Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 clearly illustrates the renovation of a college cafe Before renovation the cafe's design was quite simple. But after redesign the cafe looks more developed and extended.

Before the cafe was quite simple, there was a small sitting area for customers. There were two dining rooms for staff. Overall the cafe's accomodation was relaitively small as compared today. However, as the cafe undergoes renovation a lot of things were changed. significant additions are made to develope the cafe. For instance, the dining rooms for staff are being replaced with the food take away room and coffee bar respectively.

An outdoor sitting is made to attend a large number of costumers at same time. Another important addition was a barbecue section beside the outdoor sitting. For vegetarian costumers a salad bar was made in the dining hall. The trash can is replaced by recycling bin to reduce environmental waste. All in all the cafe looks more futuristic then it was before

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main transformation: the former staff dining rooms become a takeaway area and coffee bar, and the redesign adds outdoor seating, a barbecue, a salad bar and recycling bins. You also compare the café’s former simplicity with its expanded present-day facilities, giving the response a relevant overview. This captures several important features, but some details are less fully reported: the kitchen and toilets remain in place, and the central tables-and-chairs area is retained. The claim that outdoor seating is intended to serve “a large number” and that the salad bar is specifically for vegetarians is not shown in the plans. To strengthen the response further, focus on observable changes and include the unchanged features as well as the additions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable progression from the café before renovation to the changes made, and paragraph breaks help separate the general comparison from examples. Linking expressions such as “However,” “For instance,” and “Another important addition” guide the reader through the points. However, the overall organisation is not consistently clear: the opening repeats the idea that the café was simple, and the final “All in all” repeats the general conclusion without adding a distinct summary. Some links are also awkward, particularly “However, as the cafe undergoes renovation,” which makes the time relationship harder to follow. Grouping the changes by area or by retained versus added facilities, and using clearer references, would create a more logical progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for describing a redesign, including “replaced,” “additions,” “outdoor sitting,” and “recycling bin.” These choices communicate the main changes, and “futuristic” attempts to characterise the new design. However, several word choices or collocations are imprecise for a plan description: “accomodation” does not naturally describe the café’s size or facilities, “attend a large number of costumers” is unclear, and “dining hall” is not the label shown in the plan. Spelling errors such as “relaitively,” “develope,” and “costumers” also reduce accuracy. Aim for precise, neutral terms that describe what is visibly present, rather than inferred purpose or evaluation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, for example, “For instance, the dining rooms for staff are being replaced with the food take away room and coffee bar respectively.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but control is uneven. Tense shifts occur between past description and present or progressive forms (“Before the cafe was…” and “as the cafe undergoes renovation”), although the plans compare two completed states. There are also sentence-boundary and punctuation problems: “The plan clearly illustrates the renovation of a college cafe Before renovation…” needs a full stop, and “Overall the cafe’s…” needs clearer punctuation. Articles and phrasing are sometimes awkward, as in “An outdoor sitting is made.” Use consistent past/present forms for the two plans and check sentence boundaries and article use.

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.