Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

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 maps show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Overall, their are a huge difference between past years and today. The cafe become extended, and developed. they also use garden area for some new developments.

However, in the left hand top side there was a kitchen with serving area (all food & drinks), now it become kitchen with hot meals. They build a salad bar just below the kitchen, in the mid of the cafe their was two staff dining rooms which converted into take away food and coffee bar.

the tables, chairs, and the toilets remained same. furthermore, bin become recycle bins, they placed some tables and chair outdoor and make outdoor sitting area. In the left hand down side they create a barbecue area. with the help of all these changes they increase their goodwill, and attract costumer towards them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the main features of the maps, noting the changes to the kitchen, staff dining rooms, bins, and toilets, while also reporting the addition of the salad bar, outdoor seating, and barbecue area. However, the length requirement is not met, as the response contains only 136 words and falls short of the 150-word minimum, with 13 words excluded as they were copied from the prompt. While the overview outlines general changes, some ideas are under-developed, and the speculative closing comment regarding goodwill and customer attraction is irrelevant to an academic map summary, reflecting typical limitations at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text presents a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organise information into paragraphs corresponding to different features of the cafe. However, referencing and transitions are sometimes faulty or mechanical, such as the abrupt shift starting paragraphs with lowercase letters or repetitive structural patterns. Cohesive devices are used minimally or somewhat inaccurately, and there is a lack of smooth progression between sentences, meaning the logical flow is disrupted in places.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully identifying various structural elements such as 'kitchen', 'salad bar', 'coffee bar', and 'barbecue area'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, but there are noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'costumer' instead of 'customer', 'recycle bins' instead of 'recycling bins', and awkward phrases like 'make outdoor sitting area'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the range and precision of the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and some attempted complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('their are a huge difference'), inappropriate verb tense use ('now it become', 'there was two staff dining rooms'), missing capitalisation at the beginning of sentences ('the tables, chairs...'), and faulty prepositions. These errors occur regularly, though they rarely impede overall comprehension.

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

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