Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-27

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 changes that took place in a college cafe in the past and present.

Overall, the college cafe has undergone significant changes in its layout and facilities. Several areas were relocated and replaced, while new facilities, such as hotel meals, takeaway foods, and coffee bar, were introduced.

In the past, the cafe had a kitchen and serving area in the northeast corner, while the toilets were in the southwest corner. In the centre of the cafe, there were tables and chairs, and the staff dining rooms were on the north side of the cafe, while bin were on the west side of the cafe.

At present, the serving area has been converted onto hot meals, while staff dining rooms has been replaced into takeaway food and coffee bar. The bins hav been converted into recycling bins and salad bar has been installed. A barbecue and outdoor seating has been installed on the south side of the cafe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student successfully addresses the main features of both plans, providing a clear comparison between the past and present layouts of the college cafe. An overall trend is provided in the second paragraph, highlighting the general modernization and introduction of new facilities. Key changes, such as the conversion of staff dining rooms into a takeaway food area and coffee bar, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue, are clearly reported. However, there are some minor directional inaccuracies in the body paragraphs; for example, the kitchen and serving area in the past were located in the northwest corner rather than the northeast. Additionally, 'hotel meals' appears as a minor slip for 'hot meals' in the vocabulary. Overall, the response covers all parts of the task well and provides a clear summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is logically organized with a clear introduction, an overall summary paragraph, and separate paragraphs detailing the past and present layouts. Information flows reasonably well from sentence to sentence. Cohesive devices are used adequately to signal timeframes, such as 'In the past' and 'At present'. Paragraphing is logical and appropriate for an Academic Task 1 report. However, referencing could be slightly more polished, and the transitional links between sentences are occasionally simplistic. Despite these minor limitations, the overall arrangement is coherent and easy to follow throughout.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a map and structural changes, using terms like 'relocated', 'replaced', 'converted', and 'installed'. However, there are several lexical errors and awkward word choices, such as 'hotel meals' instead of 'hot meals', 'converted onto' instead of 'converted into', and 'replaced into' instead of 'replaced with'. Additionally, 'bin' and 'bins' contain slight errors in plurality and article usage in earlier mentions. While the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main points, these inaccuracies prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response utilizes a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including passive structures like 'has been converted' and 'has been installed'. There is a good attempt to vary sentence beginnings. However, there are notable grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'staff dining rooms has been replaced', 'bins hav been converted', 'barbecue and outdoor seating has been installed'). These errors indicate limited control over complex grammatical structures, though they do not impede overall communication. Punctuation is generally acceptable.

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.