Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-11

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 given maps present a comparative insight into the manner of changes that has been done into the cafe in over the period

It is apparent that cafe has undergone through significant development. Various facilities like outdoor siting and salad bar has been introduced while some facilite has been changed and removed.

to begin with, before cafe was redesigned, kitchen and serving area was located in the north. but now, serving area has been changed into hot meals area. In the weat of cafe, salad bar and barbecue have been introduced and outdoor seating has been arranged in the south.

In the center of the cafe staff dining rooms were constructed that has made a way for take away food room and coffee bar. in the east, normal bin was placed that has been modernised and turned into a recycling bins. while toilets was situated in the southeast corner which has remaiend same throughout the period.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation: the café gains a salad bar and outdoor seating, the former staff dining rooms become takeaway and coffee facilities, and the bin is replaced by recycling bins. You also correctly note that the kitchen and toilets remain in place, and that the serving counter is now for hot meals. These details give a relevant account of both plans. However, some locations are inaccurate or unclear: the salad bar is on the western wall, but the barbecue is outside to the south-west, not simply “in the west”; the staff dining rooms were along the north wall, not in the centre. The overview also says facilities were “changed and removed” without specifying the key removals. Make the overall changes and locations more precise, and cover the new outdoor arrangement more clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from an introductory statement and overview to descriptions of the earlier and current layouts. Location words such as “north,” “center,” and “east” help organise the information, and the final sentence groups the bin and toilets together. However, progression is not always clear: the paragraph beginning “to begin with” shifts between the two plans and then jumps from the west to the south. The final paragraph also combines several separate comparisons, while “In the center” is an unclear reference to the former staff rooms. Use one paragraph for the overview and organise the details by area or by before-and-after comparison, with clearer links between each change.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “serving area,” “outdoor seating,” “salad bar,” and “recycling bins,” and you attempt more formal phrasing such as “comparative insight” and “undergone significant development.” However, several choices are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision: “outdoor siting” does not mean outdoor seating, “facilite” is unclear, and “modernised and turned into” overstates the simple replacement of a bin with recycling bins. There are also spelling errors, including “weat” and “remaind.” Prefer direct, accurate terms for the features and changes rather than elaborate wording. For example, say that the bin was replaced by recycling bins and that outdoor seating was added.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “while” and a relative clause in “that has made a way for…”. However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries are frequent enough to make some relationships less clear. Examples include “changes that has been done,” “kitchen and serving area was located,” and “toilets was situated”; these need plural or singular agreement and more suitable verb forms. The opening sentence is also incomplete in meaning, and several sentences begin with lowercase letters after full stops. Practise accurate past-versus-present descriptions and check each subject against its verb. Shorter, well-controlled sentences would help you express the comparisons more clearly.

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.