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 plan Illustrate how the cafe look like before comparison how it was redesigned after.

Overall, It can clearly be seen that major changers in serving areas while new outdoor seation will set up in todays cafe.

Look at the detail in data the old cafe had a less facilities in kitchen.there had a serving area with all food and drink ehile staf dining room has set up in the middle of the location table and chair was besaid it.The toilet was situated in the corner of the cafe

In comparison todays cafe major devolopment will occur on the map.A new outdoor seating is set up in outside serving area has change to hot meals.In contrast, staf dianing rooms are redesign as a take away food and coffee bar. However the toilet and table and chair are still on the same place. barbecue and salad bar set up near to the hot meals respectively.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation: the former serving counter becomes a hot-meals area, the staff dining rooms are replaced by takeaway and coffee facilities, and outdoor seating is added. You also note that the toilets and central tables remain in place, giving the reader a useful overview of what changed and what stayed. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the staff dining rooms were along the north wall, not “in the middle,” and the salad bar was added along the western wall rather than near the hot-meals counter. The recycling bins and barbecue are also mentioned without their positions being clearly explained. More precise comparisons of these features would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overall statement, a description of the former café, and a comparison with its current layout. This gives the information a coherent overall arrangement. You also use linking expressions such as “Overall,” “In comparison,” and “However” to signal relationships between ideas. At times, though, the progression is difficult to follow because several changes are compressed into one sentence, and references such as “near to the hot meals respectively” do not make the locations clear. Grouping the changes by area—for example, north wall, western side, and outdoor space—and using clearer references would make the comparisons easier to track.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant map vocabulary, including “serving area,” “staff dining rooms,” “outdoor seating,” “take away food,” and “coffee bar,” so the reader can identify many of the facilities being compared. There are also attempts at more formal reporting language, such as “major development.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors—including “changers,” “seation,” “devolopment,” and “dianing”—reduce precision. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “set up in outside serving area” and “less facilities in kitchen.” Aim for accurate collocations and consistent terms for locations and changes; this will help your vocabulary communicate the plan more clearly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “In comparison” and a clause beginning “while.” The main ideas are generally recoverable, but grammatical control is uneven. For example, “The plan Illustrate how the cafe look like” has problems with subject–verb agreement and verb construction, while “the old cafe had a less facilities” has an article and plural-form error. Tense choices also shift between past and present when describing the two plans, and sentence boundaries and punctuation are inconsistent. Practise using a clear present-tense frame for describing plans, with accurate agreement and complete sentence structures, before adding more complex clauses.

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