Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-12

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 floor maps of a college cafeteria shows how it looked before and after it was refurbished .

Overall, new sections were added like those of Salad bar, Barbecue and outdoor seating.The staff dining rooms were changed into takeaway food and coffee bar while serving area was replaced by hot meals.

Before redesign, the kitchen had a counter of serving area(all food and drink) and beneath it just to the right, were staff dining rooms. The toilets were in the bottom right and just above, was the bin area. Tables and chairs were placed in the whole cafe.

After the redesign, the cafe altogether presents a different picture. Serving area in the kitchen is replaced by hot meals. While the recycling bin area is increased, its location remained the same. Staff dining rooms were changed into take away food and coffee bar. Some new sections were also added, salad bar in the extreme left of the cafe. An outdoor seating was arranged just below the cafe hall with barbecue section beside it. Tables and chairs were placed in the whole cafe as they were before the redesign. Toilets remained unchanged. Two new doors were placed to give access to the outdoor seating.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You cover the main changes and provide a clear overview: the staff dining rooms become takeaway and coffee facilities, the serving counter changes to hot meals, and new outdoor seating and a barbecue are introduced. You also correctly note that the toilets remain in place and that new doors connect the café to the outdoor area. This meets the task well, with several relevant comparisons. Some details are less fully or precisely reported, however. For example, saying tables and chairs occupied “the whole cafe” is an overgeneralisation; they are shown in the central area. The recycling bins are described as increased, although the plan only shows them replacing the bin in the same position. Mentioning the new salad bar and the outdoor tables would make the account more complete and precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction and overview are followed by descriptions of the original and redesigned café. This makes the main comparison easy to follow, and phrases such as “Before redesign” and “After the redesign” help signal the stages. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, with repeated use of “were changed,” “remained,” and “placed.” The sentence beginning “While the recycling bin area is increased” is not smoothly connected to the preceding sentence, and the reference to “its location” is not entirely clear. Some information is also repeated, particularly the unchanged toilets and tables and chairs. Grouping the changes by location or by what stayed versus changed would create more fluent progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing a plan, including “refurbished,” “replaced,” “remained unchanged,” and “access.” These choices communicate the main changes, and terms such as “outdoor seating” and “salad bar” are relevant to the visual. Some word choices and collocations are imprecise, though: “floor maps” is not the natural term for these diagrams, “the cafe altogether presents a different picture” is vague, and “the recycling bin area is increased” does not accurately express the change shown. “Extreme left” is also less natural than a straightforward location phrase. Aim for precise plan-description vocabulary and avoid adding implications, such as an increase in size, that the diagram does not establish.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and more complex forms, including the contrast in “while serving area was replaced by hot meals” and the relative clause “with barbecue section beside it.” The meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors remain. The opening has subject–verb disagreement (“maps … shows”), and several noun phrases need articles or more accurate number marking, as in “An outdoor seating” and “with barbecue section.” There are also awkward sentence boundaries and punctuation, particularly the fragment-like “While the recycling bin area is increased” after a full stop. Review article use, agreement, and sentence connections, and check spacing around punctuation; these corrections would make the description more controlled without sacrificing sentence variety.

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