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)

The layouts of a college cafe illustrates how it was before renovation and how it looks today.

Overall, it can be seen that the cafe go through sevaral changes. The Serving area is converted to Hot meals section where as Salad bar and Barbecue section are introduce in new layout. kitchen and Toilets are keet as it is.

There is no change can be noticed in Kitchen and Toilet section, though Serving area is replaced by Hot meals area. Staff dining rooms is now used for Food take away service and coffee bar. Though Tables and chairs section and Toilets are keept as before,Bin is replaced by Recycling bins. Salad bar and Barbecue are the new introduction to the cafe. Barbcue section is made in the outside of the cafe, hence the added two oppening for accessing the area where they placed sevaral table and chairs for the customers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main transformation and provide an overview, noting that the serving area becomes a hot-meals section and that a salad bar and barbecue are added. You also correctly report that the kitchen and toilets remain, and that the staff dining rooms are replaced by takeaway food and a coffee bar. However, some important changes are only briefly mentioned: the new outdoor seating and its access from the café are not clearly described, and the barbecue’s position is imprecise. The statement that the tables-and-chairs section is unchanged is broadly accurate for the interior, but could distinguish it from the new outdoor tables. The response is one word below the required minimum. Develop the key spatial changes more fully and meet the stated length.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and a paragraph describing individual changes. This helps the reader follow the comparison, and phrases such as “Overall” and “though” signal relationships between ideas. However, the progression is not consistently clear. The final paragraph moves from the kitchen and serving area to staff facilities, bins, and then outdoor features without a clear grouping or sequence. Several links are also awkward or repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “Though” and the long final sentence beginning “Barbcue section”. Organise the details by location or by unchanged versus changed features, and use clearer sentence boundaries and references to improve flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “renovation”, “converted”, “replaced”, “recycling bins” and “accessing the area”. These choices communicate the main changes, but the range is limited and some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “new introduction to the cafe” and “Food take away service”. Spelling errors—including “sevaral”, “keept”, “Barbcue” and “oppening”—also make the writing less polished. Use the exact labels where possible, such as “takeaway food” and “outdoor seating”, and choose precise verbs such as “added” or “installed”. Check spelling carefully, especially for key features that appear more than once.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast with “though” and a result clause introduced by “hence”. However, errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction are frequent enough to make some sentences awkward. For example, “The layouts … illustrates” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “the cafe go through” uses an incorrect verb form. “There is no change can be noticed” is not a well-formed clause, and “Staff dining rooms is now used” has a plural subject with a singular verb. The final sentence also joins several ideas in a way that is difficult to control. Practise accurate past and present forms, plural agreement, and shorter sentence structures before adding subordinate clauses.

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