Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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 maps illustrate a college cafe, how its look before and how it changed after redesigning.

Overall, several new areas have been introduced in cafe. However whole cafe layout remained same. Some areas have replaced by other facilities. Moreover outdoor seating area has been developed. Also there have been some unchanged portions.

Before redesigning, Cafe had a kitchen on the upper side of a serving area,where all foods and drinks were available. In the center it had a wide area for tables and chairs. Besides them there were staff dining rooms. On the lower right corner toilets were existed and on the similar side a bin was present.

After redesigning, cafe serving area has been replaced by hot meals. Take away food and a coffee bar has took the place of staff dining rooms. tables and chairs area has remained same. A new salad bar and barbecue areas have been introduced with an outdoor seating facility. Bin has replaced by recycling bin but toilets did not change.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response successfully covers all parts of the task by reporting the main features of the college cafe before and after its redesign, while providing relevant comparisons. An adequate overview is presented in the second paragraph, outlining the main changes and unchanged features, such as the overall layout remaining the same while new facilities were introduced. Key details like the conversion of the serving area to hot meals, the replacement of staff dining rooms with a coffee bar and take-away food, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue are all accurately reported. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or lack finer detail regarding exact locations, placing this performance comfortably at the mid-level. The progression from the past layout to present modifications is clear, and the data is faithfully represented without major omissions or misinterpretations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from an introductory overview to descriptions of the past layout and current changes. Information is generally well-sequenced, allowing the reader to follow the spatial transformations easily. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, past features, and present features. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or somewhat faulty, as seen with repetitive transitional markers like 'Before redesigning' and 'After redesigning', and occasional lapses in referencing. While referencing devices are present, they are not always handled with the seamless flexibility required for higher bands. Overall, the structural framework is clear and serves to guide the reader through the visual data adequately, even though cohesive devices could be varied more naturally.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating specific terms from the visual prompt such as 'kitchen', 'serving area', 'salad bar', 'barbecue', and 'outdoor seating'. There are notable attempts to use less common vocabulary to describe the transitions, though some word choices and collocations are inaccurate, such as 'how its look' instead of 'what it looked like' or 'has took the place' instead of 'has taken the place'. Spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'existed' instead of 'were located' and 'Bin has replaced by', occur throughout the text. These lexical slips do not severely impede communication, but they highlight the limitations in lexical precision and control that prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex forms, such as introductory subordinate clauses and coordinate structures. These attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, marred by missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and tense confusions—for example, 'the whole cafe layout remained same' missing the article 'the' and preposition 'the same', and 'toilets were existed' combining a passive structure incorrectly with an intransitive verb. Punctuation errors and awkward phrasing also occur regularly, creating frequent non-systemic errors that require the reader some effort to decipher. While communication is not completely distorted, the heavy presence of grammatical inaccuracies across basic and attempted complex patterns reflects a restricted level of structural control.

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

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