Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-09

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 map illustrates the renovation of a college cafe.

Overall, the area of the cafe has expanded. There have been significant additions to the cafe, such as a salad bar, outdoor seating and a barbecue area. However, some places have been transformed, such as the staff dining area and serving area.

A salad bar is installed right next to the entrance of the kitchen. An outdoor seating spot is also introduced to accommodate more customers alongside the newly installed barbecue area. The portion for bins is converted into recycling bins, and its area is increased.

A new takeaway facility has been introduced right next to the freshly launched coffee bar, which was previously the staff dining rooms. The serving area is now transformed into the hot meals area, where freshly made meals are kept. Lastly, there are now 3 entrances to access the inside of the cafe. One is right next to the toilets, another is right next to the barbecue area, and the old one stays as it is. While the kitchen and toilets plateaued.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response gives a clear overview of the main changes, identifying the new salad bar, outdoor seating and barbecue, as well as the conversion of the staff dining rooms and serving area. Most details match the plans, including the kitchen and toilets remaining in place and the bin becoming recycling bins. The account also compares the old and new facilities rather than merely listing labels. However, a few claims are inaccurate or over-generalised: the salad bar is along the western wall, not specifically next to the kitchen entrance; the plans show two new southern doors, but the statement that there are now three entrances and that one is beside the toilets is not supported. The claim that the café area has expanded is also not clearly established by the plans.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response is arranged in a generally sensible order: it begins with an overview and then describes changes to facilities and access. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “However,” “Lastly” and “While” help signal relationships between points. This gives the account a coherent overall shape. However, the body paragraphs are not clearly separated by topic, and several details are packed into one paragraph, making the progression feel somewhat list-like. The final sentence, “While the kitchen and toilets plateaued,” is an incomplete dependent clause and does not connect smoothly to the preceding point. Grouping internal changes together and then describing the southern outdoor additions would make the organisation clearer and cohesion less mechanical.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

There is an adequate range of vocabulary for describing the redesign, including “renovation,” “introduced,” “converted” and “transformed.” These choices help avoid simple repetition and communicate the main changes. Some less suitable or imprecise expressions, however, reduce naturalness: “the area of the cafe has expanded” is not clearly supported by the plans, “the portion for bins” is awkward, and “plateaued” is not an appropriate way to say that the kitchen and toilets remained unchanged. “Freshly launched” and “freshly made meals are kept” also sound promotional rather than neutral and precise. More conventional map-description language would improve accuracy and style while retaining the useful range already shown.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The response uses a mix of simple and more complex forms, including the overview contrast with “However” and the relative clause “which was previously the staff dining rooms.” Most sentences are understandable, and the past-to-present comparison is generally conveyed clearly. Some grammatical problems remain. “While the kitchen and toilets plateaued” is a dependent clause used as a sentence, so it needs to be joined to a main clause. In “A new takeaway facility … which was previously the staff dining rooms,” the singular “facility” does not agree logically with the plural reference “rooms”; the sentence would be clearer if the rooms were the subject of the transformation. The phrase “its area is increased” also shifts awkwardly into the present tense. These issues do not usually prevent understanding, but more consistent sentence control is needed.

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