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 map illustrates the changes that took place in a college cafe in the past and present.

Overall, the college cafe has undergone significant changes in its layout and facilities. Several areas were relocated and replaced, while new facilities, such as hotel meals, takeaway foods, and coffee bar, were introduced.

In the past, the cafe had a kitchen and serving area in the northeast corner, while the toilets were in the southwest corner. In the centre of the cafe, there were tables and chairs, and the staff dining rooms were on the north side of the cafe, while bins were on the west side of the cafe.

At present, the serving area has been converted into hot meals, while staff dining rooms have been replaced into takeaway food and coffee bar. The bins have been converted by a recycling bins and a salad bar has been installed. A barbecue and a outdoor seating have been installed on the south side of the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses the prompt by summarising the main changes between the two plans of the college cafe. An adequate overview is provided, noting that significant changes occurred in the layout and facilities, including relocated areas and new additions like hot meals and a coffee bar. Key features are reported, such as the conversion of staff dining rooms into takeaway food and coffee bar sections, the addition of a salad bar, and the introduction of outdoor seating and a barbecue. However, there are some minor spatial inaccuracies in the body paragraphs; for instance, placing the kitchen and serving area in the 'northeast corner' in the past when it was actually in the northwest, and stating bins were on the west side when they were on the east. Despite these minor misreadings of directions, the response covers the primary features effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is arranged coherently with a clear overall progression from an introductory statement to an overview, a description of the past layout, and finally the current layout. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate these distinct sections of information. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'In the past', 'At present', and 'while'. However, some cohesive transitions are slightly mechanical, and referencing between sentences occasionally feels repetitive. Paragraph transitions are logical, helping the reader navigate the comparative spatial data easily, though the overall structure could flow more smoothly with more varied cohesive links.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for a Task 1 response, successfully employing functional terms related to maps and redesigns, such as 'layout', 'relocated', 'replaced', 'converted', and 'installed'. There are some unnatural collocations and lexical errors, such as 'hotel meals' instead of 'hot meals', 'bins have been converted by a recycling bins' (incorrect preposition and article usage), and 'a outdoor seating' (grammatical error with article). Less common vocabulary is attempted with mixed success. Overall, the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main features, but inaccuracies prevent a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating passive voice structures appropriately ('has been converted', 'has been installed', 'were introduced'). Grammatical control is generally decent, but several errors occur throughout the text. Examples include 'hotel meals' (typographical or lexical slip), 'replaced into takeaway food' (incorrect preposition, should be 'replaced with'), 'converted by a recycling bins' (mixed passive structure and article error), and 'a outdoor seating' (missing 'an' or phrased incorrectly as a countable noun). Despite these recurring errors, the sentences remain largely understandable and do not impede overall communication.

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

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