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 two maps show the comparison about a college cafe before it was reconstructed and how it seems now.
Overall, the cafe was not looked modern in the past before its redevelopment.Nowadays cafe is full of modern facilities like hot meals,outdoor seating area,barbecue,coffe bar and take away food.
After analysing the first picture , cafe had limited amount of buildings.Kitchen and serving area for food and drink was located in the north side of the cafe. Two dining rooms for staff was situated in the centre of the cafe just near the table and chairs area. Toilets and bin were on the corner of the cafe.
Furthermore , the modern have many new changes as compared to the old cafe.Nowadays serving area is replace by hot meals. Coffee bar and take food away take the place of two dining rooms.Bin is converts into recycle bin and their is no change in the toilets place.In the bottom of the map barbecue and outdoor seating area is build for the people.
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 student attempts to summarise the main features of the two maps, noting key transformations such as the replacement of the staff dining rooms with a coffee bar and take-away food area, and the addition of outdoor seating, a barbecue, and a salad bar. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and misinterpretations in spatial locations; for instance, describing the staff dining rooms as being situated 'in the centre of the cafe' when they were located along the north wall. Furthermore, the overview provided in the second paragraph is somewhat simplistic and lacks a comprehensive summary of the overall spatial transformation. Nevertheless, the main features are addressed and general comparisons are made, fulfilling the basic requirements of the task. This aligns well with the descriptors for Band 5.5 to 6.0, settling at a Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response is arranged into four paragraphs, providing an introduction, an overview, a description of the past layout, and a description of the present layout. This gives the essay a clear overall structure. However, paragraphing is somewhat basic and the cohesion within paragraphs feels occasionally mechanical. For example, transitional phrases like 'After analysing the first picture' and 'Furthermore' are used, but referencing is sometimes imprecise, such as 'the modern have many new changes'. The logical progression is generally maintained as the writer moves clearly from the past to the present map, but the internal flow of ideas lacks sophistication. Overall, the coherence meets the criteria for Band 6.0, as the arrangement is coherent despite some faulty mechanical cohesion.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with domain-specific terms successfully lifted or adapted from the prompt, such as 'hot meals', 'outdoor seating area', 'barbecue', 'coffee bar', and 'recycling bin'. However, the range of vocabulary is limited, and there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'the cafe was not looked modern', 'limited amount of buildings', and 'take food away'. Furthermore, spelling and grammatical form errors occur, such as 'coffe bar' (missing a letter) and 'recycle bin' instead of 'recycling bins'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The two maps show the comparison about a college cafe before it was reconstructed and how it seems now.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak throughout the response, featuring frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, and subject-verb agreement. Examples include 'the cafe was not looked modern', 'two dining rooms for staff was situated', 'serving area is replace', 'Bin is converts', and 'their is no change in the toilets place'. These frequent errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate poor control over basic structures, placing the response firmly at Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.