Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27
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 diagrams comparea about a college cafe before and after the reinnovation.
There are many changes in the college cafe after the redesign but some of the locations remained same, even after the redesign.
Earlier, there were two staff dinning rooms at right side of the kitchen whereas, in place of staff dinning there are two different zones named as take away food and coffee bar. There are no changes with the earlier cafe and current caffe in placing the kitchen, tables and chairs and toilets.
Before the redesign, there was a serving area after the kitchen but it has made into hot meals section.
The cafe is rebuilt with salad bar at the coner, barbecue at end and included outdoor seating to the cafe.
The cafe before reconstructing have a bin at the right corner but after reconstructing it had developed into recycling bins.
There are two more doors added to the cafe near the outdoor seating after reconstruction.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student successfully identifies the main features of the college cafe before and after the redesign, noting key transformations such as the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a take-away food and coffee bar section, the addition of a salad bar, outdoor seating, and a barbecue area. However, the response lacks a clear, overarching overview statement, which is a key requirement for Task 1. Some details are also repetitive or imprecise, such as stating that 'there are no changes with the earlier cafe and current caffe in placing the kitchen, tables and chairs and toilets'. Overall, the response addresses the prompt adequately but falls short of full development due to structural omissions in summarising the graphic data.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response is organised into a series of single-sentence paragraphs rather than coherent thematic paragraphs, which disrupts the natural flow of information. Cohesive devices are used, but sometimes mechanically or awkwardly, as seen in 'Before the redesign, there was a serving area after the kitchen but it has made into hot meals section.' While there is a basic chronological logic moving from the interior changes to the exterior additions, referencing and paragraph structuring are weak. Progression is somewhat disjointed because sentences read as a disconnected list of observations rather than a smoothly integrated summary.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but contains noticeable spelling errors ('comparea', 'reinnovation', 'dinning', 'caffe', 'coner') and word-form inaccuracies ('it has made into', 'before reconstructing have'). The student attempts some less common vocabulary related to architectural changes ('redesign', 'reconstructed', 'recycling bins'), but control is inconsistent. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of lexical and typographical slips prevents the response from achieving a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'Earlier, there were two staff dinning rooms at right side of the kitchen whereas, in place of staff dinning there are two different zones...' However, grammatical errors are frequent. Examples include tense inconsistencies ('The cafe before reconstructing have...'), missing articles ('with salad bar at the coner', 'at end'), and passive voice errors ('it has made into'). These frequent errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar comfortably in the Band 5 category.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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