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 given two maps compares a secondary school cafe before and after development. Overall, a substantial changes occur in the south of layout and minor development can be seen in the center of map after reconstruction.

It is clearly seen that kitchen has been remained in the simialar position although portion of hot meals is constructed in the place of serving area such as all food and drink. Subsequently, two new rooms are reconstructed named as take away food and coffee bar where staff dinning rooms were build before development. Moreover, in the west side of map, new salad bar is build and on the east side recycling bins are places as it was befre development. The position of toilets is remained exactly same before ad after in the south east corner. A place in the south west corner is dedicated to the barbecue in new layout and a significant area is utilized for seating outdoor.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the prompt by presenting an overview and detailing the main changes between the two maps, such as the addition of the outdoor seating, barbecue, and salad bar. However, some aspects are addressed more fully than others, and certain details are somewhat under-developed or imprecise, such as the description of the food counters. The overview attempts to highlight the main developments in the south and centre, but it lacks complete clarity in summarising the overarching transformation, which places the response securely in the mid-range for task achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical division into an introductory paragraph and subsequent body details. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the spatial changes, using phrases like 'It is clearly seen that' and 'Moreover'. However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical or repetitive, and paragraphing could be structured more effectively to separate the overview from the detailed body points. Despite these minor flaws, the progression of information remains reasonably clear throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'reconstruction', 'redesigned', and 'substantial'. However, there are noticeable lexical and word-choice inaccuracies throughout the text, such as writing 'simialar' (spelling), 'dinning' (spelling), and using awkward phrasing like 'portion of hot meals is constructed' instead of a natural collocation. These errors do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score, as precision and control of less common vocabulary are inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence forms, such as 'It is clearly seen that kitchen has been remained...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors regarding voice, tense, and prepositions, including 'maps compares', 'has been remained', 'were build', 'dinning rooms', 'on the east side recycling bins are places', and 'seating outdoor'. These persistent errors in grammar and word forms show limited control over complex structures, although they rarely impede the reader's understanding of the overall content.

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

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