Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-07

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 6.0)

The map illustrates the differences between a college cafe's floor plan before and after undergoing some redesign.

The biggest improvement that the cafe has seen is the outdoor seating area with multiple tables and chairs for students to sit at and the barbecue area nearby. Up north, where the kitchen is located, the serving area no longer offers all foods and drinks but only hot meals. The cafe seems to be offering a variety of salads with it's new salad corner right below the kitchen entrance. Another big difference is the staff dining rooms right across the entrance of the cafe that are now designated for the coffee bar and takeaway food. The only places that remained the same are the toilets at the far right corner of the cafe and the bins that are now recyling bins and finally the tables and chairs across the whole area also remained the same

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main transformation: the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue, changes to the food and drink counters, and the retention of the toilets and central seating. These details are generally consistent with the plans, and the opening establishes the before-and-after comparison. The overview is present, but some features are described imprecisely: the salad bar is on the western wall, not simply “right below the kitchen entrance,” and the staff dining rooms are replaced by takeaway and coffee-bar sections rather than being “right across the entrance.” You also say the tables and chairs remained the same, although the new outdoor tables are an important addition. More precise coverage of these changes would make the response more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall focus and moves through several relevant changes, using signals such as “The biggest improvement,” “Another big difference,” and “The only places that remained the same.” However, it is presented as one continuous paragraph, so the overview and supporting details are not clearly separated. The sequence also shifts between the outdoor area, northern counters, and retained features without a consistent route through the plan. The final sentence is especially crowded, joining toilets, recycling bins, and seating in one long statement. Organise the response into a brief overview followed by grouped details, and use clearer sentence boundaries and location-based sequencing to improve progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary to describe the redesign, including “floor plan,” “designated,” “outdoor seating area,” and “recycling bins.” These choices communicate the main changes, though some wording is informal or imprecise for a plan description: “biggest improvement” evaluates the redesign rather than neutrally reporting it, and “salad corner” is less accurate than the plan’s “salad bar.” There are also spelling and form errors, notably “recyling,” and the phrase “all foods and drinks” is less natural than “all food and drink.” Aim for precise labels and neutral verbs such as “was added,” “was replaced by,” and “remained.” This would strengthen accuracy and collocation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex structures, including the opening comparison and the clause beginning “where the kitchen is located.” Most of the meaning remains clear, but some grammatical and punctuation issues reduce control. The final sentence is a run-on: “The only places that remained the same are…” continues through several separate points without a full stop, and “and finally” does not repair the structure. In “with it's new salad corner,” the possessive should be “its”; the apostrophe marks a contraction. The sentence about the serving area also shifts from past redesign to present tense (“no longer offers”), where a consistent past description would be clearer. Use shorter, complete sentences and check tense and possessive forms.

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