Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-25

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.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The maps demonstrate a college cafe before the redesigned and how it glance present.

Overall, there are five things has show no change between present and past, one is kitchen, second the center of the college cafe were tables and chairs, thirdly recycling bins, forth food erea and the last one is toilets.While some new places add in present, salaad bar or outdoor seating and other once.

In past, the college cafe had a kitchen and serving area (all food and drinks) was located in northwestren side.The staff dining rooms were situated in the down right side and up to tables and chairs area. In the east side of the cafe corner was a bin and in to lay down was toilets. The tables and the chair area had located in the center of the college cafe.

Nowadays, the food department has broken into parts, barbecue has present bottom of the cafe northwestren side and infornt of the outdoor seating area. The salaad bar has located in just few steps up in the barbecue. Saff dinig rooms has convert into take food away and cafe bar.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify several relevant changes, including the kitchen remaining, the staff dining rooms becoming takeaway and coffee facilities, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. However, some key details are inaccurate or unclear: the staff dining rooms were along the north wall, not in the lower-right area, and the recycling bins are not a new unchanged feature—the original plan shows a single bin. The overview also says five things stayed the same, but includes “food area,” which changed, and does not clearly summarise the main redesign. The toilets and central seating are correctly noted. To strengthen the response, give a precise overview and compare the main features systematically, including the new salad bar and southern outdoor access.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an overall paragraph structure, moving from an overview to descriptions of the former and current layouts. This gives the reader some organisation, and time markers such as “In past” and “Nowadays” help distinguish the plans. However, progression is weakened by unclear or contradictory statements: the overview lists features as unchanged that later appear to have changed, and the final paragraph does not clearly explain the current layout. Some linking is mechanical, particularly the numbered sequence “one… second… thirdly… forth.” Group information by location or by unchanged versus added/altered features, and use clear references so each comparison is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “kitchen,” “serving area,” “tables and chairs,” “outdoor seating,” and “barbecue.” However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems make parts difficult to understand. For example, “how it glance present” does not clearly express the comparison, while “food department has broken into parts” is an imprecise description of the counters. There are also repeated misspellings such as “salaad,” “northwestren,” and “dinig.” Learn accurate plan vocabulary such as “located,” “converted into,” and “along the western wall,” and check spelling carefully. More precise wording would make the changes clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, and the reader can generally recognise that you are comparing past and present layouts. However, errors are frequent, and some sentence structures make the relationships between features difficult to follow. Examples include “there are five things has show no change” and “The staff dining rooms were situated in the down right side,” where verb forms and sentence construction are faulty. Articles, agreement, and prepositions also need attention, as in “barbecue has present bottom of the cafe.” Use a reliable pattern such as “The kitchen remained in the north-west corner, while the staff dining rooms were replaced by…” Practise accurate past and present forms and check each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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