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 map illustrates how the college cafe looked before it was remodeled.

Overall, it can be seen that major differences were in the main hall with sitting area, new bars were added and just below the cafe where different things were setup.

Kitchen before it was reengineered, it served all kinds of eatries and drinks, but now it only make hot meals. The sitting area only had tables and chairs and almost in the northen center it had private rooms for staff dinning area. The private dinning rooms were converted into a takeaway setup, so people can also take food with them and to a coffee bar for visitors repecttively.

Bins are converted into recycling bins and toilets remain the same. In addition, a barbecue stall was setup just at the bottom of the cafe which also included outdoor seating for people. This barbecue setup is whole new experience for visitors that came after resdesigning.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the conversion of the staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee-bar areas, the replacement of the bin with recycling bins, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. The overview also recognises that the main seating area remains. This covers the main purpose of the plans, but some features are less fully or accurately reported: the salad bar on the western wall and the new doors in the southern wall are omitted, and the barbecue is described as being “just at the bottom” rather than to the south-west of the building. The claim that the barbecue area “included outdoor seating” also blurs two separate features. A more complete comparison of the layout would make the summary clearer and better developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing changes. It also uses some linking expressions, such as “Overall” and “In addition,” to signal relationships between ideas. However, the progression is not consistently clear. The opening says only how the café looked before, rather than introducing the comparison, and the overview’s phrase “just below the cafe where different things were setup” is vague. The final paragraph combines the bins, toilets, barbecue and outdoor seating without clearly distinguishing their locations or relationships. Organise the details by area—for example, interior changes followed by additions outside—and use precise references to help the reader follow the plans.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a redesigned space, including “converted,” “recycling bins,” “takeaway,” and “outdoor seating.” These choices communicate several key changes. However, the range and precision are limited, and some informal or inaccurate expressions make the description less clear. “Different things were setup” does not identify the new facilities, while “barbecue stall” and “whole new experience” are not suitable descriptions of the features shown in a plan. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “eatries,” “northen,” “dinning,” “repecttively,” and “resdesigning.” Use standard spellings and more exact terms for the facilities and their positions to improve clarity and appropriacy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “but now” and a result clause beginning “so people can also take food with them.” However, control is uneven, and errors sometimes make the relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “Kitchen before it was reengineered, it served…” is a sentence fragment followed by a separate clause without a clear grammatical connection. In “it only make hot meals,” the verb does not agree with its subject, and “the private dinning rooms were converted into a takeaway setup … and to a coffee bar” has an unclear parallel structure. Practise forming complete sentences and checking verb forms, articles and parallel constructions while retaining a mix of sentence patterns.

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