Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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 describe a cafe which is redesigned now and that it look like before it was redesigned.

Overall, The cafe layout has been updated to include new facilites for customers the updates have change the functionality and accessibility of the cafe.

The main entrance of the cafe remain unchanged. However, two more entrances have been added to access outdoor seating in which new tables are added and placed outside. Furthermore, a live barbecue station is build outside so people also can their food been cooked. Now coming to main hall a new salad bar has been added to cafe.

Once inside entering from main gate their was staff dining rooms which are now converted to take away food and coffee bar. The bin on the left side after entering from main entrance has now become full recycling bins and the toilets are on the same place where they were before. Furthernore, a hot meal bar is added in kitchen where was serving area before.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student attempts to cover the main changes shown in the two floor plans of the college cafe. An overall trend is identified, and several key alterations are mentioned, such as the addition of the outdoor seating, barbecue station, salad bar, and the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a take-away food area and coffee bar. However, the response lacks a fully developed overview and some descriptions are brief or slightly imprecise, such as saying 'the main entrance of the cafe remain unchanged' while missing some finer spatial details. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is arranged into four paragraphs, moving from an introduction and overview into specific spatial details. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Overall,' 'However,' and 'Furthermore.' However, referencing is sometimes unclear, and paragraphing is a bit disjointed, particularly in the way information is clumped together in the final body paragraph ('Once inside entering from main gate...'). The flow is coherent overall, but some transitions feel mechanical, placing this response firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to floor plans and amenities like 'layout', 'facilities', 'salad bar', and 'coffee bar'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'is build' instead of 'is built', 'live barbecue station', and awkward phrasing like 'that it look like before'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited precision, keeping the lexical score at a 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('The map describe', 'entrance... remain'), tense confusion ('their was staff dining rooms'), and passive voice errors ('food been cooked'). While these errors do not completely impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the grammar score from reaching a higher band, making Band 5.0 appropriate.

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

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