Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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 illustration depicts the layout of a college cafe just after it was redesigned and before that. I will discuss the main features in detail in body paragraph.

Overall, there are no such changes in the rooms sizes and order yet the entrances and the desks for students has got a new design.

In the previous design there was only one enterance to the cafe on the east side and just from the enterance started the sitting area for students. On the south east corner there were toilets and the kitchen as well as the serving area was right next to staff dining rooms which were separate from the students dinning.

The new design has a total of three enterances, the two new enterances on the back side of vafe leads to the outdoor sitting which was new with a barbecue place. The staff dining rooms were also converted to takeaway and coffee bar. A new salad bar was designed on the west of cafe right in front of students dinning area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several important changes, including the conversion of the staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee facilities, the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue, and the new salad bar. However, the overview is partly inaccurate: the room sizes and general order are not simply unchanged, since the northern rooms have been repurposed and new facilities added. Some details are also misreported or unclear. The original plan shows an entrance on the eastern wall, not that the seating area starts at the entrance, and the toilets are in the south-east while the kitchen is in the north-west. The comparison would be more complete if you also mentioned the hot-meals counter and recycling bins replacing the single bin.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, sensible structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the earlier and current layouts. This helps the reader follow the comparison. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several details are compressed into long sentences, such as the description of the kitchen, serving area and staff dining rooms. The phrase “in body paragraph” is also an unnecessary signpost, while “yet” in the overview does not clearly express the relationship between the unchanged and changed features. Use clearer location-based grouping and linking—for example, describe the northern facilities, then the central area, and finally the eastern and southern changes—to make the account more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “layout,” “converted,” “outdoor sitting,” and “salad bar,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and some choices are inaccurate or informal for this task. “Enterance” is repeatedly misspelled, “vafe” appears to be a typing error, and “sitting area” is less precise than “seating area.” The phrase “desks for students” does not match the plan, which shows tables and chairs. There is also repetition of “new design” and “enterances.” Aim for precise plan vocabulary and check spelling; alternatives such as “entrance,” “seating area,” and “facilities” would make the description clearer and more appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “yet” and a relative clause in “which was new.” However, errors in sentence structure and agreement are frequent enough to make some descriptions awkward. For example, “the entrances and the desks for students has got” has a plural subject with a singular verb, and “the two new enterances … leads” also needs plural agreement. The sentence beginning “In the previous design” joins several locations and features without clear grammatical boundaries. Articles and prepositions are also sometimes missing or awkward, as in “in body paragraph” and “on the west of cafe.” Use shorter, controlled sentences and check subject–verb agreement, articles and sentence boundaries.

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