Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-07

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 plans show how the layout of a college café has changed following its redesign. At a glance,the cafe has experienced major changes.

Before the redevelopment, in the top left corner there was a kitchen and a serving area situated, where all food and drinks were provided. The main dining area occupied the bottom sections were all the tables and chairs were kept. In the top section, there was a designated area for staff to dine, while a bin and toilets were located along the right-hand side. The café had entrances on the left and right sides, providing access to the main dining area.

Following the redevelopment, the significant changes can be seen, the serving area is replaced by the section of hot meals,while a salad bar has been added on the left side of the cafe. Furthermore, the two staff dining rooms were changed to take away food section and a coffee bar and the main dining area remains unchanged in the centre. An outdoor seating has been introduced in the bottom of the cafe with a barbecue section to its left corner. Also the bins were converted to the recycling bins while the toilets remained unchanged.

To sum up, substantial improvements are introduced.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You cover the main before-and-after changes, including the conversion of the staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee areas, the new salad bar and outdoor seating, and the replacement of the bin with recycling bins. The kitchen, central tables and chairs, and toilets are also correctly described as remaining in place. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the original entrance is on the upper-right wall, not on both the left and right sides, and the new outdoor area is on the south side, rather than simply “in the bottom.” The overview that the café underwent “major changes” is useful, but “substantial improvements” is evaluative and does not identify the main pattern of change. A more precise overview would distinguish the new food facilities and expanded outdoor seating from the retained features.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph describing the original plan, a paragraph on the redesigned café, and a brief conclusion. This makes the comparison easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Before the redevelopment” and “Following the redevelopment” establish the sequence. However, some connections are mechanical or awkward. For example, “the significant changes can be seen, the serving area is replaced” joins two ideas without a suitable grammatical link, while “To sum up” repeats the overview rather than adding a useful final comparison. Some references are also imprecise, such as “its left corner,” which makes the barbecue’s position less clear. Grouping retained features separately from additions and replacements would create a more controlled progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of task-related vocabulary, including “redevelopment,” “designated area,” “occupied,” and “converted,” and the reader can generally understand the changes. However, some word choices and collocations are imprecise or unnatural: “the section of hot meals” would be clearer as “the hot-meals counter,” and “An outdoor seating has been introduced” uses an unsuitable noun phrase. “Substantial improvements” also evaluates the redesign rather than neutrally describing the plan. Repetition of “area” and “section” limits precision, while “cafe/café” is not consistent. Aim for concise spatial language such as “along the western wall” and “to the south of the building,” and choose neutral terms that report what the plans show.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and the main changes are usually understandable. Some grammatical errors remain, particularly in sentence boundaries, articles and clause structure. In “the significant changes can be seen, the serving area is replaced,” a comma incorrectly joins two independent clauses; use a full stop or “as.” The phrase “the main dining area occupied the bottom sections were all the tables and chairs were kept” contains a faulty relative clause; write, for example, “The main dining area occupied the lower section, where the tables and chairs were located.” There are also article and agreement problems in “An outdoor seating has been introduced” and tense inconsistency in “substantial improvements are introduced.” More consistently controlled clauses and past-tense descriptions would improve accuracy.

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