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 before it was redesigned and how it looks now. The two structures are present giving us an information about infrastructure of a college cafe.
There were some modifications in the model. For instance, placement of kitchen, tables and chairs in addition to it toilets were at the same location whereas new areas including hot meals, salad bar recycling bin moreover barbecue area with outdoor seating were developed. However, staff dining room is replaced by take-away food and coffee bar.
If we talk about the diagram before the construction of a cafe, in the north-western corner a kitchen was located with a serving area where foods and drinks were available. In the middle, staff dining rooms were present in the downward direction to it tables and chairs were placed where people sat and relaxed additionally next to it, a bin was positioned below it toilets were situated.
The infrastructure of the cafe today consists of hot meals area at the placement of serving area also beneath to it salad bar has been established as well as lower to it barbecue area has been constructed along with outdoor seating to accommodate customers. On the other hand, take-away food accompanied by coffee bar has been built. Bin has been upgraded to a recycling bin.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student successfully addresses the main features of the visual data by comparing the college cafe before and after its redesign. Key modifications, such as the replacement of staff dining rooms with a take-away food and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar and barbecue area with outdoor seating, and the retention of the kitchen and toilets, are clearly noted. An overview is present, giving a general sense of the infrastructure changes. However, some descriptions are slightly disjointed and lack full development in terms of synthesizing spatial relationships. Overall, the response covers all parts of the prompt adequately, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into four paragraphs, following a logical structure that moves from an introduction and overview to specific comparisons of the before and after states. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'For instance', 'However', and 'On the other hand', but referencing and transitions are at times awkward or mechanical (e.g., 'beneath to it', 'lower to it'). Paragraphing is functional, grouping ideas about the past layout and current layout separately. While the overall arrangement is coherent, the flow is occasionally disrupted by clunky transitional phrases and imprecise linking, which keeps the response within the Band 6 level.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully employing terms related to architectural changes and cafe facilities ('infrastructure', 'modifications', 'recycling bin', 'barbecue area'). However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'The plans illustrates' (subject-verb agreement/vocabulary form) and spatial prepositional phrases like 'in the downward direction to it' or 'beneath to it'. Less common lexical items are attempted but not always used naturally. Spelling is generally accurate, but vocabulary limitations and awkward phrasings place this response firmly at Band 5.5 to 6.0; a score of 6.0 is awarded as communication is not impeded.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory prepositional phrases ('If we talk about the diagram...'). However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The plans illustrates... giving us an information'), missing articles ('at the placement of serving area'), and awkward syntactic structures ('placement of kitchen, tables and chairs in addition to it toilets were at the same location'). While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur often enough to prevent the response from achieving a Band 6.0, as error-free sentences are not in the majority.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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