Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-30

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 a college cafe looks before and after redesigned. Overall, it is clear that the cafe has witnessed sereral types of modifications. Specially, in outdoor area and top write coner side. However, the present plan shows a major alternation in serving area. Previously it used to be a serving area, now it turned to be a hot meal. In contrast kitchen place stayed same in left top corner of the plan. The place for staff dining rooms, now using for take away food and coffee bar. Moreover, bin area enhenced in size and named recycling bins. A fresh new salad bar opend in plan and toilets remaind in the same place. New place introduced a new barbecue place for the customers and added six sets of table where customers can sit and have barbecue there. Finally, the place for tables and chair remained unchanged in the middle of the plan.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main overall changes: the kitchen and central seating remain, the former staff dining rooms become takeaway and coffee facilities, and new features include a salad bar and outdoor space. These are relevant comparisons and show that you understand the plans. However, some important details are unclear or inaccurate. The serving area is relabelled for hot meals, rather than the whole area simply “turn[ing] to be a hot meal,” and the outdoor area has four tables, not six. The barbecue is outside to the south-west, but the response suggests customers barbecue at the tables. You also omit the new southern doors and the recycling bins’ location. More precise reporting of these features and clearer descriptions of the changes would make the account more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has an identifiable overall structure: an opening, a general overview, and a sequence of comparisons between the old and new plans. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “In contrast,” and “Moreover” help signal relationships. However, progression is not consistently clear because several changes are compressed into one long paragraph, and some links do not accurately express the relationship between ideas. For example, “Specially, in outdoor area and top write coner side” is difficult to connect to the overview, while “Finally” introduces a feature without a clear reason for its position. Organise the description into distinct paragraphs and group changes by location or by what stayed versus what changed. Use fewer, more precise transitions and clear references.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant plan-related vocabulary, including “kitchen,” “staff dining rooms,” “take away food,” “coffee bar,” and “recycling bins,” so the reader can identify many of the facilities. There are also attempts to describe change with phrases such as “remained unchanged” and “introduced.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural collocations reduce clarity: “sereral,” “alternation,” “enhenced,” and “opend” are examples, while “turned to be a hot meal” does not accurately describe a counter relabelled for hot meals. Some wording is repetitive, particularly “new place” and “place.” Aim for accurate spelling and more precise map-description language, such as “was converted into,” “was replaced by,” and “was added.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple statements and more developed comparisons, including “In contrast kitchen place stayed same” and “Finally, the place for tables and chair remained unchanged.” The overall meaning is often recoverable, but grammatical control is uneven. The opening is missing a relative construction and article (“illustrate a college cafe looks”), and several clauses have incorrect verb forms or patterns, as in “now it turned to be” and “now using for.” Articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries also need attention: “in left top corner” and “tables and chair” are examples. Practise forming accurate past-to-present comparisons, for example, “The staff dining rooms have been replaced by a takeaway counter and a coffee bar.” More reliable sentence structures would make your comparisons easier to follow.

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