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.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The ground plan depicts how a college looks after it was redesigned.

Overall, the structure of the cafe remained the same but there are new update which includes adding the seating area outside and and some bars.

Upon entering the cafe there was a bin now changed to recycling bins. Beside the table and chair there was two staff rooms which now changed to take away food and coffee bar respectively. The sakad bar is addition to the cafe which was not in older design. The kitchen area remain unchanged but the serving area being changed to hot meals.

The Toilets are being untouched and remains beside the bins. There is one more addition to the outside cafe which is barbecue. Along the barbecue there is wide range of seats provided in the outside seating area which was not on the design earlier. The entrace is on the right to the salad bar and the exit beside the toilet.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation: the café keeps its kitchen and central seating, while new food counters and outdoor seating are introduced. You also report several accurate changes, including the former serving area becoming a hot-meals counter, the staff rooms being replaced by takeaway and coffee facilities, and the bin becoming recycling bins. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the toilets are not described as being beside the bins, and the entrance and exit are not separately located as you suggest. The overview that the structure “remained the same” is also too broad given the new southern doors and outdoor area. A clearer overview and more precise descriptions of the key changes would make the account more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure, moving from an overview to details inside the café and then to the outdoor area. This gives the reader some organisation, and phrases such as “Overall” and “Beside” help signal relationships. However, progression within the body is not consistently clear: the second paragraph jumps between the entrance, seating, staff rooms and counters, while the final paragraph combines toilets, barbecue, outdoor seating and entrances. Some references are difficult to follow, particularly “Beside the table and chair” and “Along the barbecue.” Grouping changes by location and using clearer links between old and new features would improve the flow and make the comparisons easier to understand.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redesigned,” “kitchen area,” “recycling bins,” “serving area” and “outdoor seating.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main changes. However, several word choices or forms are inaccurate or imprecise, such as “new update,” “wide range of seats” and “the structure … remained the same,” which does not capture the extent of the changes. There are also spelling errors, including “sakad” and “entrace,” and “bars” is too vague for the specific counters shown. Use precise labels from the plan and practise common collocations such as “an outdoor seating area was added” and “the serving counter was replaced by a hot-meals counter.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including “The kitchen area remain unchanged but the serving area being changed to hot meals.” However, errors in verb forms, agreement and sentence construction are frequent enough to make some descriptions awkward. For example, “there are new update” needs plural agreement, “there was two staff rooms” needs a plural verb, and “the serving area being changed” lacks a finite verb. Tense use also shifts between past and present, as in “there was a bin now changed.” Articles and sentence boundaries need attention as well. Practise describing completed changes consistently in the past or present perfect, and check that each clause has a correctly formed verb.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.