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 information illustrate a collage cafe before it was redesigned and how it loos now.
Overall, cafe before redesign has limited facilities and current plan has more. However they change the places and increase size.
To begin with, cafe before redesign has few facilities Such as, kitchen, serving area fpr all food and drink located in north side of the map. Moreover, beside of the serving area has located a staff dining rooms. After that, there is a huge place of tables and chairs. In One corner bin and toilets has been placed on south side.
Furthermore, cafe today is intrduce Saladbar, Hot meals, Take away food, Coffe bar, Barbecue and Outdoor seating. Although they open more doors in the cafe.Lastly, kitchen, tables and chair, toilets and recycling bins placed on same place. Additionally they grew a more tables and chairs on the outside of the cafe.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response partially addresses the task requirements. While the student attempts to summarise the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign, the overview is extremely basic and lacks a clear summary of the overall changes. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met; the student's response contains 140 words, falling short of the 150-word minimum, with 8 words copied directly from the prompt not counting towards the total. Key details such as the expansion of seating and the rearrangement of facilities are mentioned, but the information is limited and under-developed, preventing the response from reaching a higher band. To improve, you should provide a more comprehensive overview and ensure you meet the minimum word count by fully describing all significant changes shown in the visual data.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates some organisation, but there is no clear overall progression of ideas. Paragraphing is attempted, with an introductory sentence, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs discussing the past and present layouts, but the internal structure of these paragraphs is weak. Cohesive devices are used mechanically and repetitively, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'Lastly', which disrupts the natural flow of the text. Referencing is also unclear in places, making it difficult for the reader to follow the spatial relationships between the various rooms and features. To achieve a higher band, you need to sequence your ideas more logically and use a wider variety of cohesive devices smoothly to connect sentences and paragraphs.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The student attempts some less common items related to the visual, such as 'redesigned', 'facilities', and 'recycling bins', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, form, and spelling, such as 'illustrate' instead of 'illustrates', 'collage' instead of 'college', 'loos' instead of 'looks', 'fpr' instead of 'for', 'intrduce' instead of 'introduced', and 'Coffe' instead of 'Coffee'. These lexical errors and awkward collocations cause some difficulty for the reader and restrict the score. To improve, you should expand your range of vocabulary and carefully check your spelling and word forms before finalising your writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with frequent attempts at complex structures that are often faulty. There are persistent errors in grammar, punctuation, and agreement throughout the text, such as 'cafe before redesign has' instead of 'the cafe before redesign had', 'beside of the serving area has located a staff dining rooms' which contains severe structural and agreement errors, and 'they grew a more tables' instead of 'they added more tables'. These frequent errors can cause difficulty for the reader. To lift your grammar score, you need to practise using a wider variety of accurate complex sentence forms, ensure correct subject-verb agreement, and maintain consistent tense usage when describing visual data.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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