Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-15

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)

First diagram shows the structure of cafe before redesign. And second diagram illustrates the new design of cafe, which is completely new and well organized from the ancient one.

Before redesiging, Serving area and kitchen are in one place and it is too small for better service. In contrast to now, kitchen and meal are prepare sepeately and for serving these, staff dining rooms are replace by takeaway food and coffee bar for improvement. Today, for recycling proccess a big room is preserved because of regular use and safety.

For huge space, outdoor seating area is built which gives a beautiful view and resolves the sitting isuues. One new structure is a barbecue table for outdoor parties and getogether, which is not available in the old bulding. In contrast to antique plan, new plan has a salad bar. This is a relief for only salling items and shows the fully furnished cafe structure.

In conclusion, recent cafe is good and gives a modern look for visitors.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the main features of the two diagrams, noting key changes such as the transformation of the staff dining rooms into a takeaway food counter and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar, outdoor seating, and a barbecue area. However, some descriptions are inaccurate or confusing, such as stating that a 'big room is preserved for recycling process' (when the plan simply shows recycling bins on the eastern wall) and describing the old cafe as 'ancient' or 'antique'. The overview is somewhat weak, but the response does manage to report the main contrasts between the two layouts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is divided into paragraphs, but the logical flow and progression are hindered by awkward transitions and confusing sentence connections. For example, sentences like 'For huge space, outdoor seating area is built' lack smooth linking to the preceding ideas. Cohesive devices are attempted ('In contrast to now', 'Today', 'In conclusion'), but their usage is sometimes mechanical or imprecise. Paragraphing is present, grouping introduction, body points, and conclusion, but internal paragraph cohesion needs strengthening.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is relatively basic and repetitive, with noticeable word-choice errors and inappropriate collocations. Examples include 'ancient one' instead of 'original layout', 'meal are prepare sepeately' (spelling and grammar errors), 'salling items', and 'sitting isuues'. While the student attempts to use some task-specific vocabulary (e.g., 'redesign', 'outdoor seating', 'salad bar'), the lexical range remains limited, and frequent errors in spelling and word formation restrict communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text displays a mix of simple and attempted complex sentence structures, but control is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('meal are prepare'), tense confusion ('which is not available in the old bulding'), and incorrect preposition use or word forms ('redesiging', 'proccess', 'getogether'). Punctuation is basic. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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