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 diagram shows changes in a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Overall, the cafe before it was redesigned having a lot of space for sitting and limited options for customers, while after redesigned there were huge space for sitting in both outdoors and indoors and adding a section of new verities of food in the cafe.

Before it was redesigned a staff dinning rooms was located in the center of the cafe and these rooms were replaced by two sections: the takeaway food and the coffee bar. Moreover, toilets remained in the same location and in a kitchen, a serving area were replaced by hot meals section. Although, outside the kitchen a salad bar section were added and there were adding a huge number of outdoor seating for customers who like to sitting outside and enjoyed the weather. Barbecue sections were also added in front of the outdoor seating so customers enjoing the live barbecue and the aroma of barbecue attracts them for ordering and satisfied their appetite.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by outlining the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign, and includes relevant comparisons such as the replacement of the staff dining rooms with a takeaway food section and a coffee bar. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient clarity. For instance, the mention of the barbecue section includes speculative commentary ('aroma of barbecue attracts them for ordering and satisfied their appetite') rather than purely reporting the visual data. To reach a higher band, the overview needs to be sharper, focusing more strictly on key structural transformations without straying into unsupported assumptions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The text presents a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise information into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing the specific alterations. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. Sentences are occasionally strung together with weak transitions such as 'Although, outside the kitchen...', and referencing is not always clear, making the logical progression stumble slightly. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within sentences needs to be smoother. To achieve a higher level, the writer must use a wider range of cohesive devices more accurately and ensure that ideas flow naturally from one point to the next without awkward transitional phrasing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to successfully communicate basic changes such as the addition of a 'salad bar', 'hot meals', and 'outdoor seating'. The writer attempts less common vocabulary, but this leads to noticeable errors in word form, choice, and collocation, such as 'verities of food' instead of 'varieties', and 'dinning rooms' instead of 'dining rooms'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. To move up, the student needs to demonstrate greater precision in word selection and ensure accurate spelling and word formation when attempting more ambitious lexical items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional ideas. However, frequent grammatical errors occur throughout the text, including tense and verb form errors ('the cafe before it was redesigned having a lot of space', 'a salad bar section were added'), article misuse, and awkward prepositional patterns. These frequent errors in grammar and punctuation can cause occasional difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, the writer must exercise better control over basic agreement, active and passive verb structures, and ensure that complex sentence attempts are constructed accurately.

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

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