northern alterations, bin change, serving counter, salad bar and outdoor area. The overview and detail are also not separated into clear paragraphs, and some links are awkward, as in “whereas serving area present in front of kitchen originally.” Use a separate paragraph for the main indoor changes and another for the outdoor additions, with clearer sentence boundaries and references.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of map vocabulary, including “structural footprint,” “internal layout,” “reallocated,” and “introduced,” and these choices help describe the redesign. Some less common wording is not fully accurate or natural, however: “modrenisation” is misspelled, “outdoor dine-in” is awkward, and “accessibility is considered” does not clearly describe the addition of doors and seating. There are also several spelling errors, including “nothren,” “redevloped,” “recylings,” and “westren,” which reduce the precision expected in a map summary. Prefer straightforward, accurate collocations such as “outdoor dining area” and “recycling bins,” and check spelling carefully before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of sentence forms, including a complex overview with “while” and a contrast using “whereas,” and the main message remains understandable. Some grammatical errors nevertheless make parts of the description difficult to follow. For example, “Overall, cafe has experienced” needs an article, while “Bin area is updated, recylings bins are added” joins clauses without suitable punctuation and has unclear sentence structure. In “serving area present in front of kitchen originally,” the verb is missing; “the serving area was originally in front of the kitchen” would be clearer. Capitalisation after the full stop before “the structural footprint” is also needed. Aim for complete clauses and check articles, verb forms and punctuation.

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