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 picture of the college cafe shows it's features before and after the renewal.
Overall, the cafe got many upgrades but the most prominent is the outdoor seating alongside with barbecue facilty aswell. Inside the most noticeable new thing is the addition of the salad bar.
The changes made in the interior include the staff dining rooms which have now been converted into take away food and the coffee bar. Salad bar has now also been added to the cafe.
Outside the biggest change is the outdoor seating facilty with barbecue service aswell. To access the outside seating two new doors have also been made.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response fails to meet the minimum word length requirement of 150 words, stopping at only 106 words. While the candidate attempts to address the task by outlining some main features such as the outdoor seating, barbecue facility, and salad bar, the information is presented in a limited and repetitive manner. The overview touches upon key upgrades, but details are underdeveloped and lack sufficient depth. For example, the transformation of the kitchen counter into hot meals or the changes to the staff dining rooms into a take-away food area and coffee bar are mentioned briefly without a thorough reporting of all major spatial reconfigurations. To achieve a higher band, the response must meet the word count threshold, extend the ideas further, and provide a more comprehensive summary of the visual data.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates some organisation with a discernible introduction and body sentences, but it lacks an overall clear progression. The paragraphing is rudimentary, consisting of very short sentences that make the text feel disjointed rather than logically sequenced. Cohesive devices are minimal and sometimes repetitive, such as the frequent restarting of sentences with 'Outside' or 'Salad bar has now also been added'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the mechanical flow prevents the text from achieving a smoother, more natural narrative. To improve, the writer needs to group related information more effectively, utilise a wider range of cohesive ties to link sentences and paragraphs, and ensure a seamless progression of ideas throughout the summary.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, featuring basic terms like 'picture', 'cafe', 'upgrades', and 'changes'. There are noticeable lexical inadequacies, spelling errors, and awkward phrasing, such as 'facilty aswell' and 'alongside with'. The range of vocabulary is limited, and attempts to use less common items are either repetitive or inaccurate. To move to a higher band, the student must expand their lexical repertoire to include precise, task-appropriate terminology suitable for describing diagrams and trends, such as 'reconfigured', 'replaced', 'converted', and 'relocated', while eliminating spelling mistakes like 'facilty'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response displays a very limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple sentences and basic active forms, with unsuccessful or minimal attempts at complex constructions. There are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, such as missing apostrophes ('it's' instead of 'its'), awkward preposition usage, and run-on structures. For instance, phrases like 'alongside with barbecue facilty aswell' demonstrate a lack of control over grammatical patterns. To reach the next band, the candidate needs to incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence forms with a high proportion of error-free structures, while improving basic grammatical accuracy and punctuation control.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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