Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 two maps illustrate the college cafe before it was reconstructed and how it looks now.

Overall, the cafe had undergone a only couples of change in the college cafe to provide more seating and more services.

Cafe before it was redesign, it had only few services such as kitchen and serving area for all food and drink on the top left, while just next right to the serving area there was a staff dining rooms. Meanwhile, tables and chairs in the middle and toilets in the bottom right corner, just adjacent to that bin on the right wall.

In terms of today, they made few changes in the cafe, like kitchen remained the same, serving area is replaced by the hot meals, just next right to this staff dinning was replaced by the take away food and coffee bar. While, on the left wall new section has been introduced as a salad bar, whereas tables, chairs and toilets remained at the same location, bin on the right wall just upgraded to recycling bin. Furthermore, a new outdoor seating area has been introduced with the barbecue services.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by selecting and reporting the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign. An overview is attempted, noting the general shift to provide more seating and services, which sits at the threshold of a higher band. However, some details are slightly underdeveloped or lack precision, such as describing the changes rather than fully comparing the spatial reconfiguration. To reach the next level, the overview could be more fully developed with a clearer synthesis of the most striking spatial transformations, and all features should be elaborated with greater precision regarding their relative locations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the information into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing the past and present layouts. Paragraphing is utilized, and there is a logical progression from the original map to the current map. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, relying on repetitive transitional markers like 'meanwhile' and 'while'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as in the phrasing 'just next right to this staff dinning'. To achieve a higher band, cohesive devices should be used more flexibly and unobtrusively, and referencing within and across sentences must be managed with greater precision.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate to communicate the main features of the visual data, satisfying the requirements for this band level. The student attempts less common vocabulary related to the context, such as 'reconstructed', 'repositioned', and 'redesigned'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, including 'a only couples of change', 'staff dinning', and 'barbecue services', along with minor spelling slips. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they prevent the response from achieving a higher score. To improve, the student should focus on accurate word formation, natural collocations, and precise vocabulary suited to describing diagrammatic changes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response employs a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, demonstrating a limited variety of structures. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, particularly concerning articles, prepositions, and structural awkwardness, such as 'Cafe before it was redesign, it had only few services' and 'bin on the right wall just upgraded to recycling bin.' These errors require some effort from the reader to interpret, though meaning is generally salvageable. To reach the next band, the student needs to demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns, ensure accurate subject-verb agreement and article usage, and reduce the frequency of basic grammatical slips.

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

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