Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-01

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 plane illustrate the old college cafe comparisn how it looks today.

Overall,It can clearly be seen that major development changes happened in today's cafe with more facilities.

The cafe before redesign there were only few facilities.Whereas,The service area included all food and drink while the staff dining room situated in the middle of the plane beside to the table and chair.The toilet was located in southeast side.

The today’s cafe represent the major changes in facilities.The service area changes as a hot meals.Likewise, staff dining rooms unchanged as a takeaway food and coffee bar.However the table and chair stood at the same location.In contrast, new outdoor seating is setup with barbecue and salad bar.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the broad change from the original café to a more developed layout, and your overview notes that additional facilities have been introduced. You also correctly mention the hot-meal counter, central tables and chairs, outdoor seating, barbecue and salad bar. However, the response only partially reports the plans: it says the staff dining rooms were “unchanged” as takeaway food and a coffee bar, when they were replaced by these facilities, and places them “in the middle” rather than along the north wall. Important changes such as recycling bins and the new southern doors are omitted. The response is also 35 words below the required minimum, which limits the detail you can provide. Describe the main changes accurately and develop the comparison further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an opening and overview are followed by a description of the former café and then the current one. This gives the reader a general sense of the comparison. However, progression within the paragraphs is limited, and several ideas are compressed together, making relationships unclear—for example, “staff dining rooms unchanged as a takeaway food and coffee bar.” The connectors “Whereas,” “Likewise,” and “However” are used, but some do not express the intended relationship accurately. Use separate, clearly ordered sentences to describe the north, central and outdoor areas, and connect them with precise comparisons such as “were replaced by” or “remained in the same position.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “facilities,” “located,” “outdoor seating” and “barbecue,” so the main topic is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or forms are inaccurate: “plane” should be “plan,” “comparisn” should be “comparison,” and “the service area changes as a hot meals” is not a natural way to describe the counter. “Staff dining rooms unchanged as a takeaway food and coffee bar” also uses “unchanged” in a way that reverses the meaning. Choose precise verbs for layout changes, such as “was replaced by,” “was added” and “remained,” and check spelling and collocations. This would make the description clearer and more appropriate to an academic report.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast introduced by “Whereas” and a comparison beginning “In contrast.” However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence construction, articles, agreement and punctuation sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. For example, “The plane illustrate” has subject–verb disagreement, while “The cafe before redesign there were only few facilities” lacks a clear grammatical structure. “The today’s cafe represent” and “the table and chair stood” also show problems with agreement and number. Some sentence openings are followed by fragments or incorrectly joined clauses. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check articles, plurals and punctuation before submitting.

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