Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28
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 diagram illustrates the plan of college cafe before and after it was resdesigned.
Overall it can be seen that college cafe's old look was very simple and did't had much facilities. Where as, the new desgin of cafe includes alot of things and is more reformend.
Intially, the cafe had only staff dining room at the center of tables and chairs, toilet and bin was at left corners. Moreover, kitchen and serving area was at the top left.
However, the cafe's new structure have introduced outdoor seating and barbecue at the bottom down open area of the cafe. Moreover, coffee bar and take away food corner are replaced at the place of staff dining room. Kitchen is at the same place, but serving area has swapped with Hot meals arena. In addtion, salad bar is created at the right corner of the cafe. Hence, table chair toilet, and recycling bins are not relocated and are same place the way it was in old structure.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The student attempts to address the task by summarizing the main changes shown in the two maps of the college cafe. An overview is provided, noting that the old layout was simple and the new design has more facilities and a reformed structure. Key transformations are mentioned, such as the addition of outdoor seating, a barbecue, a salad bar, and the conversion of staff dining rooms into a coffee bar and take away area. However, there are some inaccuracies in spatial reporting; for instance, the student states that the salad bar is created at the 'right corner', whereas the visual data shows it along the western wall. Additionally, some ideas are repetitive. Therefore, the response fulfills the basic requirements of the task but contains minor misinterpretations of the visual data, corresponding to a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is divided into four paragraphs: an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs detailing the old and new layouts. This demonstrates a basic attempt at paragraphing. Cohesive devices are used to signal transitions, such as 'Overall', 'Intially', 'However', and 'Moreover'. However, some cohesive links feel mechanical or awkward, such as 'Where as, the new desgin of cafe includes alot of things', and the logical flow is occasionally hindered by imprecise referencing and abrupt transitions between details. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion lacks smooth progression. This fits the Band 5.5 to 6.0 profile, warranting a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common collocations such as 'outdoor seating', 'take away food corner', and 'recycling bins'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'resdesigned' instead of redesigned, 'did't' instead of didn't, 'desgin' instead of design, 'reformend' instead of reformed, 'Intially' instead of Initially, and 'arena' instead of area. These lexical limitations and spelling slips constrain the precision of the response, keeping it at a Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as 'Overall it can be seen that college cafe's old look was very simple...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, including subject-verb agreement errors ('the cafe's new structure have introduced'), missing articles ('cafe's old look', 'staff dining room'), and typographical errors ('did't had'). Complex structures often contain faults or awkward phrasing. While meaning remains generally comprehensible, the frequency of grammatical errors places this response firmly at Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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