Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-28

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 map below compares the current cafe structure and the future proposed cafe after redevelopment. The current cafe is limited only to some facilities while the future cafe contains each and everything including the outdoor seating.

The present cafe before the proposed plan only contains some basics facilites like kitchen, serving area, staff dining rooms including the sitting area.The toilets at the bottom right corner closed to the sitting area making it more akward.

On the other hand the future proposed plan for the cafe include everything a modern cafe need in terms of facility and attracting customers. The future cafe includes hot meals, outdoor seating for those who likes to eat in the open sky. it also includes the sealed bar, take away food and coffe bar making it more convient for those who wants to eat in their cars or personal spaces.

The cafe before the redevelopment was just a room with four to fve services while the cafe after the redesigning have more facilites a modern cafe needs.

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 the broad contrast between the original café and the redesigned one, and mention several genuine features, including the kitchen, hot meals, takeaway food, coffee bar and outdoor seating. However, the account is only partly focused on what the plans show: comments such as “attracting customers” and eating “in their cars” are interpretations not supported by the diagram. Important changes are also omitted or unclear, including the new salad bar, recycling bins, barbecue, and the fact that the toilets remain in the same position. The overview that the new café has “everything” is too general to convey the main spatial changes. Describe the layout and specific additions rather than judging which plan is better or speculating about customers’ needs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic paragraph structure: an introduction, a description of the original café, a contrast with the proposed plan, and a concluding comparison. “On the other hand” helps signal the shift between the two plans. However, the progression is not consistently clear because features are listed without explaining their locations or how they relate to one another. The final paragraph largely repeats the opening claim that the redesigned café has more facilities, rather than adding a useful summary. Some linking is also mechanical, and the long second sentence in the third paragraph combines several unrelated details. Organise the body around clear comparisons—for example, changes inside the café followed by the new outdoor area—and use references that make each feature’s position clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-related vocabulary, such as “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “hot meals” and “outdoor seating,” so the reader can recognise several features. However, the range is limited and some choices are inaccurate or informal for a plan description. “Sealed bar” appears to be an incorrect label for the salad bar, while “everything” and “some basics” are vague. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “facilites,” “akward,” “coffe” and “convient,” and phrases such as “eat in the open sky” are not natural English. Build a more precise set of words for describing facilities and locations, and check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more extended sentences, including the contrast beginning “On the other hand,” but control is inconsistent. Errors in agreement and verb forms occur in phrases such as “the future proposed plan … include” and “the cafe after the redesigning have.” The sentence “those who likes” also has incorrect subject–verb agreement, and “those who wants” repeats this problem. Articles and sentence boundaries need attention: “The present cafe … sitting area.The toilets” runs two sentences together, while “a modern cafe needs” is not formed accurately in context. These errors sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Practise accurate present-tense descriptions and relative clauses, and proofread each sentence for a clear subject, verb and punctuation.

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