Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05
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 map illustrates the interior of a college's cafe that was redesigned and it is completely changed now .
Overall,kitchen remained same as it was before but staff dining rooms are removed and new food centre and coffee bar replaced its location.
it can be clearly seen that serving area of food and drinks is changed to hot meals.A new salad bar is established on the left side of tables and chairs ares while bins area is enlarged in size.However ,toilets retaited as they was. A barbeque is added outside the cafe along with 5 tables and chairs for outdoor sitting . Staff dining rooms are totally demolished but bins were renamed with recycling bins .the empty place in past design is all covers from left side wall. A slight changes made the complete look better today.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 150 words, stopping short at 137 words, which limits the overall development of the task. While the student attempts to address the task by noting several changes between the two plans—such as the kitchen remaining the same, the addition of a salad bar, and outdoor seating—some features are described inaccurately or unclearly. For instance, the staff dining rooms are incorrectly described as being completely demolished rather than replaced by a take-away food area and coffee bar, and the observation about the bins area being enlarged lacks precision based on the visual data. The overview is overly simplistic, leading to a partial coverage of the key trends and main features required for a higher band.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The response shows some basic organization with an introductory sentence and an overall summary, but it lacks a clear overall progression throughout the text. Paragraphing is poorly handled, as the entire response is compressed into a single block or disjointed mini-paragraphs without adequate separation of ideas. Cohesive devices are very limited, repetitive, and at times inaccurate, with awkward transitions such as 'it can be clearly seen that' and mechanical connectors like 'However'. The referencing of pronouns is also occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'retaited as they was', which disrupts the logical flow and makes it difficult for the reader to follow the spatial relationships between the various features of the cafe plans.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task, with noticeable word-choice and spelling errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. There are several lexical inaccuracies, such as 'food centre', 'retaited', and 'covers' instead of covered, along with awkward phrasing like 'bins area' and 'outdoor sitting'. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'demolished' and 'redesigned', but struggles with accurate collocation and word formation. Spelling mistakes and slip-ups like 'barbeque' and the misuse of 'a' versus 'an' or missing plurals further restrict the lexical score, preventing the response from achieving a more advanced band.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response demonstrates a very limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent attempts at complex structures that turn out faulty. There are persistent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense and agreement issues such as 'cafe that was redesigned and it is completely changed now', 'retaited as they was', and 'A slight changes made'. Punctuation and article usage are also weak, evidenced by missing capital letters at the start of sentences, missing spaces after periods and commas, and erratic spacing around punctuation marks. These frequent errors cause noticeable strain and difficulty for the reader when trying to parse the sentence boundaries and meanings.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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