Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-14

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.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The Cafe went through a resdesigning, in which the hot points like food and coffee pickup points are more easy access and more people at a time can take their order. Before there was no outdoor seating. Now there are both indoor seating and outdoor seating. The entrance and exit gate now are towards the outdoor seating. Before it was on the side close to each other. Also another good development is that the Bins are not Recycling bins means not everything will go a waste, we will recycle them and use again. Before the staff dining rooms were quite a big, now there are no staff dining rooms. Also the Serving area is now hot meals section while the Staff Dining rooms are now the food take away and Coffee bar points. Also another development on the outdoor side is done which is a Barbecue point. While there is a new Salad Bar in the right side of caffe indoor .

Some of the things that are common in old and new design are the Kitchen and Toilets. The both are the same size and at the same location no changes after redesign and i think they are in the right place and serves the purpose completely.

Overall the seating area has been increased and the. The food points are increased and are easily accessable compared to before. The waste material is now recycled for the best use, People can easily Enter the Exit the Cafee the crowd distribution is done very well. Some things remain same but thats ok and not a problem infact they are spot on. So in my opinion the redesign is a excellent plus to the caffe space,productivity and managment.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue, the replacement of the staff dining rooms with takeaway and coffee facilities, and the continued presence of the kitchen and toilets. This gives the response relevant coverage of both plans. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the entrance was on the eastern wall before and remains on that side, while the new doors are on the southern wall leading outside. The salad bar is on the left/western wall, not the right. Your overview that seating and food options increased is useful, but claims about easier access, crowd distribution and productivity are not clearly demonstrated by the plans. Develop the main spatial changes more precisely and distinguish visible facts from opinion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an identifiable structure, with an opening summary, a paragraph on features that stayed the same, and a concluding overview. This helps the reader follow the broad comparison. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven: the first paragraph moves between access, bins, staff rooms, serving areas and outdoor facilities without a clear spatial or thematic order. Linking phrases such as “Also another development” are repeated, and “While” introduces a fragment-like contrast rather than a complete, smoothly connected sentence. The conclusion also repeats earlier claims and includes several opinions. Grouping changes by location or by additions, replacements and unchanged features, then using concise transitions, would make the comparison more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant terms, including “outdoor seating,” “staff dining rooms,” “recycling bins” and “salad bar,” so the reader can identify many of the facilities being compared. However, vocabulary is often imprecise or informal for describing plans. Phrases such as “hot points,” “food points,” “good development” and “spot on” do not clearly describe the layout, while “the Bins are not Recycling bins means” makes the intended change difficult to understand. Spelling errors such as “resdesigning,” “accessable” and “caffee” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of terms for facilities and locations, and check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

There are attempts to connect ideas and use comparisons, for example, “Before the staff dining rooms were quite a big, now there are no staff dining rooms.” However, sentence structures are often faulty or incomplete, and errors sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Examples include “The entrance and exit gate now are towards the outdoor seating,” “The both are the same size,” and “the seating area has been increased and the.” The response also shifts between past and present forms, and several sentences join multiple ideas without reliable punctuation. Practise forming complete comparison sentences with accurate subject–verb agreement, articles and tense, then proofread each sentence for a clear subject and finished clause.

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