Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-13

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 given maps represents a college cafe that was redesigned and how it looks in present time.

Overall, the cafe was developed dramatically. There is a significant development in the main hall area. Also extension of outdoor seating makes it more spacious. The seating area is now larger than before.

In front of kitchen, the serving area for food and drinks is now converted to hot meal area. Outside the kitchen on the east there is a salad bar installed. Moving forward, toward tables and chairs which are same as before, on the left take away food and coffee bar counters are setup at the place of staff dining rooms.

The bin has been converted into recycling bins. Moreover, they extended the cafe to outdoor seating for more sitting capacity. There is also an addition of barbecue section outdoors. They installed two doors connecting the cafe to the outside sitting arrangements.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by summarizing the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign. In the introductory paragraph, the student notes that the maps illustrate a college cafe and its current appearance. The overview highlights major developments, such as the transformation of the main hall and the expansion of outdoor seating. Specific details are reported, including the conversion of the serving area into a hot meal area, the addition of a salad bar on the east side, and the establishment of takeaway food and coffee bar counters where the staff dining rooms used to be. Comparisons are made regarding the seating capacity and the addition of outdoor amenities like a barbecue section. Overall, the requirements for this task are met adequately, aligning with a Band 6.0 performance level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement, allowing the reader to follow the spatial changes in the cafe easily. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, the overview, and specific details about the layout changes, which provides a logical structure. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the map features, such as 'Overall', 'In front of kitchen', 'Outside the kitchen on the east', and 'Moving forward'. However, some of the referencing and transitions feel a bit mechanical or abrupt, particularly in the body paragraphs where sentences list changes sequentially without seamless integration. Paragraphing could also be further refined to group related changes logically, resulting in a solid Band 6.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a floor plan and spatial changes, including terms like 'redesigned', 'development', 'extension', 'outdoor seating', 'salad bar', 'take away food', and 'recycling bins'. There are some successful attempts to use less common vocabulary such as 'spacious' and 'capacity'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocation errors, such as 'The given maps represents' (plural-singular agreement) and 'more sitting capacity' instead of seating capacity. Spelling is generally accurate, but the limitations in lexical precision and occasional awkward word choices keep the score at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and prepositional phrases for location descriptions, such as 'toward tables and chairs which are same as before'. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'The given maps represents' instead of 'represent', and missing articles such as 'In front of kitchen' and 'on the east'. Despite these errors, meaning is rarely impeded, and the basic sentence structures are generally clear. The control over grammar is characteristic of a Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptor, leaning toward a stable Band 6.0 due to the successful communication of spatial relationships despite minor slips.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.