Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-15

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 plan illustrates the changes made in a college cafe following its redesign.

Overall, there is a new addition of outdoor seating where a lot of student can sit and eat. Staff dinning room will be converted into a take away and right next it, there will be a coffee bar. Moreover, there will also be a new introduction of salad bar and barbecue area.

At present, there is a gate which will take you into main dining area with a lot of chairs and tables. right next to the main there is a specific bin section and toilet area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the redesign as the topic and mention several genuine changes, including outdoor seating, the conversion of the staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee areas, and the addition of a salad bar and barbecue. However, the response only partially summarises the plans: it omits important features such as the hot-meals counter, the recycling bins, and the new doors to the outdoor area. The description of the current layout is also unclear and incomplete; for example, “a gate” is not an accurate description of the entrance shown. The response is 100 words, below the required 150, which limits the detail and comparisons you can provide. Develop a fuller overview and describe the main changes accurately.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic sequence: an opening sentence, an overview of some changes, and a short description of the present layout. The use of “Overall” and “Moreover” helps signal relationships between ideas. However, the response is too brief to establish a clear progression through the plans, and the final paragraph introduces the entrance, bins and toilets without explaining how these relate to the earlier comparison. The phrase “right next to the main” is also unclear, so the reader has to infer what it refers to. Organise the report into a clear overview followed by grouped details—for example, changes inside the café and additions outside—and use precise references to locations.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redesign,” “converted,” “outdoor seating,” and “barbecue area.” These choices communicate several key changes, but the range is limited and some expressions are imprecise or informal for an IELTS report. “A lot of student can sit and eat” is conversational and does not describe the plan precisely, while “gate” does not match the entrance shown. There are also spelling errors in “dinning” and “right next,” and “new introduction” is an awkward collocation. Use more specific plan vocabulary, such as “entrance,” “seating area,” “counter,” and “located adjacent to,” and check spelling and word combinations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response includes simple statements and an attempt at a more complex structure in “Staff dinning room will be converted into a take away and right next it, there will be a coffee bar.” However, the range is narrow, and several grammatical problems make the description less clear. In “a lot of student can sit,” the plural noun is needed; “right next to the main” lacks a clear noun after “main”; and “there is a gate which will take you into main dining area” has an awkward relative clause and is missing an article before “main dining area.” The shifts between “is” and “will be” also make the time reference inconsistent when describing the current plan. Practise accurate present-tense descriptions and vary sentence structures while checking articles, plurals and punctuation.

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.