Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-04

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 the layout of a college cafe before and after its renovation.

Overall,a college cafe has significant changes with some facilities like kitchen initially they served all foods and drink in one same area but now a days in kitchen they serving hot meals, salad bar and coffee bar separtely blocks.

One of the most noticeable changes is that dining area was expanded considerably in outdoor wheres people will enjoy their meals.

Turning to the other changes the former staff dining room transformed into take away food and coffee bar.Outdoor seating area they refer Barbecue.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify the before-and-after comparison and mention several relevant changes, including the former staff dining rooms becoming takeaway and coffee facilities, and the addition of outdoor seating. However, the report covers the plans only partially: it omits important features such as the salad bar, recycling bins, the unchanged toilets and central seating, and the barbecue’s position. The statement that the kitchen now serves hot meals, salad bar and coffee bar separately is inaccurate: hot meals are at the kitchen counter, while the salad bar and coffee bar are separate facilities. The overview is also unclear. The response is 97 words, below the required 150, which limits the detail and comparisons you can provide. Describe the main changes accurately and expand each with clear location details.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic overall shape: an introduction, an attempted overview, and a final paragraph describing changes. This gives the reader some sense of the task’s before-and-after structure. However, progression is limited because the changes are compressed into a few short statements, and the relationship between facilities is sometimes unclear. For example, “Outdoor seating area they refer Barbecue” does not clearly explain that outdoor seating and the barbecue are separate additions, or where they are located. The transition “Turning to the other changes” helps signal a shift, but there are few other linking or referencing devices. Organise the report into a clear overview followed by grouped details, such as changes inside the café and additions outside.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant task vocabulary, including “layout,” “renovation,” “staff dining room,” “take away food,” and “outdoor seating,” so the reader can recognise the main subject. However, the range is limited, and several word choices or collocations make the description imprecise: “significant changes with some facilities,” “in one same area,” and “they refer Barbecue” are not natural ways to describe a plan. “Dining area was expanded” also overstates the change, since the central seating remains and seating is added outdoors. Spelling errors such as “separtely” further reduce accuracy. Build a bank of precise plan-description phrases, including “was replaced by,” “was added along,” and “remained unchanged,” and check spelling before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a range of sentence forms, including an overview and a comparison using “before and after,” but control is inconsistent. Errors in sentence structure and verb forms occur in examples such as “Overall,a college cafe has significant changes” and “now a days in kitchen they serving hot meals.” The clause “One of the most noticeable changes is that dining area was expanded considerably in outdoor wheres people will enjoy their meals” has problems with articles, tense, and clause construction, making the intended comparison difficult to follow. Punctuation is also unreliable, with missing spaces after commas and full stops. Use complete, direct sentences with consistent past and present forms—for example, “The staff dining rooms were replaced by a takeaway counter and a coffee bar”—and proofread each sentence for articles and verb agreement.

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