Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17
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 illustrates a college cafe both before and after it was redesigned.
Overall, the college cafe has undergone expansion with remodelling and addition of new services for consumers.
Previously, the cafe had a kitchen at one corner with a serving area for food and drink situated just opposite to it. Just below the kitchen there is huge area with tables and chairs. In addition, two separate dining rooms for staff were created among the space for normal customers. A toilet is located at one corner with bin located just opposite to it.
After redesign, the kitchen and toilets remained in their previous location while the area for soft drinks were replaced with hot meals. Additional recycling bins were added outside the toilet.The staff diniing rooms are now used for take away food and coffe bar. A new salad bar section was added at one corner, outside the kitchen. A major change was introduction of an outdoor seating arrangement with new babrbeque facilities added for customers.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The candidate successfully addresses all parts of the task by summarizing the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign, making appropriate comparisons between the two layouts. Key changes such as the transformation of staff dining rooms into a take-away food and coffee bar area, the introduction of a salad bar, and the addition of outdoor seating and barbecue facilities are correctly identified and reported. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, capturing the general trend of expansion and addition of new services. The information is accurate and grounded in the visual data, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 in this criterion.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into four logical paragraphs, moving from an introductory statement and general overview to detailed descriptions of the past layout and current changes. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the comparison, such as 'Previously' and 'After redesign'. However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical, and paragraphing could be structured with tighter internal cohesion. For example, some sentences feel abrupt, such as 'Additional recycling bins were added outside the toilet.The staff diniing rooms are now used...', where spacing punctuation is also missing. Overall arrangement is coherent and easy to follow, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the various functional areas of the cafe such as 'serving area', 'hot meals', 'coffee bar', and 'barbecue facilities'. The candidate attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'redesigned', 'remodelling', and 'arrangement', though there are minor word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'diniing' instead of 'dining' and 'babrbeque' instead of 'barbecue'. The range is sufficient to communicate the information clearly, but lacks the flexibility and precision required for higher bands.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The plans illustrates a college cafe both before and after it was redesigned' and 'A major change was introduction of an outdoor seating arrangement...'. There are several grammatical errors and slips throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The plans illustrates' instead of 'illustrate'), missing articles ('was introduction' instead of 'was the introduction'), and a minor typo. Despite these errors, meaning is not impeded, and the sentence structures are sufficiently varied to meet the criteria for Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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