Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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.

The plans below show a college cafe before it was redesigned and how it looks now.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The given plan illustrates the layout of a a college cafe at two different stages: the past and the present after redesigning it.

Overall, it is evident that the site will undergo significant modernisation, with several areas being restructured, expanded, or relocated to enhance functionally including the changes of staff dining rooms, bin and an additional outdoor seating area.

In details, firstly, the kitchen and the toilet area remains as it was in the past. The previous serving area including all food and drink has transfered now into a hot meals section. An significant changes have occured for staff dining rooms, which is now divided into two separate sections that is take away food and coffee bar. Furthermore, the previously bin area is now replaced by recycling bins.

Moreover, tables and chairs are still in the same position as it was in the past. Another section is added after redesiging the cafe, which is a salad bar at the left side of the cafe. In the past, there were no outside area for dining. But after redeveloping the cafe, outdoor seating arrangements has been constructed, where people can enjoy freshly made barbecue.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by outlining the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign. You provide a clear overall summary of the modernisation process and effectively highlight key spatial changes, such as the conversion of the serving area into hot meals, the replacement of staff dining rooms with a take-away food counter and coffee bar, and the addition of the outdoor seating and barbecue area. While most features are accurately reported, some details are slightly underdeveloped or generalised, which places the response securely at this level. To reach a higher standard, ensure that all relationships between old and new structures are fully elaborated and supported with precise comparisons.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The report presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing the spatial changes. Ideas are logically sequenced, moving from the interior modifications like the kitchen and dining areas to exterior additions like the outdoor seating and barbecue. However, cohesion is occasionally mechanical or faulty due to awkward transitional phrases, such as 'In details, firstly' and 'Another section is added after redesiging the cafe', which detracts from the fluency of the progression. Referencing and paragraphing are generally used sufficiently and appropriately, but refining the cohesive devices would create a smoother, more natural flow between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the basic changes in the cafe layout with terms like 'modernisation', 'restructured', and 'relocated'. You attempt less common vocabulary, such as 'functional' and 'construction', but these attempts are occasionally marred by word choice and word form errors, such as 'enhance functionally' instead of 'functionality', and 'previously bin area' instead of 'former bin area'. Additionally, minor spelling errors like 'redesiging' and 'occured' appear in the text. To achieve a higher band, you need to use a wider range of precise lexical items with greater control over word forms and collocations, avoiding repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, successfully employing relative clauses and passive structures to describe the layout changes. However, there are noticeable grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'the kitchen and the toilet area remains', incorrect prepositions such as 'at the left side', and awkward phrasing like 'outdoor seating arrangements has been constructed'. Punctuation and article usage also show occasional lapses. These errors do not impede communication, which keeps the response at the current level, but to progress further, you need to produce a higher proportion of error-free sentences and demonstrate tighter control over complex grammatical structures.

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

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