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 pictures demonstrate the change in a cafe after it's redevelopment.

Overall, given pictures shows that cafe has upgraded it's total area adding for facilities in it. After redevelopmet it has been more specious and looks more organized.

The new cafe has a really good space with more number of facilities availabe. Firstly Kitchen has now a different hot meal section. The sitting space has now salad bar, coffee bar, take away food counter, and a larger recycle bin with existing tables and chairs and toilets. Also the new added area has now barbecue, outdoor seating space giving a modern vibe to a cafe.

Whereas, the old version was very small with very low number of facilities, kitchen had serving area for all food and drink, indoor sitting area was consist of table chairs, staff dining rooms, toilets, a small bin, and no dutdoor sitting area. It was not only small but had very few facilities availabe.

In conclusion, after re-development cafe has been more organized and spacious and contains large number of more important facilities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main change—that the café gained facilities and outdoor seating—and mention several relevant features, including the hot-meal counter, salad bar, coffee bar, takeaway food, recycling bins and barbecue. You also compare the redesigned café with the former staff dining rooms and serving area. However, some important details are unclear or inaccurate: the response says the café became larger and more spacious, although the plans show added outdoor seating rather than a clearly enlarged indoor area. The overview would be stronger if it highlighted the replacement of staff dining rooms and the addition of outdoor access as the key changes. Some features are listed without explaining their locations or how they relate to the original layout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph about the current café, a comparison with the former layout, and a conclusion. This gives the reader a coherent overall route through the information. However, the comparison is sometimes mechanical, particularly with “Firstly” and “Whereas,” and the final conclusion repeats the overview rather than adding useful information. Some connections between ideas are also unclear: the sentence beginning “The new cafe has a really good space” moves through several facilities without a clear order or spatial grouping. Organising details by area—for example, north wall, western wall, central space and outdoor area—would make the progression clearer and the comparisons easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant task vocabulary such as “serving area,” “tables and chairs,” “outdoor seating” and “barbecue,” so the reader can identify many of the changes. However, the range is limited and several choices or collocations are inaccurate or informal, including “really good space,” “more number of facilities,” “larger recycle bin” and “modern vibe.” Spelling errors such as “redevelopmet,” “specious,” “availabe” and “dutdoor” also reduce precision. Use neutral, map-focused language and choose terms that describe the plan accurately: for example, “recycling bins” rather than “a larger recycle bin.” More precise verbs such as “replaced,” “added” and “remained” would help you report changes efficiently.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “Whereas” and a sentence describing several facilities. Meaning is generally recoverable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “given pictures shows” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “cafe has upgraded it's total area adding for facilities” has problems with the verb pattern and sentence construction. In “indoor sitting area was consist of,” the verb form is incorrect, and articles are often missing in phrases such as “Kitchen has now.” Possessive “its” is also confused with “it's.” Aim for complete, controlled sentences, checking agreement, articles and verb forms; a few accurate complex structures will be more effective than long lists joined together.

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.