Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-02

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 diagrams illustrate the college cafe layout between the past and the present.

Overall, it can be seen that the overview has been changed significantly. There are several places which are renovated.

Firstly, in the original layout, the kitchen was at the top of the map which remains at the same place. A serving area to serve all food and drink, has been replaced by a hot meals corner. At the center of the cafe ,there were staff dining rooms after redesign they have been eliminated and two new sectors has been added: take away food and coffee bar. At the south-east corner a toilet has been unchanged, it is not replaced anymore.

Moreover, outside of the cafe layout has been changed drastically by adding some new features. After redesign at the south-west corner a barbecue sector has been added. In addition, for seating , a number of chairs and tables have been added at the out door of the cafe . Bin corner renamed by recycling bins and also the place has been expanded. Salad bar also the new addition after the redesign.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all main parts of the task by reporting the key changes between the two floor plans, such as the kitchen remaining in the upper-left corner and the addition of the outdoor seating and barbecue areas. An overall trend is attempted in the introduction. However, certain details are somewhat under-developed or imprecise, such as the description of the toilets remaining unchanged, which prevents the response from reaching a higher level. Nevertheless, the main features and comparisons are correctly identified and grounded in the visual data, satisfying the requirements for this band.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The text presents a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from the indoor changes to the outdoor modifications. Paragraphing is utilized to separate the introduction and overview from the body details. However, cohesion can feel somewhat mechanical and repetitive, relying heavily on basic transitional markers like 'Firstly' and 'Moreover'. Referencing is generally clear, but the sequencing within sentences can occasionally feel disjointed, which aligns the response with this band level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to architectural layouts, such as 'renovated', 'eliminated', and 'redesign'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as calling the outdoor seating area 'the out door of the cafe', referring to the bin area as 'Bin corner', and writing 'sector' instead of 'area' or 'zone'. These inaccuracies in collocation and word choice reflect the characteristics of this band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at passive voice and relative clauses. However, there are several grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'two new sectors has been added' and incorrect punctuation around clauses, such as 'At the center of the cafe ,there were staff dining rooms'. Preposition usage is also occasionally faulty, as seen in 'at the out door of the cafe'. These errors do not impede overall communication but persist throughout the text.

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

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