Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19

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 illustrate the changes which have taken place in the layout of a Cafe. It shows that how cafe looks before redesignation and how it looks now.

Overall, it is evident that the cafe has undergone significant changes with introduction to the new facilities such as Barbecue, Outdoor sitting, Salad bar and Coffee bar.

To commence with, Kitchen was located in the topmost area of the Cafe. Staff dining rooms were situated in the center. Toilets were in the easternmost bottom of the cafe facing bins outside.

Cafe today, outdoor sitting for a lot of people has been made in the southernmost area. Take away food outlet has been constructed in the center of the Cafe. Coffee bar is built along side the Take away food outlet. Salad Bar is built on the westernmost side of the Cafe. Barbecue is added on th left and bottom most side of the cafe. Bins are converted to Recycling Bins. Two more gates are added on the bottom side. Staff dining rooms are demolished. Serving area which served all food and drinks is changed to Hot meals area.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student covers all parts of the task well, successfully reporting the main features of the college cafe before and after the redesign. An overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting key changes such as the introduction of the barbecue, outdoor seating, salad bar, and coffee bar. Key spatial changes are identified, such as the staff dining rooms being replaced by takeaway and coffee options, and the kitchen counter being relabelled to 'Hot meals'. The comparison is mostly accurate, though there are minor positional inaccuracies (for instance, the staff dining rooms were along the north wall, not the center, and the original kitchen was in the upper-left, not the 'topmost area'). Despite these minor misreadings, the response fulfills the requirements of Academic Task 1 effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and body paragraphs detailing the previous layout and current layout respectively. Paragraphing is used appropriately. However, cohesive devices are somewhat repetitive and mechanical (e.g., 'To commence with', 'Cafe today', 'Coffee bar is built along side...'). Reference words and logical links could be handled more flexibly to ensure smoother progression between sentences. Overall arrangement is coherent, but the heavy-handed transitional markers hold it back from a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a map transformation, including terms like 'redesignation', 'facilities', 'demolished', and 'outlet'. However, there are instances of unnatural word choices and awkward collocations, such as 'before redesignation' instead of 'before being redesigned', 'outdoor sitting' instead of 'outdoor seating', and 'easternmost bottom' instead of 'bottom-right corner'. Spelling is generally correct, but vocabulary control lacks the precision and flexibility expected at Band 7.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms (e.g., 'The given maps illustrate the changes which have taken place...'). There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, such as missing articles ('Kitchen was located', 'Salad Bar is built on westernmost side'), preposition errors ('on the left and bottom most side', 'along side'), and a minor tense/clause error ('It shows that how cafe looks'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, their frequency prevents the response from achieving a Band 7.

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

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