Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18
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 diagrams illustrate the layout of a collage cafe before and after it was redigined.
Overall, the collage cafe has been significantly mordinized , with several new facilities to improved food service and safety also become more customer- friendly. Outdoor seating has been added for the fresh air.
Before the redesign, there was a big area for tables and chair with the toilet in the lower right corner next to a waste bin where they added salad bar in the left side and also incrised the bins size after mordinized. Moreover, it is clear that the staff dining rooms have been replaced by the takeaway food and coffeebar as well as searving areas for food and drink also been replaced by hot meals. Furthermore, the number of seats has been expended by creating new barbecue zone with outdoor seating.
According to current plan, certain facilities, including kitchen, toilets and the tables and chairs remained unchanged.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response covers all parts of the prompt by identifying key changes between the two plans, such as the additions of the salad bar, outdoor seating, and barbecue zone, alongside the replacement of staff dining rooms. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, capturing the overall modernization and customer-friendly improvements. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and misreadings of the visual data; for instance, the student states that the serving area was replaced by hot meals, whereas the kitchen counter area simply changed labels, and the staff dining rooms became takeaway and coffee bar sections. Furthermore, spelling errors such as 'collage' instead of 'college' and 'redigined' appear, but the main features are successfully reported and compared. This corresponds to Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is arranged into logical paragraphs, beginning with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs detailing the specific changes and constants, and an overarching summary attempt. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'Overall,' 'Before the redesign,' 'Moreover,' and 'Furthermore.' However, the logical progression is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing, run-on sentences, and repetitive referencing, such as 'after mordinized' and 'According to current plan.' Paragraphing is attempted, but the spacing and indentation are somewhat erratic, impacting the visual coherence of the text. Overall, the arrangement is coherent enough to follow, matching the Band 6 descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items like 'mordinized' (modernized), 'incrised' (increased), and 'expended' (expanded). However, there are frequent spelling errors ('collage', 'redigined', 'mordinized', 'coffeebar', 'searving') and occasional word choice inaccuracies. The range is somewhat limited and repetitive, and errors in word formation occasionally strain the reader, preventing the score from reaching a higher band. This performance aligns comfortably with Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses and prepositional phrases ('Before the redesign, there was a big area for tables and chair...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with multiple errors including missing articles ('the toilet', 'salad bar'), incorrect pluralisation ('tables and chair', 'bins size'), and tense inconsistencies. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the overall grammatical score. This reflects the descriptors for Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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