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)

The maps illustrate the university cafetria design prior and later the renvoation.The major change they adapted was the outdoor seating arrangements.

The caferia eliminated the staff dininng rooms and in place of that introduces take away food and coffee bar in the centre of the cafe.Earlier there were only bins available to the staff and students however it got upgraded to recyclying bins.The serving aread for all the variety of foods and drinks were replaced with hot meals.

Furthermore,there was an introduction to new areas in the cafeteria such as salad bar, barbecue and outdoor seatings next to barbecue and there was an entry option for the people sitting outside to access toilets located nect to the recyclying bins.

To sum up,the cafteria today is more developed and provided more options to the students such as takeaway food, hot meals, coffee and salad bar and even barbecue.However, the kitchen area, tables and chairs remained same.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response covers the main features of the two maps, highlighting key changes such as the removal of staff dining rooms, the addition of the outdoor seating area, salad bar, and barbecue, and noting what remained the same. However, the overview is rather brief and lacks a comprehensive summary of the transformation. There are some minor spatial inaccuracies, such as placing the coffee bar and take away food 'in the centre of the cafe' when they replaced the staff rooms along the north wall. Despite these minor issues, all parts of the prompt are addressed, supporting a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is organised into four paragraphs: an introduction, two body paragraphs focusing on specific changes, and a concluding overview. There is a clear logical progression overall, and basic cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore' and 'To sum up' are employed. However, paragraphing is somewhat erratic in the middle of the text, and referencing is occasionally unclear or clunky (e.g., 'however it got upgraded'). Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or overused in a repetitive structure. This performance fits the Band 6.0 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common words related to spatial changes ('renovation', 'eliminated', 'recycled', 'arrangements'). However, there are several noticeable spelling and word choice errors, such as 'cafetria', 'renvoation', 'caferia', 'dininng', 'recyclying', 'aread', and 'nect'. These errors indicate a lack of precision, though communication is not severely impeded. This level corresponds to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses and subordinate structures ('The maps illustrate the university cafeteria design prior and later the renovation'). Grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors in prepositions and articles (e.g., 'prior and later the renvoation', 'in place of that introduces', 'available to the staff and students', 'remained same'). Punctuation spacing is also problematic throughout the text. These frequent errors place the grammar score at Band 5.0.

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