Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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 plans illustrate the before and after of the renovations done to a college cafe.

Overall, the college cafe expanded its seating area, repurposed some rooms and, added new facilities to accomdate more people and provide more services.

Before the renovations, the college cafe used to have two adjacent doors for enterance. By the door, the bin and toilets can be found. The whole floor is filled with tables and chairs, with two rooms reserved for staff dining areas. The far end of the cafe had a room for the kitchen and serving area for foods and drinks.

However, now, the major change seen is the addition of an outdoor seating area with two extra doors to access it. This outdoor area included a barbecue section. The staff dining rooms have been repurposed into a take away food room and a coffee bar room. Moreover, a a salad bar has been added by the far end of the cafe. Futhermore, minor changes were made like replacing the serving area with hot meals and the bins with recyclying bins.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response gives a clear overview of the main redesign: more seating, repurposed rooms and additional facilities. It accurately identifies the outdoor seating and barbecue, the conversion of the staff rooms into takeaway and coffee areas, and the changes from the serving area to hot meals and from a bin to recycling bins. The comparison is relevant and covers both plans. Some spatial details are less precise: the bin and toilets are described as being “by the door,” although the bin is on the eastern wall below the entrance and the toilets are in the bottom-right corner. The salad bar is also placed at the “far end” rather than specifically along the western wall. More exact positioning and a fuller account of the unchanged kitchen and toilets would strengthen the report.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised effectively into an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the original and redesigned café. The progression from the earlier layout to “However, now” makes the comparison easy to follow, and linking phrases such as “Moreover” and “Furthermore” help connect added changes. The main limitation is that the final paragraph groups several distinct modifications together, while some location references, such as “By the door” and “far end,” are not sufficiently clear. The comma in “repurposed some rooms and, added new facilities” also interrupts the flow. Grouping changes by area and using more precise references would make the cohesion more flexible and less reliant on transition words.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The response uses an adequate range of task-related vocabulary, including “repurposed,” “adjacent doors,” “outdoor seating area,” and “recycling bins.” These choices communicate the main changes clearly, and “repurposed” is particularly suitable for describing the former staff rooms. However, there are several spelling errors, including “accomdate,” “enterance,” “Futhermore,” and “recyclying,” which reduce accuracy. Some expressions are also imprecise or less natural for a plan description: “the whole floor is filled with tables and chairs” overstates the layout, and “a room for the kitchen” is awkward. Use more exact terms such as “main area” and “located in the upper-left corner,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

There is a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including the overview sentence and the contrast introduced by “However.” Most sentences remain understandable, but some grammatical and punctuation errors persist. In “repurposed some rooms and, added new facilities,” the comma is misplaced and the conjunction is not needed; “a a salad bar” contains a repeated article. The phrase “two adjacent doors for enterance” would be more accurately structured as “two entrance doors,” while “The whole floor is filled” uses an awkward passive construction for describing a plan. There is also inconsistent tense choice between “Before the renovations … used to have” and “By the door … can be found.” More consistent past and present descriptions, alongside careful article and punctuation checks, would improve control.

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