Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-03

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)

This diagram illustrates the cafe of college before the redesign and at the present time.

Overall cafe has limited area and items before the development a time ago. But at present time, it is more spacious and some new things are also introduced in it.

Before the redesign, there is kitchen with serving area in the north corner. There are two rooms for staff dinning in north side wall and a bin in west and toilets at south west corner. Tables and chairs are also placed in center oh hall. Now at present time, kitchen is at the same spot but serving area is replaced with hot meal. At east side wall salad bar is placed and with north wall staff dining room is re[placed with take away food and coffee bar. More recycle bins are added and at outside more siting is placed in south. Barbecue is also included outside in east.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main change from staff dining rooms to takeaway food and a coffee bar, and note that the kitchen remains in place and outdoor seating and a barbecue have been added. However, several details are inaccurate or unclear: the bin was on the eastern wall, not the west, and the toilets are in the south-east corner, not the south-west. The salad bar is on the western wall, rather than the east, while the barbecue is south-west of the building, not east. The overview that the café is “more spacious” is not clearly supported; the key development is the addition of facilities and outdoor seating. More precise comparisons of the layout would make the summary more complete and reliable.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall structure: an introduction, an overview, and a description of the earlier and current layouts. This gives the reader a general sense of the comparison. However, the progression within the final paragraph is difficult to follow because locations and changes are compressed into a long sequence, such as “At east side wall salad bar is placed and with north wall staff dining room is replaced…”. Some linking phrases, including “Now at present time,” are repetitive, and references such as “it” are not always precise. Organise the details by area—for example, north, west, and then the outdoor space—and use clear comparison links to make the account easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “redesign,” “serving area,” “staff dining,” and “outdoor seating.” This shows an attempt to use task-specific language, but the range is limited and several choices or spellings reduce precision. “More spacious” is not clearly established by the plan, while “more siting” does not express the addition of outdoor seating accurately. There are also spelling errors such as “dinning,” “recycle,” and “oh,” and “hot meal” would be more natural as “hot meals.” Aim for accurate collocations and use specific terms for facilities and locations rather than general phrases such as “new things.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response uses mostly simple sentence patterns, with a few attempts to combine information using “but” and “while.” However, errors occur frequently, and some sentences are difficult to interpret. For example, “Overall cafe has limited area and items before the development a time ago” lacks clear article use and has an awkward structure; “There are two rooms … and a bin … and toilets” also joins several details without clear grammatical control. The present-tense descriptions are not consistently formed, as in “salad bar is placed” and “serving area is replaced.” Practise accurate articles, prepositions, and verb forms, and divide longer descriptions into shorter, complete sentences.

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