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 two diagrams compare the layout of a college cafe before and after its redevelopment.

Overall, the cafe undergone a significant redevelopment, especially an extra outer space has been added for barbecue and outdoor seatings. Many major changes has taken place inside cafe by replacing or installing new service areas.

Before redesign, a vast space was devoted for tables and chairs inside the cafe. A room located in the northern-west part has two functions, kitchen present at the end while serving area on the other end to serive all food and drinks to curtomers. In the large space, a space of two rooms located on the northern side was served for staff dining, whereas toilets were present on the south-east side with bin being installed on eastern side.

After redesign, an extra space was added to the cafe's boundry. An outside space located on the south side was devoted for barbecue and an outdoor seatings were intalled for cutomers. Major redevelopments took place inside the cafe lawn. Staff dining rooms were replaced with other service rooms, one used for food take away and other serve coffee. Salad bar, a new service zone is installed on the western part. Toilets re

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response identifies the main contrast between the original interior and the redesigned café, and its overview correctly highlights the new outdoor seating and barbecue alongside changes to the service areas. It also reports several relevant locations, including the staff rooms on the north side and the toilets in the south-east. However, some important changes are only partly covered: the kitchen remains in place, the serving counter becomes a hot-meals area, and the bin is replaced by recycling bins, but these details are omitted or unclear. The description of the former kitchen and serving area as one room with two functions is also inaccurate. Covering these features more precisely would make the summary more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate paragraphs for the café before and after redevelopment. This makes the comparison easy to follow, and phrases such as “Before redesign” and “After redesign” provide useful signposting. Some connections and references are less clear, however. For example, “A room located in the northern-west part has two functions” is difficult to interpret, and “An extra space was added to the cafe's boundry” does not clearly distinguish the outdoor area from the building interior. The final sentence is also cut off at “Toilets re,” leaving the comparison unfinished. More precise linking and a complete ending would strengthen the progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses a reasonable range of vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redevelopment,” “replaced,” “service areas,” and directional terms such as “northern side” and “south-east.” These choices help communicate the main changes. However, several word-choice and spelling problems reduce precision: “outdoor seatings” and “cafe lawn” are unsuitable for this context, while “serive,” “curtomers,” “boundry,” and “intalled” are misspelled. Some phrases are also awkward, such as “a vast space was devoted for tables and chairs.” Aim for accurate collocations and standard spelling, especially for key labels and descriptions, so the reader can understand the layout without having to infer the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentences, including the contrastive structure “whereas toilets were present…” and the overview sentence beginning “Overall.” However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction are noticeable and sometimes make relationships unclear. Examples include “the cafe undergone,” “Many major changes has taken place,” and “one used for food take away and other serve coffee.” The phrase “A room located… has two functions” also lacks a clear grammatical structure for describing the plan. The final sentence is incomplete, which further affects accuracy. Practise consistent past-tense descriptions of the former layout and present-tense descriptions of the current one, while checking subject–verb agreement and complete sentence structure.

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