Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-07

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 structural layout of a college cafe before its redesign and its current layout.

Overall, it is evident that the cafe undergone significant modernisation and structural reconfiguration, notably expanding the seating area, introducing specialised food and drinks stations, and removing the stuff dinning room.

In the original layout, a single serving area is located in beneath the top left kitchen handled all food and drink. Two enclosed staff dinning rooms occupied the top-centre space, while general tables and chairs were arranged in the centre of the cafe. A single bin stood against the right-hand wall, near the entrance and adjacent toilets in the bottom-right corner.

In the current layout, the former staff dinning room have been removed to accommodate new food serving stations, including a counter take away food and and adjacent coffee bar. The old general serving area now transformed into a hot meals. The single bins has been replaced by recycling bins along the right wall, while toilets remain in its original position. Additionally, A cafe expanded southward side seating area featuring several tables and chairs and new barbecue station and salad bar station along the bottom edge and left side centre of the map.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully identifies the main features of the cafe redesign, including the removal of the staff dining room, the expansion of the seating area, and the addition of new food stations. The overview is clear and highlights the most significant changes. However, there are some inaccuracies in the description of the layout; for instance, the text mentions a 'hot meals' area, but the map shows a 'hot food' station, and the description of the seating area expansion is slightly confusing. While the main features are covered, the report would benefit from more precise spatial referencing to ensure the reader can clearly visualize the changes.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into an introduction, an overview, and two body paragraphs. The progression of information is generally clear, moving from the original layout to the current one. Cohesive devices such as 'In the original layout' and 'In the current layout' are used effectively to signal shifts in time and space. However, some referencing is slightly awkward, such as 'the single bins has been replaced', where the pluralization is inconsistent. Paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall structure supports the reader's understanding of the comparison.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at topic-specific language like 'structural reconfiguration' and 'specialised food and drinks stations'. However, there are several noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'dinning room' (dining room), 'counter take away food' (takeaway food counter), and 'the single bins has' (the single bin has). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of the description. A wider range of precise, error-free vocabulary would be required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('the cafe undergone', 'the former staff dinning room have been removed') and article usage ('A cafe expanded southward side'). There are also minor punctuation and prepositional errors, such as 'located in beneath' and 'in its original position' (referring to plural toilets). These errors are noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points of the comparison.

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

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