Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-26

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 map illustrates the information about redesigned a college cafe. In todays time it shows many changes in their locations and structure.

As an overview, it shows that the staff dining rooms is restructured and it becomes two areas atke away food as well as coffe bar.

To begin with, there was total six section before design their cafe it is now 7 parts in the cafe area. first change is shown in serving area for all foods and drink it manufacture as a hot meal section. although kitchen is same as it was before. Moreover the staff dining area has now divided into two parts one is take away food and second is coffee bar in front of it there is table and chairs it cannot changed.

Moving towards to the rest of the information, bin is in same place and name as a recycling bin beside it is a toilet it is unchanged. Additionally there is three newly build site in the area first is Salad bar it is newly constructed beside it there is a barbecue and in front of it there is a outdoor seating.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation from staff dining rooms to takeaway and coffee areas, and note that the kitchen and toilets remain. You also report the new salad bar and outdoor seating, so the response covers several important changes. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the bin was replaced by recycling bins, rather than simply keeping the same name, and the barbecue is outside to the south-west, not beside the salad bar. The overview focuses mainly on one change and would be stronger if it summarised the broader shift, especially the addition of outdoor facilities and new food-service areas. Some features, such as the new southern doors and the unchanged central seating, are mentioned only briefly or imprecisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs describing changes. Phrases such as “To begin with” and “Moving towards to the rest of the information” help signal progression, and the reader can generally follow the comparison between the two plans. However, the sequencing within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to track, particularly when several locations are listed in one sentence. References such as “beside it” and “in front of it” are not always clear, and the final paragraph combines the bin, toilets, salad bar, barbecue, and outdoor seating without a consistent spatial route. Organising details by area—for example, interior changes followed by exterior changes—and using clearer references would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing plans, including “restructured,” “divided,” “constructed,” and “unchanged,” and you attempt to distinguish the former and current arrangements. However, word choice and spelling errors are noticeable and sometimes make descriptions less precise. Examples include “atke away food,” “coffe bar,” “manufacture as a hot meal section,” and “newly build site.” Some expressions are also unnatural for this task, such as “in todays time” and “there was total six section.” Aim for accurate plan-description terms and collocations, such as “was converted into,” “was replaced by,” and “was added along the western wall.” Proofreading spelling would also make the information easier to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “although” and a sequence introduced by “Moreover.” However, grammatical errors occur across the response and sometimes make relationships between features unclear. For example, “the staff dining rooms is restructured” has a subject–verb agreement problem and an unclear tense, while “it cannot changed” is missing the correct auxiliary form. Articles, plurals, and sentence construction also need attention in phrases such as “there was total six section” and “there is three newly build site.” Several sentences run together or use punctuation inconsistently. Practise describing past and present layouts with controlled forms such as “were replaced by,” “remains,” and “has been added,” and check agreement and sentence boundaries.

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