Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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 a college cafe before it was refurbished and how it looks now which includes more seating area outside the cafe.

Overall, before cafe redesign it looked more simple and decent ambious. However, after renovation it offer outdoor seating, salad bar and barbecue.

To begin with, in the middle of the cafe there were tablea and chairs, opposite of this two staff dining rooms were built. Furthermore, toilets were right side corner of the hall and huge bin placed outside the restroom. On the left upper egde, kitchen and serving area loacated where all food and drinks served to the constumers.

While, today cafe include take away food and coffee bar instead of staff dinning area and in the left side of the cafe salad bar is there. Moreover, outside design would offer more space to sitting with barbecue. Additionally, few small things are changed in current renovation such as bins converted into recycling bins and serving part serves only hot meals.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers all the key features of the two diagrams, successfully identifying the main changes such as the addition of the outdoor seating, salad bar, barbecue, and the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a take-away area and coffee bar. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting the main differences between the past and present layouts. While some specific details are slightly imprecise (for example, referring to the staff dining rooms as being on the opposite side of the tables and chairs), the overall selection and reporting of main features meet the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response is arranged into four paragraphs, following a logical progression from introduction to overview and body details. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'To_begin_with', 'Furthermore', and 'While' are used to connect ideas, although some transitions feel a bit mechanical or awkward (e.g., 'While, today cafe include...'). Paragraphing is functional, and the relationship between information is generally clear, placing the text solidly in Band 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'refurbished', 'renovation', and 'recycling_bins'. However, there are notable word choice and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'ambious' instead of ambitious, 'tablea' instead of tables, 'egde' instead of edge, and 'loacated' instead of located. These lexical slips and spelling inaccuracies limit the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms (e.g., 'This diagram illustrates... which includes...'). However, there are persistent grammatical errors, missing prepositions, and article omissions (e.g., 'before cafe redesign', 'right side corner', 'today cafe include', 'space to sitting'). Punctuation errors also occur, such as comma splices or missing commas. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause minor strain for the reader, a Band 5.0 is appropriate.

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

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