Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-12

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 illustrate that the differance between old and new layout of the college cafe .

first of all tgey remove the staff dining space and replace it with take away and coffe bar . They also redesign and suffle the position of their features and add some new ammeties like salad bar barbecue . They uodate their recycling zone next to the toilet and add some outdoor sitting area that can contain more people than from past .

The barbecue zone is next to the outdoor area which give better option to not get the smoke stuck into the indoor area and also a better view to the people can see the barbecue live .

Overall, they use the area of the cafe more productive than past such as removing the staff dining and chenge it to two important part which give them more place to give service. It is a real upgrading to the faclities of the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the replacement of the staff dining rooms with takeaway and coffee-bar facilities, the addition of a salad bar and barbecue, and the new outdoor seating. You also note that the toilets remain and that recycling bins occupy the former bin area. These details show a relevant understanding of the plans. However, some major changes are omitted, especially the hot-meals counter replacing the general serving area and the two new doors to the outdoor space. The claim that the layout was generally shuffled is vague, while comments about smoke and the view of the barbecue are speculation rather than information shown in the plans. A clearer overview of the main changes, supported by accurate spatial comparisons, would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: it introduces the comparison, describes several changes, and ends with a general summary. Ideas are mostly grouped sensibly, and phrases such as “first of all,” “also,” and “overall” help signal progression. However, the organisation is not consistently effective for a plan report. The paragraph about the barbecue develops imagined benefits rather than moving the comparison forward, and the final paragraph repeats the idea that the redesign is an upgrade without adding clear spatial information. Some references, such as “their features” and “it,” are not fully precise. Grouping changes by location or by what stayed and changed would create a clearer progression, with more direct links between the two plans.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a redesign, including “replace,” “position,” “outdoor seating,” and “facilities.” This gives you enough language to communicate the broad changes. However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural expressions are noticeable, for example “differance,” “suffle,” “ammeties,” and “more productive.” “Recycling zone” is less accurate than the plan’s label “recycling bins,” and “staff dining space” could be expressed more precisely as “staff dining rooms.” The repeated use of general words such as “area,” “part,” and “things/features” also limits precision. Build a bank of accurate plan-description terms and check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and longer sentences, including clauses linked with “which” and “such as.” The main message is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “The plan illustrate” has subject–verb disagreement, and “the differance between old and new layout” lacks appropriate articles and a clear grammatical structure. In “which give better option,” the verb does not agree with its subject and the noun phrase needs an article. Sentence boundaries and capitalisation are also inconsistent, particularly at the start of paragraphs. Practise accurate article use, agreement, and complete sentence formation, then proofread punctuation. More controlled complex sentences would help express comparisons without making the meaning unclear.

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