Latex multirow table text and borders messed up

Question

I have the following table (code below):

\documentclass[a4paper,fleqn]{cas-sc}

%\usepackage[numbers]{natbib}
%\usepackage[authoryear]{natbib}
\usepackage[authoryear,longnamesfirst]{natbib}
\usepackage{chemformula}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}

\begin{table}[width=.9\linewidth,cols=6,pos=h]
\caption{Description of nodes in the Dynamic Bayesian Network shown in Fig \ref{FIG:dbn}}\label{tab:dbntable}
\begin{tabular*}{\tblwidth}{@{} |l|l|p{0.05\textwidth}|p{0.1\textwidth}|p{0.15\textwidth}|p{0.3\textwidth}|@{} }
\toprule
Node name &
  Type &
  Time-steps &
  Conditional   dependcy &
  States &
  Description \\ \midrule
Prior &
  \multirow{6}{*}{Initial} &
  \multirow{6}{*}{t=0} &
  None &
  11 states indicating   score in the range {[}0-10{]} &
  A state of 0 denotes   a student who scored a 0 in the pre-test while a state of 10 represents a   student who scored 100\% in the pre-test \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(l){4-6} 
Knowledge0 &
   &
   &
  Prior &
  \multirow{10}{*}{True and False} &
  State of true denotes   the possibility that the student has the required knowledge at timestep t=0 \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(lr){4-4} \cmidrule(l){6-6} 
Distractor00 &
   &
   &
  \multirow{5}{*}{Knowledge0} &
   &
  \multirow{3}{*}{True denotes the evidence   that the student has collected this distractor at timestep t=0} \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1}
Distractor01 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1}
Distractor02 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(l){6-6} 
Question0 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   evidence that the student answered the quiz correctly at timestep t=0 \\ \cmidrule(r){1-3} \cmidrule(l){6-6} 
Knowledge1 &
  \multirow{5}{*}{Temporal} &
  \multirow{5}{*}{t=1,2,3} &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   possibility that the student has the required knowledge at timestep t=1,2,3 \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(lr){4-4} \cmidrule(l){6-6} 
Distractor10 &
   &
   &
  \multirow{4}{*}{Knowledge1} &
   &
  \multirow{3}{*}{True denotes the evidence   that the student has collected this distractor at timestep t=1,2,3} \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1}
Distractor11 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1}
Distractor12 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cmidrule(r){1-1} \cmidrule(l){6-6} 
Question1 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   evidence that the student answered the quiz correctly at timestep t=1,2,3 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular*}
\end{table}

The table is appearing messed up with weird borders and text going out of page. How do I fix this?

Answer 1

As I'm mentioned in comment, rules from booktabs package and vertical lines doesn't gives nice result due to added some vertical space around rules and shortened them if you require (as you did in your table) with (l), (r) or (lr) options for \cmidrule.

See, if the solution used the makacell package (for \Xhline and additional vertical spaces in cells), tabularx (for correct span table width) amd \multirow{...}{=}{...} syntax gets what you like to have:

\documentclass[a4paper,fleqn]{cas-sc}

%\usepackage[numbers]{natbib}
%\usepackage[authoryear]{natbib}
\usepackage[authoryear,longnamesfirst]{natbib}
\usepackage{chemformula}
\usepackage{booktabs, makecell, multirow, tabularx}
\newcolumntype{L}{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}
%---------------- show page layout. don't use in a real document!
\usepackage{showframe}
\renewcommand\ShowFrameLinethickness{0.15pt}
\renewcommand*\ShowFrameColor{\color{red}}
%---------------------------------------------------------------%

\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[width=\linewidth,cols=6,pos=h]
    \setcellgapes{3pt}
    \makegapedcells    
\caption{Description of nodes in the Dynamic Bayesian Network shown in Fig \ref{FIG:dbn}}\label{tab:dbntable}
\begin{tabularx}{\tblwidth}{|L|L|
                            >{\hsize=0.8\hsize}L|
                            L|
                            >{\hsize=1.2\hsize}L|
                            p{0.35\textwidth}|
                            }
    \Xhline{1.2pt}
Node name &
  Type &
  Time-steps &
  Conditional   dependcy &
  States &
  Description \\ 
    \Xhline{0.6pt}
Prior &
  \multirow{6}{=}{Initial} &
  \multirow{6}{=}{t=0} &
  None &
  11 states indicating   score in the range {[}0-10{]} &
  A state of 0 denotes   a student who scored a 0 in the pre-test while a state of 10 represents a   student who scored 100\% in the pre-test \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{4-6}
Knowledge0 &
   &
   &
  Prior &
  \multirow{10}{=}{True and False} &
  State of true denotes   the possibility that the student has the required knowledge at timestep t=0 \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{4-4} \cline{6-6}
Distractor00 &
   &
   &
  \multirow{5}{=}{Knowledge0} &
   &
  \multirow{3}{=}{True denotes the evidence   that the student has collected this distractor at timestep t=0} \\ \cline{1-1}
Distractor01 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cline{1-1}
Distractor02 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{6-6}
Question0 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   evidence that the student answered the quiz correctly at timestep t=0 \\ \cline{1-3} \cline{6-6}
Knowledge1 &
  \multirow{5}{=}{Temporal} &
  \multirow{5}{=}{t=1,2,3} &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   possibility that the student has the required knowledge at timestep t=1,2,3 \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{4-4} \cline{6-6}
Distractor10 &
   &
   &
  \multirow{4}{=}{Knowledge1} &
   &
  \multirow{3}{=}{True denotes the evidence   that the student has collected this distractor at timestep t=1,2,3} \\ \cline{1-1}
Distractor11 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cline{1-1}
Distractor12 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
   \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{6-6}
Question1 &
   &
   &
   &
   &
  True denotes the   evidence that the student answered the quiz correctly at timestep t=1,2,3 \\
    \Xhline{1.2pt}
\end{tabularx}
    \end{table}
\end{document}

(red lines show page layout)