Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-17

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)

Two diagrams illustrates the changes in a college cafe before it was redesign and after redesign.

Overall, it has some new additions after redesigning which has more space for customer and seperate cabins for coffee and salad bar etc.

In the old cafe, there is a some cabins, One cabin is used for serving area near the kitchen. There are staff dining rooms inside the upperline of the old cafe diagram, Furthermore tables and chairs for the other customer are placed only inside.

In ne cafe, seving area section changed into the new section named as hot meals. Those rooms which were used for dinning rooms for the staff, now changed into 2 section, One is resposible for take away food and other is coffe bar. There is also 1 new cabins built near the door of hot meal section which is useing for salad bar. The cabin for bin is wided up and useing now for recycling bins. There are also 5 tables are placed as a outdoor sitting in new cafe. A new section also built for barbecue outside the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main transformation: the former staff dining rooms become takeaway and coffee areas, the serving counter becomes a hot-meal section, and new facilities appear outside. The overview also recognises that the redesign adds customer facilities. These relevant comparisons support a response that covers the task well. Some details, however, are unclear or inaccurate: the outdoor area has four tables, not five, and the recycling bins occupy the former bin’s position rather than a cabin that has been widened. The description also omits the new doors connecting the café to the outdoor seating and gives limited detail about the unchanged toilets and central seating. More precise reporting of these features would make the account more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction and overview are followed by a description of the old café and then the redesigned one. This makes the main before-and-after comparison easy to follow. You also use basic linking expressions such as “Overall,” “In the old cafe,” and “In new cafe” to signal stages. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear, particularly the long final paragraph, where several changes are joined with repeated “There are” constructions. Capitalisation after commas and full stops is inconsistent, and “Furthermore” does not connect smoothly to the preceding sentence. Grouping the new indoor changes together and then describing the outdoor additions would create clearer progression and more controlled cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant task vocabulary, including “staff dining rooms,” “hot meals,” “take away food,” “coffee bar,” “salad bar,” and “barbecue,” so the reader can identify most of the facilities. However, the range is limited and several word choices or spellings reduce precision: “cabins” is not suitable for rooms or service areas, “upperline” is unclear, and “outdoor sitting” is less natural than “outdoor seating.” Errors such as “seving,” “coffe,” “resposible,” and “wided” are noticeable. Aim for accurate, conventional map vocabulary and vary repeated general terms such as “section” and “new.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction occur often enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “Two diagrams illustrates” should use a plural verb, while “before it was redesign” needs a passive form such as “before it was redesigned.” In “There are also 5 tables are placed,” the two verb structures are incorrectly combined. Articles are also problematic in “there is a some cabins.” Practise forming accurate passive descriptions of changes and checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries. These corrections would make your comparisons clearer.

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