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 plans below show a public educational institute's cafe before it was upgraded and after adding new designs.
Overall, the cafe has changes a lot after redesgining with new items as well as some expanding features. Although some remain unchanged, there are plenty things those are demolished.
Looking at the details, before the redesign, there was serving area in the kitchen with all food and drink in the north west of the cafe. Besides, two separated staff dining rooms was available in the middle of the cafe. Tables and chaires, Toilets and bins were at far side of the dining rooms taking most of the part of the cafe.
Currently, Kitchen, tables and chairs, toiltets are at the same position as before. Besides, many area are replaced with new ideas such as serving area, bin and staff dining rooms with hot meals, recycling bins, take away food and coffee bar repectively. Furthermore, plenty of advanced thought applied by creating salad bar at west area, barbecue section in the outdoor as well as outdoor seating arrangements.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The candidate successfully covers all parts of the task by summarizing the main features of the college cafe before and after the redesign. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting major additions and alterations. Key features such as the kitchen, the replacement of staff dining rooms with a take-away food counter and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar, and the outdoor seating and barbecue area are reported and compared appropriately. The information is largely accurate based on the visual data, though the expression is sometimes basic. The response meets the minimum word count requirement, providing a sufficient degree of detail for an Academic Task 1 response.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response is organized into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction to an overall summary, followed by details of the past layout and current layout. There is a logical progression of ideas overall. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or awkward, as seen in phrases like 'Looking at the details' and 'Besides'. Paragraphing is used adequately to separate the past and present states, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'many area are replaced with new ideas' where it is difficult to track what 'ideas' refers to. Progression is generally maintained despite minor cohesion flaws.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The lexical range is adequate for the task. The student attempts less common vocabulary such as 'demolished', 'repectively' (misspelled), and 'arrangements', but also makes noticeable word choice and spelling errors, such as 'redesgining', 'chaires', 'toiltets', and 'area' instead of 'areas'. Furthermore, phrases like 'advanced thought applied' are unnatural. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the main features of the maps, frequent lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips prevent the score from reaching a higher band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as concessive clauses ('Although some remain unchanged, there are plenty things those are demolished'). However, there are numerous grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('there was serving area', 'two separated staff dining rooms was available', 'plenty things those are'), incorrect relative clauses, and punctuation mistakes. Although these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency detracts from the overall accuracy of the writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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