Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-19

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 plants show the change to a college cafe from before its redesign to today.

Overall, the cafe has been greatly improved with more services and out door seating, although the main stucture has stayed similar.

Before the redesigned, the layout was simple. At the top left, there were a kitchen and serving area for food and drink. The rest of the space are for table and chairs where people sit and enjoy their food. On the right side means in the middle of hall, there were two staff dining rooms with two round shaped tables where staff ate the food. At the bottom, there were toilets and a small bin right to the existance door. The main entrance door is on the left side.

After the redsign, the look much better and modern. At the top left, there were two rooms kitchen and hot meals, plus a take away and coffe were added in the middle of the hall. On the left wall, there is new salad bar. Out side the building, on the far left, a barbecue has been added. The biggest change is the outdoor seating at the bottom, with five tabels. Inside the staff room has been removed to make more space for tabels and chairs. The old bin is replaced by new recycle bins and the toilets remain in the same place.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You give a relevant account of both plans and identify the broad changes: new food and drink facilities, outdoor seating, and the toilets remaining in place. The overview that the main structure is similar while services have expanded is useful. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the outdoor area has four tables, not five, and the two staff dining rooms were along the top wall rather than “in the middle of hall.” The entrance is on the upper-right wall, not the left, and the barbecue is beside the outdoor seating on the south-west side, rather than simply “on the far left.” The new take-away and coffee-bar sections also need clearer identification. More precise reporting of these features would make the comparison more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall sequence: an introduction and overview are followed by a description of the former layout and then the current one. This makes the comparison easy to follow at a general level. Paragraphing also separates the two time periods. Some connections and references, however, are awkward or unclear, such as “On the right side means in the middle of hall,” which makes the location difficult to interpret. The repeated use of “At the top left” and “On the left” gives the description a somewhat list-like feel, and “After the redsign” does not smoothly signal the transition. Use clearer location-based links and refer consistently to the plan’s walls and sections to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “salad bar,” and “recycle bins.” These terms help communicate the main changes, but the range and precision are limited by repeated general words such as “space,” “look,” and “added.” Several spelling errors are noticeable, including “stucture,” “existance,” “redsign,” “coffe,” and “tabels,” and some expressions are not natural for this task, such as “the look much better and modern” and “round shaped tables.” Choose more precise plan-description vocabulary and check spelling carefully; this will make the account clearer and more appropriately formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, some errors in tense, agreement, articles, and sentence construction reduce accuracy. For example, “The rest of the space are” should use a singular verb, while “After the redsign, the look much better and modern” is missing a clear subject and a correctly formed verb. “Before the redesigned” also needs a grammatical noun phrase, such as “Before the redesign.” In “there were a kitchen,” the article and verb do not agree with the singular noun. Practise forming complete comparison sentences and maintaining consistent past and present forms when describing the two plans.

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

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