Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-26
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 process diagram compares a college cafe before and how it looks today after revision.
Overall, it can be seen that there were major changes on the North-West corner of the canteen, with in addition of separate food courts for different meals. Also a physical extension of outdoor seating, and take-away food area. However, toilets and indoor seating remained the same.
Looking into the detailed information, it is evident that all sorts of food serving area was redesigned into single hot meals, with an increase of separate barbecue and salad bar on the West side of the cafe. Moreover, the staff dining rooms were reconstructed into take-away food and a coffee bar. Nevertheless, the area allocated for bins was expanded. Moreover, a new area outside the canteen was made for outdoor seating.
In conclusion, there were a few changes at the college cafe including serving area , outdoor seating and coffee bar.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the main features of the two diagrams, noting key changes such as the reconfiguration of the serving area into hot meals, the addition of a salad bar and barbecue, and the conversion of staff rooms into a take-away food counter and coffee bar. An overview is successfully provided in the second paragraph. However, there are some minor inaccuracies; for instance, the student refers to the plans as a 'process diagram', which is inappropriate for spatial maps, and claims that bins were 'expanded', whereas they were actually replaced by recycling bins in the same general location. Despite these minor lapses, the core comparisons are clearly reported, fulfilling the basic requirements of Task 1.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay is organized into four paragraphs, including a brief introduction, an overview, a body paragraph detailing the changes, and a short conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Looking into the detailed information', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive ('Moreover' is used twice in close succession). Paragraphing is logical, moving from general changes to specific modifications, maintaining a clear overall progression throughout.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'reconfigured', 'reconstructed', and 'allocated'. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and inappropriate word choices, such as describing a spatial map as a 'process diagram', writing 'with in addition of' instead of 'with the addition of', and confusing 'expanded' with 'replaced'. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall range and precision remain somewhat limited due to these recurring collocation and terminology issues.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as introductory prepositional phrases ('Looking into the detailed information, it is evident that...') and relative clauses. There are, however, several grammatical errors that disrupt fluency. For instance, 'with in addition of separate food courts' contains a prepositional error, and 'all sorts of food serving area was redesigned' exhibits a subject-verb agreement error between the plural modifier 'sorts of food' and the singular noun/verb pairing. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but minor structural slips prevent the essay from reaching a higher band.
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