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.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The two daigrams display a plans of college cafe before it was refigured and how it seens yet.

Overall, the college cafe has been redevelop and add some facilities like Barbecue , salad bar and Outdoor seating for the students and staff.

At beggining , Tables and chairs occupied on the middle of the cafe and staff dining rooms Northern side of the corner. In the westnorthern site there was Kitchen towards the serving area ( all food & drink). Also there was a toilets in south of the corner.

In presents, The cafe has fully changed and refiguring staff dinning rooms into take away food and cofee bar. Moreover, the serving area in the north site replaced by Hot meals . Whereas, outdoor seating, barbecue, and salad bar newly desinged in additions. The bins redevelped into recycling bins and others kitchen, toilets, and tables and chairs in the middle are remained unchanged.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main change from staff dining rooms to takeaway and coffee facilities, and note several additions, including the salad bar, barbecue and outdoor seating. You also correctly report that the kitchen, toilets and central tables remain. This gives a relevant overview and covers both plans. However, some important spatial details are unclear or missing: the outdoor seating is outside along the southern wall, with the barbecue to its south-west, and the salad bar is on the western wall. The description of the original layout is also imprecise in “staff dining rooms Northern side of the corner.” Develop the comparisons by stating where features are located and distinguishing what changed from what stayed the same.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview and separate descriptions of the earlier and current layouts. This helps the reader follow the broad comparison. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes unclear, particularly in the final paragraph, where several changes are joined in one sentence with “Moreover” and “Whereas.” The contrast introduced by “Whereas” is not completed as a clear contrast, and “others” does not make clear which features it refers to. Use a more consistent sequence, such as describing the north, west, centre and south of each plan, and connect each change directly to its former position. This would make the organisation more coherent and reduce reliance on loosely linked transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant plan vocabulary, including “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “recycling bins” and “outdoor seating,” and you attempt to describe change with words such as “replaced” and “redeveloped.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning difficult to interpret: “daigrams,” “refigured,” “seens,” “westnorthern” and “desinged” are examples. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “in additions” and “in presents.” Aim for accurate, conventional language for describing plans rather than forcing less familiar forms. A small set of precise verbs—“remained,” “was converted into,” “was added” and “was relocated”—would help you report the changes more clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a comparison with “Whereas,” and the reader can generally understand the main message. However, grammatical errors occur across the response and sometimes obscure relationships between features. For example, “the college cafe has been redevelop” has an incorrect verb form, while “Tables and chairs occupied on the middle” is missing a suitable verb construction and uses an incorrect preposition. Articles and agreement are also problematic in “there was a toilets.” The final sentence shifts between plural features and “is remained unchanged,” which is not a correct passive form. Practise accurate past-tense descriptions of the former plan and present-tense descriptions of the current one, checking articles, subject–verb agreement and complete sentence patterns.

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