Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-29

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 plans illustrate the infrastructure of college cafe before reconstructed and how it look now.

Overall, the cafe today after redesign some major changes take placed. Staff dining rooms replaced with take away food and coffee bar room while Toilets and recycling bin remain same in their place but the bin size area is increase. Moreover, create a new outdoor sitting area for barbecue where people sit and enjoy live cooking.

Before redeign of cafe was very simple.Large area preserved for tables and chairs for people sitting while in left bottom corner toilets were placed and in the front of toilets door small recycling bin was installed. Moreover, in left uper corner kitchen and serving area was located and staff dinning rooms are located in front of entrance.

In Contrast, staff dining rooms replace with coffee bar and take away section.In addition, Toilets, Kitchen and bin remain same in position while new outdoor setting area is constructed and placed barbecue in that area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation: the former staff dining rooms become a takeaway section and coffee bar, and outdoor seating with a barbecue is added. You also note that the kitchen and toilets remain in place, giving the response a relevant overview and covering both plans. However, some details are inaccurate or unclear: the toilets are in the bottom-right, not the “left bottom corner,” and the original bin is not described as a recycling bin. The claim that its area increases is unsupported. Important changes such as the new salad bar and the hot-meals counter are omitted. Select the most significant changes accurately and explain them more fully to make the comparison more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the earlier and current layouts. This gives the reader a basic route through the comparison. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Moreover,” and “In Contrast” help signal relationships, although some are used mechanically or do not introduce a clear contrast. The final paragraph repeats information already given in the overview, while the descriptions do not consistently move through the plan in a clear order. For example, the account shifts from the toilets to the kitchen and then to staff rooms. Grouping changes by location or by what stayed and what changed would improve progression and reduce repetition.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “tables and chairs,” “kitchen,” “staff dining rooms,” and “outdoor sitting area,” so the main features can generally be understood. There are also attempts at more descriptive language, such as “infrastructure” and “constructed.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward: “infrastructure” is not a natural description of a café plan, “bin size area” is unclear, and “live cooking” does not precisely describe the barbecue feature. Spelling errors such as “redeign,” “uper,” and “dinning” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise set of layout terms, such as “located,” “replaced by,” and “counter,” and check spelling before finishing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more developed sentence forms, including a contrast introduced by “while” and a sentence beginning “Moreover.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in verb forms, articles, agreement, and sentence construction are evident. For example, “how it look now” needs a correctly inflected verb, and “some major changes take placed” has an incorrect verb form. In “Before redeign of cafe was very simple,” the sentence lacks a clear grammatical subject and appropriate articles. Punctuation and spacing are also inconsistent, as in “simple.Large” and “section.In addition.” Practise accurate past and present forms when comparing plans, and use complete, clearly punctuated sentences.

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