Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-02

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 6.5)

The maps illustrate a college cafe before redesign and its current appearance.

Overall, the cafe has undergone substantial modifications with most areas being replaced with modern amenities.

In the past, there was a kitchen at the top of the building with the serving area in proximity, which served all food and drinks. In the main area, there were only tables and chairs, which were located in the center. Furthermore, above the main area, two staff dining rooms were featured. To its right, a bin stood between the entrance to the cafe at the top and toilets at the bottom.

Currently, a few places have been replaced and some amenities have been added. The serving room has been transformed into an area which provides hot meals. As regards rooms, where staff used to eat have been converted into an area, where people can take away their food and a coffee bar. Moreover, the bin has been modernized into a recycling bin. Adjacent to it, a salad bar has been positioned. An outdoor seating area has been added in the lower part of the cafe including five tables and 26 chairs as well as a new barbeque on the right side. Meanwhile, only the kitchen, tables with chairs in the center of the building, and toilets remain unchanged.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the college cafe before and after the redesign, and includes relevant comparisons. The overview captures the general transformation well, and specific changes such as the conversion of staff dining rooms and the addition of outdoor seating are noted. However, some details are slightly inaccurate according to the source plan—for instance, the salad bar is positioned along the western wall rather than adjacent to the recycling bin, and the outdoor seating feature counts five tables and 26 chairs which are minor inaccuracies or over-specifications of unlabelled visual data. Furthermore, some ideas are more fully developed than others, meaning certain new features receive good coverage while others are glossed over briefly, keeping this criterion at the current level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into paragraphs, moving from an introduction and overview to past features and current modifications. Cohesive devices are used to guide the reader through the comparison, such as 'In the past', 'Currently', and 'Meanwhile'. However, some cohesive links and referencing feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and referencing is occasionally prone to minor ambiguity, such as 'To its right' referring back to the main area rather than the specific antecedent. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, but progression between sentences could be smoother to achieve a fully fluent logical flow characteristic of a higher band.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to describe spatial changes and functional transformations successfully. There are appropriate attempts to use less common items and functional verbs, such as 'substantial modifications', 'transformed', and 'converted'. However, there are some minor word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'modernized into a recycling bin' where 'replaced with' or 'converted into' would be more natural, and minor imprecisions in describing layout. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate and do not impede communication, placing the lexical range firmly at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses and adverbial clauses of time and place ('where staff used to eat have been converted into an area', 'An outdoor seating area has been added...'). There is good control over basic grammatical structures, and punctuation is generally sound. Some errors persist—for instance, subject-verb agreement issues ('where staff used to eat have been converted' instead of 'has been converted') and minor prepositional or article slips—but these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, showing good command with occasional lapses.

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