Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-14

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 diagrams illustrate the layout of a college cafe before and after its renovation.

Overall, the cafe was expanded upon to include an outdoor barbecue area, while many of the existing facilities were remodelled into newer ones.

Initially, the cafe consisted of a Kitchen at its north western end, with the serving area located south of the kithcen. The exit to the serving area lead to a massive hallway filled with tables and chairs. Located at the centre of the room towards the northern end of the walls lay two staff dining rooms side by side separated by a wall in the centre. Additionally at the south eastern side of the large hallway the toilet area was stationed and above it there was a Bin.

The cafe in present times has underwent massive changes. For one, an entirely new barbecue area with outdoor seating was constructed at the southern end of the cafe. The hallway was renovated to include a salad bar to its west and bi

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You identify the main transformation in the overview: the café gains outdoor seating and a barbecue, while existing facilities are changed. Several relevant before-and-after details are also included, such as the kitchen, serving area, staff dining rooms, toilets and salad bar. However, the account is incomplete and some spatial information is unclear or inaccurate. The entrance is described as an “exit to the serving area,” although the plan shows the entrance on the eastern wall; the bin is also said to be above the toilets, rather than along the eastern wall above them. The description of the current layout stops before reporting key changes, including the take-away food and coffee bar, hot-meals counter and recycling bins. Covering these features and clarifying the locations would make the summary more complete and precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, a paragraph about the original café and a shift to the present layout. Sequencing phrases such as “Initially,” “Additionally” and “For one” help signal the order of information. However, the final paragraph ends abruptly at “bi,” so the description of the current plan is not brought to a clear conclusion. Some sentences also pack several locations together, making the spatial relationships harder to follow—for example, the sentence about the staff dining rooms and the “large hallway.” Use a complete final paragraph and group details by area, such as the northern counter spaces, the central seating area and the southern outdoor extension. This would create clearer progression and more controlled cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use a reasonable range of vocabulary for describing a plan, including “layout,” “renovation,” “remodelled,” “side by side” and “outdoor seating.” These choices generally communicate the changes, and some less common terms are attempted. At times, however, word choice is imprecise or too informal for a factual report: “massive hallway” and “massive changes” are evaluative, while “stationed” is an awkward choice for the location of toilets. There are also spelling errors, including “kithcen,” and the unfinished “bi” interrupts the final description. Prefer neutral, precise language such as “central seating area” and “was located,” and use the plan’s labels where possible. This would improve accuracy and consistency of register.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “a hallway filled with tables and chairs” and an introductory phrase in “Located at the centre…”. Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some errors occur in verb forms and sentence construction. For example, “the exit … lead” needs past-tense agreement (“led”), and “has underwent” should be “has undergone.” The phrase “the cafe was expanded upon to include” is also an awkward passive construction for describing a redesigned plan. Punctuation and spacing are inconsistent in places, such as the extra space in “lead to.” Aim for accurate past-tense descriptions of the former plan and present-tense descriptions of the current one, while checking verb forms and sentence boundaries.

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