Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29
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 plan illustrate a college cafe. There are two aspects of it one is before contraction. And one is with development in the cafe.
The first plan shows the design before development. There's a kitchen at the very end of one corner with serving are at it's front which has all convenient things in food. Along side with the wall, there's a dinning room for the staff members separately. At the lower west corner, there are restrooms for individuals.
As the other plan illustrates the advancement in the cafe. They divided the food corners into three parts, hot meals, salad bar and coffee bar along side with a new idea of take away. The hot meal section come in front of kitchen. And on north side, salad bar counter and on east side take away and coffee counters. Bins converted into recycling bins.And staff dinning area becomes whole sitting area. There's now a special development in outdoor services. A outdoor seating area is built for individuals along side with barbecue services.
So, the redesign of cafe is more beneficial and and more convenient for individuals and students.
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 candidate addresses the task by summarizing the main changes between the two plans, noting key alterations such as the modification of the serving area into hot meals, the addition of a salad bar, coffee bar, and take-away section, as well as outdoor seating and a barbecue. However, there are some inaccuracies in spatial description (e.g., placing the salad bar on the north side when it is on the west side). Furthermore, the overview is somewhat simplistic, concluding with a subjective evaluation rather than a comprehensive summary of the main trends. Overall, the response covers the key features adequately but lacks precision in reporting certain details, placing it at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay is organized into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction to the before and after states, followed by a concluding remark. Cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'The first plan', 'As the other plan illustrates', and 'And on north side', but some transitions are unnatural or mechanically applied. Paragraphing is present, though the division could be managed more logically, as the final commentary blends personal opinion with summarization. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'They divided the food corners' where the subject is unstated. These issues in logical progression and cohesive management align with a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts to use less common items related to architectural changes, such as 'advancement', 'redesign', and 'recycling bins'. However, there are numerous lexical and collocational inaccuracies, including 'before contraction' instead of 'before construction', 'serving are' (spelling/form), and 'staff dinning area'. Word choices are sometimes repetitive or basic ('special development', 'food corners'). While communication is generally maintained despite these errors, the frequent lexical slips prevent the response from achieving a higher band, making Band 5.5 appropriate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as relative clauses and prepositional phrases (e.g., 'There's a kitchen at the very end of one corner with serving are at it's front'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The plan illustrate', 'The hot meal section come'), missing articles ('with serving are', 'on north side'), incorrect pronoun usage ('it's' instead of 'its'), and punctuation flaws. Complex structures often contain errors that cause some minor difficulty for the reader, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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