Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-31

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 map compares the college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks currently.

Overall, the major changes that happend is the take away food and coffee bar that has been build, and the second is salad bar and recycling bins that is at west side of the cafe and east side respectively. Outdoor seating that at the outside of cafe and barbecue at west side.

The cafe before desgin there is staff dinning rooms in the main hall of cafe at the center and a smill bin at east side. while kitchen is at the corner of north-east side and in the front of the kitchen there is serving area which is east side from the front door, where all food and drink can be served.

However, after redesigned the cafe the major things that changed is the take away food and coffee bar on the place of dinning rooms and a small change in the restaurent serving area that is replaced with the hot meals. In addition, anothe place that have been placed in the west side of the cafe which is salad bar and in the east side in the center there is recycling bins which is extended. Another development one is outdoor seating settled at the outside of the restaurent and barbecue at west side of the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main purpose of the plans and give an overview of several important changes, including the new takeaway and coffee areas, salad bar, recycling bins, and outdoor seating with a barbecue. You also compare the former staff dining rooms with their replacement and note that the serving counter now offers hot meals. However, some locations are misreported: the kitchen is in the north-west, not north-east, and the salad bar is on the western wall rather than simply described as being on the west side. The former staff rooms are along the north wall, not at the centre of the main hall. The overview is relevant, but clearer, more accurate descriptions of the layout and a fuller account of what remained unchanged would make the report more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a description of the original café, and a paragraph about the current layout. This helps the reader follow the before-and-after comparison. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several links are awkward or repetitive, such as “However, after redesigned” and “Another development one is.” The overview also combines several changes in a sentence that is difficult to follow. Use clearer topic sentences and organise details by area or by what changed and stayed the same. More precise referencing would help readers understand phrases such as “the front door” and “which is extended,” whose meaning is not clear from the surrounding text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redesigned,” “serving area,” “recycling bins,” and “outdoor seating.” These terms show an appropriate attempt to describe the facilities and changes. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “happend,” “desgin,” “dinning,” and “restaurent.” Some expressions are also imprecise or unnatural, such as “a small change in the restaurent serving area” and “settled at the outside.” Choose standard forms and more exact plan-description language; for example, say that a facility “was added” or “was replaced,” and describe its position as “along the western wall.” This would make the account clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, and the reader can generally understand the main comparisons. However, some errors in sentence structure, verb forms, agreement, articles, and punctuation make parts difficult to read. For example, “the major changes that happend is” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “Outdoor seating that at the outside of cafe” is not a complete sentence. “After redesigned the cafe” also needs a correctly formed clause, such as “After the café was redesigned.” Several sentences run together or begin with “while” without appropriate punctuation. Practise building complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check agreement and articles when revising.

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