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 maps demonstrate a college cafe before and after redesign. The college adds more facilities and modernizes cafe in previous years. It looks very different from the past arrangment. Now, it can be seen more luxorious and comfortale then before. Overall, the staff dining rooms are converted into take away food and coffee bar.

In the previous kitchen serving area is replaced by hot meals. A salad bar is added in the west and behind of the kitchen. Outdoor seeting is added opposite to the tables and chairs. A construction of barbecue is build besides the outdoor seating. The major change in cafe is staff dining rooms are changed into take away food and coffee bar. The floor color remains same throughout the whole time period which can be seen blue. However, toilets and recycling bins remain unchanged. Only serving area,staff dining rooms, barbecue, salad bar and outdoor seating are updated.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign. An overview is provided, noting the conversion of staff dining rooms and the addition of new facilities such as the outdoor seating, barbecue, and salad bar. However, some areas lack full development or precision; for instance, the description mentions that 'the floor color remains same throughout the whole time period which can be seen blue,' which misreads or overstates details not clearly central to the comparison. To reach a higher band, the response would need to ensure all highlighted features are described with greater clarity, avoiding minor inaccuracies and fully extending comparisons between the two layouts.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text presents a coherent overall arrangement, and the reader can generally follow the progression from the past layout to current changes. However, cohesion is at times faulty and mechanical. The organisation suffers from poor paragraphing, as the text is compressed into two dense blocks rather than logically separated into an introduction, overview, and distinct body paragraphs detailing specific structural changes. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as repetitive phrasing ('staff dining rooms are changed into take away food and coffee bar') appearing twice within the short text. To improve, the writer should use clear paragraph breaks, a wider variety of cohesive devices, and more precise referencing to guide the reader seamlessly through the spatial comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

An adequate range of vocabulary is attempted for the task, successfully incorporating specific terms from the visual data like 'salad bar', 'take away food', 'coffee bar', and 'barbecue'. There are, however, noticeable word choice and spelling errors that affect precision, such as 'arrangment', 'luxorious', 'comfortale', 'seeting', and 'besides' instead of 'beside'. Some attempts at less common vocabulary result in awkward phrasing, such as describing the layout as 'more luxorious'. These lexical errors do not seriously impede overall communication, but they restrict the score. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their control of spelling, word forms, and natural collocations, ensuring more precise and error-free expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as 'The college adds more facilities and modernizes cafe in previous years.' There are frequent grammatical errors in verb tenses, articles, and prepositions, including 'modernizes cafe' (missing article), 'in previous years' (inappropriate tense/time marker for a static comparison of past and present plans), 'The floor color remains same' (missing preposition), and 'A construction of barbecue is build' (incorrect passive form). Despite these errors, meaning is generally conveyed. To progress to a higher band, the writer needs to demonstrate better control over verb tense consistency when describing maps, improve article usage, and construct complex sentences with fewer foundational grammar mistakes.

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

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