Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 floor plan graph illustrates the proportion of two collage cafe design , before and after the construction of new redesigned cafe.

Overall, It is clear that cafe have now a unique design comparing to the previous one. In constrast, slightly changind are made in the design. kitchen ,staff dinning room and bin area is now have upgaraded.

First loocking to the huge upgarades, Bin is replaced with recycline bins whereas, kitchen now have only hot meals. New outside sitting area have been created to the acsess for the people to enjoy their meals , Sebsequently salad bar and barbecue section is now available for the college student . gradully large staff dinng room had remove and 2 new small section for take away food and coffee bar is introduced.

truning to slightly updates, structure remain the same only outdoor seating meanwhile, New exit point are available now.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several genuine changes, including the replacement of the bin with recycling bins, the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue, and the conversion of the staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee areas. However, the response only partially covers the plans: it gives little precise information about where features are located, and the overview is unclear, claiming both a “unique design” and only “slightly” changed design. The statement that the kitchen “now have only hot meals” misrepresents the plan: the kitchen remains, while its serving counter is labelled “Hot meals.” The southern doors and the unchanged toilets are also not clearly reported. The response is 148 words, below the required 150. Develop a clearer overview and describe the main changes accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is an attempt to organise the response with an overview followed by details, and phrases such as “Overall” and “First” signal stages in the description. However, progression is difficult to follow because the overview is contradictory and the body shifts between changes without a clear spatial or comparative order. “First looking to the huge upgrades” and “turning to slightly updates” do not establish a useful sequence, while “whereas” and “subsequently” are not always used to show the relationship between the ideas that follow. Paragraphing is also limited, with most details crowded into one paragraph. Group the changes by area—for example, interior facilities, then the southern outdoor area—and use accurate linking phrases to make comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt task-related vocabulary, including “recycling bins,” “salad bar,” “outdoor seating,” and “take away food,” so the reader can identify several features. However, the range is limited and many spelling and word-choice errors make the description harder to understand, such as “collage,” “constrast,” “upgaraded,” and “dinning.” Some expressions are also imprecise or unnatural: “huge upgrades” is informal for a plan description, and “new exit point” does not clearly describe the added doors to the outdoor area. Use standard labels from the plan and precise terms such as “converted,” “added,” and “remained unchanged.” Proofreading spelling and choosing neutral, accurate vocabulary would make the information clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “whereas” and a sequence introduced by “Overall.” However, grammatical control is inconsistent, and errors frequently affect clarity. For example, “cafe have now” lacks subject–verb agreement, “kitchen now have” has the same problem, and “large staff dining room had remove” uses an incorrect verb form. Articles and sentence boundaries are also problematic, as in “Bin is replaced” and the run-on sequence beginning “New outside sitting area…” Capitalisation and punctuation are inconsistent, including lowercase sentence openings and the comma after “whereas.” Practise accurate past and present forms, agreement, articles, and complete sentence construction before adding more complex clauses.

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