Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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 4.5)

College cafe is one of the important part where both students and teachers got some food and often spent leisure time to discuss various topics, Last month their will be some changes in cafe. Now infront of enterance their are two sections have been seen one of counter for take away food and other will be coffee bar. Previously in this section was staff dining rooms. Now eating food area consists of chairs and tables will be merged both for students and staff. New portion for salad bar is also introduced infront of kitchen. Previously kitchen is attached with a sector where all food and drinks are served which only used to delivers hot meals only in these days. Along the side of enterance gate previously used to discard the plastics and other food items, which turns to all wastes now. left side salad bar out side gate barbecue stand established

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response attempts to describe the main changes shown in the two maps, noting features such as the conversion of the staff dining rooms into a take-away food section and coffee bar, the addition of a salad bar, and the new outdoor seating area with a barbecue. However, the task is only partially addressed because some of the information is confusing or inaccurate, such as stating that 'all wastes now' occupy the bin area and describing the location of the barbecue somewhat disjointedly. The overview of the changes is underdeveloped, and the response lacks a clear, cohesive summary of the overall transformation of the college cafe. To reach a higher level, you should ensure all key features are reported clearly and accurately without confusing details, supported by a well-defined overview.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

The response suffers from a lack of clear overall progression and logical organisation. The text is written as a single block paragraph with little structural division, making it difficult to follow the spatial relationships between the past and present layouts. Cohesive devices are minimal or inaccurate, leading to mechanical transitions between sentences, such as 'Now infront of enterance...' and 'Previously kitchen is attached...'. Pronoun referencing and time markers are handled inconsistently, which disrupts the flow of information. To improve, you should organise your writing into distinct paragraphs—such as an introduction, an overview, and body paragraphs detailing specific areas—and use appropriate cohesive markers to guide the reader smoothly through the comparisons.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task, with noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples include 'enterance' instead of entrance, 'infront of', and awkward phrasing like 'eating food area' and 'all wastes now'. While there are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'coffee bar', 'salad bar', and 'take away food', inaccurate collocations and repetitive structures constrain the range. To achieve a higher score, you need to expand your lexical repertoire with more precise terms for describing spatial changes and ensure correct spelling and word forms throughout your response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences with frequent errors. There are notable issues with verb tenses and consistency, such as mixing past and present contexts ('Last month their will be some changes', 'Previously kitchen is attached', 'which only used to delivers'). Furthermore, errors in article usage, prepositions, and subject-verb agreement—such as 'College cafe is one of the important part' and 'their are two sections have been seen'—are frequent and often cause difficulty for the reader. To improve in this area, you must practice forming accurate complex sentences, maintain consistent verb tenses when describing past and present states, and carefully check your basic grammatical agreements.

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