Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-22

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 diagram illustrates the modifications made to a college café and its infrastructure before redesign.

Overall, the university café has undergone several considerable redevelopments, with several original facilities being removed or relocated. The most notable changes are the introduction of an area for outdoor seating, salad bar, section for take away food, coffee bars and a barbecue section, while tables and chairs remain same in the central position. While the serving area has been replaced by a section specified for hot meals.

Before redesign, the café contained a kitchen with serving area offering all food and drinks, a big hall room containing tables and chairs also had three sections, one area is designated to bin and two joining rooms both were designed for staff dining rooms, third section was for toilet.

After redevelopment serving area is upgraded by hot meals, while staff dining rooms are replaced by two separate rooms, one is for takeaway food and the other is coffee bar both have doors opening into the hall room. The bin area has been upgraded to recycle bins section and a salad bar has also been introduced on left side of main hall. One of the main changes is the introduction of for benches for outdoor seating and a barbecue section connected to down left corner of the room.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by comparing the college cafe before and after its redesign. Key features are reported, such as the addition of the outdoor seating, barbecue area, salad bar, and the conversion of the staff rooms into a takeaway and coffee bar. An adequate overview is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting the major structural changes while noting that the central seating area remains unchanged. However, there are minor awkward phrasings and slight inaccuracies in reporting minor details, such as mentioning "four benches" when the plan shows four tables. Overall, the content is well-covered and satisfies the requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0, earning a solid Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response is logically organized with a clear overall progression. The essay begins with an introductory statement, moves into an overview paragraph, and then separates the 'before' and 'after' details into distinct paragraphs, which helps structure the comparison. Cohesive devices and time markers such as "Before redesign" and "After redevelopment" are used to guide the reader through the diagrams. However, referencing and paragraph transitions are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive (e.g., beginning multiple sentences with "Before redesign" or "After redevelopment"). Paragraphing is used sufficiently, and the overall arrangement remains coherent throughout, justifying a Band 6.5.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using topic-specific terms like "infrastructure," "redevelopments," "take away food," and "barbecue section." There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, though some word choices are slightly unnatural or inaccurate, such as "hall room" instead of main seating area, or "down left corner" instead of south-west. Minor word formation and collocation errors occur (e.g., "recycle bins section" instead of recycling bins area, and "introduction of for benches"). Nevertheless, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended message clearly without impeding communication, fitting the Band 6 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. The writer attempts complex statements using relative clauses and subordinate structures (e.g., "while tables and chairs remain same in the central position" and "both have doors opening into the hall room"). However, several grammatical errors and awkward structures persist throughout the text, including missing articles ("a salad bar", "on left side"), preposition errors ("connected to down left corner"), and tense inconsistencies. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the score from reaching Band 7.0, making Band 6.0 an accurate assessment.

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

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