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.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The diagram show a collage cafe before and how it looks now.Overall, there are several major changes made in the renovation of the cafe. There is more facilties made for the customer.

Before redesign the cafe wos having little bit facilties, kitchen at north site, opposite serving area. In the centre of the cafe there wos a space dedicated for the staff dining rooms. AT the south east their wos a toilets. Moreover, several changes are made in the renovation of the cafe. The serving area sesction wos changed to hot meals.

The staff dining rooms wos changed to two differnt sections, takeaway food and coffe bar. Where's the toilets remains unchanged. The bin section wos much smaller but now it has moved as recycling bin. On the west side their is two sepearte section which is newly made for the salaad bar and barbecue. Below that one major changes is the the new cafe is the outdoor seating which is much bigger covering long area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main purpose of the plans and give a relevant overview that the café has gained customer facilities. You also report several key changes accurately: the serving counter becomes a hot-meals area, the staff dining rooms are replaced by takeaway food and a coffee bar, and the toilets remain in place. This covers the main transformation and shows some of the detail expected in a strong response. However, some locations are unclear or inaccurate: the staff dining rooms were along the north wall, not in the centre, and the salad bar is on the west wall while the barbecue is outside to the south-west, rather than both being separate sections on the west side. The outdoor seating is also described vaguely. Clarify these details and include the new southern doors and tables to develop the comparison more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction and overview are followed by details about the former and current café. This gives the reader a basic progression through the changes. However, the organisation within the description is not always clear. For example, “In the centre ... a space dedicated for the staff dining rooms” confuses the central seating area with the rooms along the north wall, and “Below that” does not clearly identify what it refers to. The repeated transition “Moreover” and the shift from “Before redesign” to “The staff dining rooms” make the sequence feel somewhat mechanical. Group the information by area—for example, north, west, and south—and use clear references such as “In the redesigned plan” to guide the comparison.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant plan vocabulary, including “renovation,” “serving area,” “hot meals,” “recycling bin,” and “outdoor seating,” so the reader can understand the general changes. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, spelling, and collocation errors reduce precision: “facilties,” “wos,” “sesction,” “differnt,” “coffe,” and “salaad” are noticeable, while “north site” and “much bigger covering long area” are not natural descriptions. Repetition of “changed” and “section” also limits variety. Aim for accurate, specific terms such as “north side,” “was converted into,” and “expanded outdoor seating area.” Proofreading spelling and choosing standard map-description phrases would make your account clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, the range of sentence structures is limited, and errors in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries occur throughout. For example, “The diagram show” needs subject–verb agreement, while “Before redesign the cafe wos having” has an incorrect tense and construction. “The staff dining rooms wos changed” also needs plural agreement and a passive form such as “were replaced.” Several sentences run together without appropriate punctuation, as in “Overall ... now.Overall,” and “Where's the toilets remains unchanged” has an incorrect structure. Practise accurate past-tense passive forms for describing changes, and check each sentence for a clear subject, verb, and punctuation.

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