Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01
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 illustration gives information about how a cafe looks now and before redesign. Overall, current cafe has more features than the old cafe it also gives more facilities than the old cafe.
It is quite evident that there was one kitchen with serving area . After serving area there were two staff dinning rooms.
Furthermore, there was a big hall with tables and chairs. The cafe also had toilets and bin.
Moreover, today's cafe has more extra things such as there are hot meals alongwith kitchen . After the hot meals you can see a salad bar here. It also has a big hall but there are coffee bar room and take away food room instead of staff rooms . There are recycling bins rather than bin and cafe has also a site for barbecue and outdoor seating. Toilets are at the same place where they were before.
Outdoor setting fascinates the visitors that's why cafe's earning is good .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by outlining both the past layout and current changes of the college cafe. The overview attempts to highlight general differences, noting that the current cafe has more features and facilities. Key changes such as the replacement of staff dining rooms with a coffee bar and take-away section, the addition of a salad bar, and the introduction of outdoor seating are mentioned. However, some ideas are under-developed or imprecise, such as the unsupported speculation that the outdoor setting 'fascinates the visitors that's why cafe's earning is good', which falls outside the scope of the visual data. To reach a higher level, the response should provide a more thorough, factual selection of main features without adding outside assumptions.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has a coherent overall arrangement, dividing the description into an introduction, a paragraph for the past layout, and paragraphs for current features and general conclusions. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as repetitive transitions ('Furthermore', 'Moreover') and vague phraseology ('After serving area'). Paragraphing is attempted but lacks smooth logical progression between the past and present states. To improve, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and structure comparisons more explicitly to guide the reader seamlessly through the spatial changes.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic spatial changes and features like 'kitchen', 'salad bar', 'coffee bar', and 'recycling bins'. There are some word choice and collocation issues, such as 'today's cafe has more extra things' and 'site for barbecue', which reflect a limited and repetitive range. While spelling and word choices rarely impede overall communication, attempts at less common vocabulary are minimal. To achieve a higher score, the writer needs to incorporate more precise academic vocabulary suited to visual summaries, such as 'features', 'counter', and 'converted into'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response uses a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'The illustration gives information about how a cafe looks now and before redesign.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('how a cafe looks', 'before redesign', 'with serving area', 'at the same place') and awkward prepositional usage. Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication. To progress further, the writer should aim for a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences and pay closer attention to articles and prepositions in descriptive writing.
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.