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 illustrates the looks of a college cafe before and after redesign. The comparison is made between the plans and looks of both past and present design of the cafe.

The map shows that the design of the cafe went through some noticeable changes. The kitchen and toilet areas remained the same but other areas are changed a lot.

Both before and after redesign, the kithen remained in the same place and that is in the north west area. Infront of the kitchen, there was an serving area for food and drinks before. But now, there are only hot meals. At the middle of the cafe, there were staff dining rooms before redesign but now, the staff dining rooms are replaced by take away food corner and coffee bar. There is a salad bar in the west part of the cafe below the kitchen area which was absent before. Tables and chairs are in the same place both before and after redesign. The space for recycling bins to the east part of the cafe is made larger than before. Furthermore, the cafe is expanded after redesign and some significant additions are done such as;va barbecue area and outdoor seating areas.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The candidate successfully addresses all parts of the task by comparing the layout of the college cafe before and after the redesign. Key features are reported, including the kitchen, serving areas, dining spaces, toilets, and the new additions such as the salad bar, outdoor seating, and barbecue area. An overview is provided in the second paragraph. However, there are minor inaccuracies in reporting spatial details; for instance, the writer states that the staff dining rooms were in the middle of the cafe, whereas the visual data shows them along the northern wall. Additionally, the description of the former serving area is slightly confused. Despite these minor misreadings, the overall response covers the main changes effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically with an introduction, an overview, and a detailed body paragraph. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as "Both before and after", "Infront of the kitchen", and "Furthermore". However, paragraphing could be improved; combining the short introductory sentences and separating the extensive body details into two distinct paragraphs would enhance the overall structure. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional mechanical transitions make the flow slightly repetitive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with appropriate terms such as "redesign", "noticeable changes", and "expanded". However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are occasional word-choice and prepositional errors, such as writing "in the north west area" and "an serving area". Less common lexical items are attempted ("significant additions", "recycling bins"), but overall the language lacks the flexibility and precision associated with higher band scores.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as "The map shows that the design of the cafe went through some noticeable changes." There are several grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including article misuse ("an serving area", "to the east part"), spelling mistakes ("kithen"), and punctuation errors (the semicolon misuse in "such as;va"). While these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.

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

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