Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-18

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 diagrams compare the layout of a college cafe after the rennovation.

Overall, the key addition to the college cafe is the outdoor seating and a barbecue corner. Inside the cafe the regular bin is replaced by recycling bins, while a salad bar has been added. By contrast, the kitchen, tables and chairs, and toilets remain as it is.

Before the rennovation, the kitchen was located behind the serving area. On the right side of the serving area, there was two staff dining rooms. The center area of the cafe was dedicated for tables and chairs. The bin was kept in the middle on the extreme right side of the cafe and the toilet was in the bottom right corner.

After redesigning, the cafe was extended with outdoor seating and barbecue section. Inside the cafe, the kitchen remained in the same position, while serving area that used to serve all food and drink, now serves only hot meals. The two rooms on the right side of the serving area is now dedicated for take away food and coffee bar. The bin in the middle on the right side of the cafe is being replaced with recycling bins. On the other side to the left side of the cafe, a salad bar has been installed. Lastly, there is no changes to the toilet location and size.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

You give a clear overview of the main changes, especially the new outdoor seating and barbecue, the salad bar, and the replacement of the bin with recycling bins. You also accurately note that the kitchen, central seating area and toilets remain. The comparison between the former serving area and the new hot-meals counter, and between the staff rooms and the takeaway/coffee sections, helps cover the key transformations. To make the account more fully developed, describe the layout more precisely: the two former staff rooms were along the north wall, not simply “on the right side” of the serving area, and the new outdoor area is reached through doors in the southern wall. The claim that the cafe “was extended” is also less precise than explaining that seating was added outside.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is organised into an introduction, a clear overview, and separate paragraphs for the former and current layouts. This gives the reader a logical route through the comparison, and transitions such as “Before the renovation,” “After redesigning,” and “Lastly” make the sequence easy to follow. The overview also helps distinguish the major changes from the features that stayed the same. However, some linking and reference are mechanical or unclear: “On the right side of the serving area” and “the two rooms on the right side” do not locate the rooms accurately, while “On the other side to the left side” is repetitive. Grouping the changes by location—north, west, east and south—and using more precise references would make cohesion more flexible and the spatial progression clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for describing a plan, including “located,” “replaced,” “dedicated,” “installed” and “remain.” These choices communicate the main changes, and terms such as “outdoor seating” and “recycling bins” are appropriately specific. There are, however, several spelling, word-choice and collocation problems that limit precision: “rennovation” is misspelled, “barbecue corner” is less natural than “barbecue area,” and “the cafe was extended with outdoor seating” is an imprecise way to describe the addition. “The bin was kept” also sounds less suitable for reporting a fixed feature on a plan. Aim for accurate, natural phrases such as “was located,” “was converted into,” and “was added to the south of the building.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including useful contrast structures such as “while the kitchen remained in the same position” and “while serving area … now serves only hot meals.” Meaning is generally clear, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “there was two staff dining rooms” needs plural agreement (“there were”), and “the two rooms … is now dedicated” needs a plural verb and form (“are now dedicated”). In “the kitchen, tables and chairs, and toilets remain as it is,” the pronoun does not agree with the plural subject; “remain unchanged” would avoid this problem. The final sentence, “there is no changes,” also has a singular/plural mismatch. Check agreement and sentence patterns carefully, especially when the subject contains several features.

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