Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-11

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 given maps depict the changes that took place in a cafe before and after redesigning.

It can be vividly seen that there was a toilet in left most corner of the cafe that remained at the same place in both the maps; however, the staff dining room was in the front of the enterance before designing , now it is converted into a take away food counter and a coffee bar. In the northwest corner of the cafe, there was a kitchen along with a service area, whereas in the recent period the kitchen remained the same but service area is converted into hot meals section. Before redesigning the west most area contained nothing but today a salad bar is constructed there.

Moving towards the rest of the information, the seating area consisting of tables and chairs was only limited to indoors but after recent designing an outdoor seating area has also been included in cafe's map along with a barbecue spot which was not an element before redesigning.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify several important changes, including the conversion of the former staff dining rooms into takeaway and coffee areas, the new salad bar, and the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue. You also note that the kitchen and toilets remain in place. However, some details are inaccurate: the toilets are in the bottom-right corner, not the leftmost corner, and the salad bar is on the western wall rather than simply in an unspecified “west most area.” The overview is also limited: it would be clearer to summarise the main redesign as adding food-service options and expanding seating outdoors. The eastern recycling bins and the unchanged central seating area are omitted, so the features are not covered equally fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall sequence: it first describes changes inside the café and then moves to the outdoor area. The contrast markers “before designing” and “now,” together with “whereas” and “however,” help readers compare the two plans. Paragraphing also separates the main groups of information. To make the progression more consistently clear, organise the details by location or by unchanged and changed features, rather than moving between the toilet, staff rooms, kitchen and western wall in one long paragraph. Some linking is mechanical, particularly “Moving towards the rest of the information,” and the reference to “the front of the enterance” is not clear enough to locate the rooms precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for describing changes and locations, including “remained,” “converted,” “consisting of,” and “included.” These choices make the main comparisons understandable, and you attempt more formal phrasing. However, some expressions are imprecise or unnatural for a plan description: “vividly seen,” “front of the enterance,” and “nothing but” do not convey the information as precisely as they could. There are also spelling errors in “enterance” and “cafe,” and “designing” is less appropriate than “redesign” in this context. Aim for concise, conventional map vocabulary and use exact directional terms such as “north-west corner” or “along the western wall.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including a contrast clause with “whereas” and a relative clause in “the seating area consisting of tables and chairs.” Most of the meaning remains clear, but some errors occur in sentence construction and punctuation. For example, the opening sentence would be more natural as “The maps show the café before and after its redesign.” In “there was a toilet … that remained,” the singular wording does not match the plan’s labelled toilet facilities, and the long sentence beginning “It can be vividly seen” is joined with a semicolon in a way that makes the structure cumbersome. Check articles, sentence boundaries and tense consistency when describing the former and current layouts.

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