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.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The map illustrate the college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Overall, the cafe significantly redesigned with some new facilities like hot meal, coffee bar,takeaway food and the remaining things remained same .

Cafe before redesigned, There were the tables and chairs in the centre of cafe.And the staaf dining rooms were almost the upper side of tables chair .There was a kitchen located on top left corner ,and the serving are also on top leftm corner behind the kitchen.And there was bin placed on the right side wall of the cafe .There were toilets on the right bottom side.

Cafe after redesigned , staff dinin g room has been replaced by takeaway and coffee bar.And the serving area has been replaced by hot meals .There are some new facilities that added in today cafe like,salad bar on the left side wall of cafe and barbecue,outdoor seating area on the bottom outside of the cafe . And the remaing facilities remained same in position.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main change from staff dining rooms to takeaway food and a coffee bar, and you mention the new salad bar, barbecue and outdoor seating. The overview also recognises that some features remained in place, which gives the reader a useful broad comparison. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the serving area was beside the kitchen, not “behind” it, and the kitchen itself remained in the same position. The response also omits notable changes such as the new southern doors and the replacement of the single bin with recycling bins. Develop the comparison more precisely by distinguishing unchanged features from altered ones and describing the new outdoor area clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction and overview are followed by separate descriptions of the café before and after redesign. This makes the main stages easy to identify. However, progression within the paragraphs is sometimes abrupt, and the repeated openings “Cafe before redesigned” and “Cafe after redesigned” make the account feel list-like. Some links between details are also unclear, particularly “the serving are also on top leftm corner behind the kitchen,” which makes the spatial relationship difficult to follow. Use clearer sequencing and linking phrases, such as “Along the northern wall” or “In addition,” and group features by location or by whether they changed. This would make the comparison more continuous and easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “located,” “replaced,” “facilities,” and “position,” and the reader can generally understand which areas you mean. However, the range is limited and several word choices or spellings reduce precision: “serving are” appears to mean “serving area,” “staaf” is misspelled, and “takeaway” is less clear than the plan’s label “take away food.” Repetition of “same” and “cafe” also limits variety. Aim for accurate plan-specific terms and natural collocations, such as “remained unchanged,” “along the western wall,” and “was converted into.” Check spelling carefully, especially for key labels, so the description remains precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple sentences and longer sentences joined with “and,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, some errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles and punctuation remain. For example, “The map illustrate” needs subject–verb agreement, while “Overall, the cafe significantly redesigned” is missing a verb such as “was.” The phrase “There were the tables and chairs in the centre of cafe” also has an unnecessary article and lacks “the” before “café.” Several sentences run together, with inconsistent capitalisation and spacing after full stops. Practise accurate past-tense descriptions and use a wider range of controlled sentence patterns, including clear clauses with “while” or “whereas,” rather than joining most details with “and.”

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