Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The given maps provide information about how the college cafeteria looked before and now.

Overall, a number of changes were noticed in the college cafeteria structure and number of facilities like salad bar, barbecue and outdoor seating areas are constructed.

More specifically, in the cafe before redesign, kitchen was situated in the north west side of the map and the serving area also near the kitchen, which is now replaced by hot meals. Staff dining rooms are converted into take away food and coffee bar. Tables and chairs are on the same place as before in the centre of the coffee bar.

In the east side of the map, a bin was located just near the toilet before the construction, which is now made more bigger than before and labelled as recycling bin. Salad bar is built on the right hand side of the map. The interesting thing is that outside of the college cafeteria, barbecue and outdoor seating area now have been constructed

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response provides a clear overview of the changes, identifying the main features such as the new facilities and the relocation of existing ones. You successfully highlight the key transformations, such as the conversion of the staff dining room and the addition of the barbecue area. However, the report could be improved by providing more precise spatial descriptions. For instance, stating that the kitchen was in the 'north west side' is good, but the description of the bin location and the salad bar could be more integrated into the overall layout description to help the reader visualize the changes more effectively. Overall, you have covered all parts of the task well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The response is logically organized, moving from a general overview to specific details about the kitchen and serving areas, and finally to the eastern side and exterior additions. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction/overview from the body details. While the flow is generally clear, some transitions are a bit mechanical, such as 'The interesting thing is that'. Using more varied cohesive devices to link the before and after states—such as 'whereas', 'in contrast', or 'subsequently'—would improve the flow and help the reader track the changes more smoothly between the two time periods.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'redesign', 'facilities', 'converted', and 'constructed'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasings. For example, 'made more bigger' is grammatically incorrect and redundant; 'larger' or 'expanded' would be more appropriate. Additionally, 'on the same place' should be 'in the same place'. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise collocations related to map descriptions, such as 'situated in the vicinity of' or 'underwent a significant transformation'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that slightly distract the reader, such as 'number of facilities... are constructed' (should be 'have been constructed' or 'were constructed') and 'kitchen was situated' (missing an article: 'the kitchen'). The phrase 'made more bigger' is a clear error in comparative structure. While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading of articles and comparative adjectives. Increasing the variety of complex sentence structures would also help improve the overall grammatical score.

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

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