Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

The two plans illustrate changes to college cafe before and after it was redesigned.

Overall, the cafe underwent significant changes, with several new facilities being addes and some existing areas being removed or relocated.

Before the redesign, the cafe had two staff dinning rooms alongside the kitchen, which were converted into take away food area and coffee area. Whereas, the area to the west of the kitchen consisted of a serving area, which was replaced by an area for hot meals. The bin located outside the toilets were replaced by recycling bins while the position of the toilets remained unchanged in the corner of the cafe.

In addition, the area south of the tables and chairs was expanded to include outdoor seating and a barbecue. Furthermore, the tables and chairs remained unchanged, although a salad bar was added nearby. Overall, the redesign provided more facilities for students and staff members and made better use of the available space.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response covers all parts of the task and successfully highlights the main changes, such as the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a takeaway food area and coffee bar, the addition of the outdoor seating and barbecue, and the inclusion of a salad bar. An overview is provided that captures the general nature of the transformations. However, some details are slightly imprecise or under-developed; for instance, the text mentions that 'the bin located outside the toilets were replaced', whereas the data shows the bin was located on the eastern wall above the toilets. Ideas are clearly presented and fulfill the core requirements, but to reach a higher level, the response would need a more precise presentation of spatial relationships and fewer minor misreadings of the layout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response exhibits a clear overall arrangement with logical progression from the interior changes to the exterior additions. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body details, and concluding observations. Cohesive devices such as 'Overall', 'Before the redesign', 'Whereas', and 'In addition' are employed to guide the reader through the comparisons, though referencing is occasionally mechanical or slightly unclear, such as the transition between sentences discussing the bin and the toilets. While the structure is coherent and maintains a logical flow throughout, achieving a higher band would require smoother integration of cohesive markers and a tighter progression between sentences to avoid any abrupt shifts in focus.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the modifications made to the cafe using terms such as 'converted', 'relocated', 'expanded', and 'reconstructed'. There are some successful attempts at less common vocabulary, but minor errors in word choice and spelling occur, such as 'addes' instead of 'added' and 'dinning' instead of 'dining'. The collocation 'take away food area' lacks a hyphen or pre-modifier clarity. These inaccuracies do not impede communication, placing the response securely in this category. To achieve a higher standard, a wider range of sophisticated lexical items with greater precision and zero spelling errors would be necessary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilising relative clauses and prepositional phrases adequately. There is good control over past tense verbs used to describe historical changes, such as 'was redesigned', 'had', and 'were converted'. However, some grammatical errors persist, such as subject-verb agreement with 'The bin ... were replaced' instead of 'was replaced', and minor punctuation oversights. These errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear throughout. To move further up, the writing would need a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences and flawless grammatical agreement across all descriptive statements.

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