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 bins were on the west side of the cafe.

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

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The student covers all parts of the task well, providing a clear overview of the main changes and selecting key spatial transformations such as the modification of the serving area into hot meals and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. However, there are a few minor inaccuracies in spatial referencing, such as stating that the kitchen and serving area were in the 'northeast corner' and that bins were on the west side, whereas the source plan places them in the northwest and east respectively. Despite these minor orientation slips, the response effectively satisfies the requirements of Task 1 by reporting the main features and comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is logically organised with a clear introduction, an overview paragraph, and distinct body paragraphs separating past and present features. Cohesive devices are used appropriately to guide the reader through the comparison, such as 'In the past' and 'At present'. Paragraphing is logical, though the internal flow of the body paragraphs could be smoother with more varied transitional phrases. Referencing is mostly clear, contributing to a coherent overall arrangement that meets the descriptors for Band 6.5 to 7.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for describing a map transformation, using terms such as 'relocated', 'replaced', 'converted', and 'installed'. However, there are some noticeable vocabulary and collocation errors, such as 'hotel meals' instead of 'hot meals', and inaccurate phrasing like 'replaced into' instead of 'replaced by'. While less common vocabulary is attempted, these word-choice inaccuracies limit the lexical score to Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and passive structures like 'has been converted into' and 'have been installed'. There are some grammatical errors and article slips, notably 'a outdoor seating' instead of 'an outdoor seating' and subject-verb agreement issues in 'a salad bar have been installed'. Nevertheless, these errors do not impede communication, and the overall grammatical control fits the Band 6.0 profile well.

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

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