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 given images presents the data about how the college cafe was before it was redesiged and how the cafe looks at present.

Overall, the college has installed the new elements to the cafe such as outdoor seating, salad bar and a barbecue station. And they had also remove some rooms such as staff dining rooms with new coffee stall and take away food center.

At the kitchen corner there were used to be serving area but now they had upadted it with hot meals area. Now the staff dining rooms are romoved and the two new areas are installed as take away food and coffee bar. Additionally bin are transformed into recycling bin.

Outdoor area has also had some changes as new outdoor seating area is added with some tables and chairs. The areas or the new staff bar which are now installed to the cafeteria is a salad bar abd barbecue station theses two are the new areas are bulid for cafeteria.Before it was a small place for seating but now the had expanded the area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully identifies the main features of the two floor plans, noting key changes such as the addition of the outdoor seating, salad bar, barbecue station, and the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a take-away food area and coffee bar. An overview is attempted in the second paragraph, capturing the primary transformations. However, there are some inaccuracies and repetitiveness in detailing the specific modifications (e.g., mentioning 'staff dining rooms' multiple times in a slightly confused manner regarding their removal). The response covers the task adequately overall, placing it at Band 6.0 according to the descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response shows a basic logical organization, starting with an introductory sentence, followed by an overview paragraph, and then body details comparing the before and after states. However, paragraphing is somewhat disjointed, and cohesive devices are repetitive or occasionally awkward (e.g., 'And they had also remove', 'At the kitchen corner there were used to be'). Referencing between sentences lacks smooth progression, leading to a mechanical feel. This aligns with the Band 5.0 descriptor for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms like 'redesigned', 'transform', and 'expanded'. However, there are numerous word choice and spelling errors throughout the text (e.g., 'redesiged', 'upadted', 'romoved', 'abd', 'theses', 'bulid'). Less common lexical items are attempted but often marred by morphological or typographical inaccuracies. These errors do not entirely prevent comprehension, but they restrict the score to Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and tense is weak. There are frequent errors in verb tenses and auxiliary usage (e.g., 'there were used to be', 'they had upadted', 'the had expanded'). Subject-verb agreement and prepositional use are also flawed in places. While the sentences remain generally understandable, the frequency of grammatical errors places this response firmly at Band 5.0.

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

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