Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-08

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 7.0)

The maps illustrate a college cafe before renovation and how it looks now.

Overall, the cafe has undergone significant modernization. The main feature is the addition of outdoor seating and a barbecue station. New doors have been made to connect the inside of the cafe to the outside. Inside, a salad bar has been added, staff dining rooms have been replaced with coffee bar and take away food bar.

Before renovation, kitchen was located on the upper left corner which had a serving area that served all foods and drinks. On the upper side of the main cafe, staff dining rooms were located, outside of which were tables and chairs. To the extreme right upper corner were the in and out doors, adjacent to which was the bin. To the right lower corner were the toilets.

Now, the kitchen serves only hot meals. The staff dining rooms have been supplanted with take away food bar and coffee bar, in front of which the tables and chairs lie. The bin has been replaced with a recycling bin. On the left side a salad bar has been introduced. Two new doors have been added, one is on the lower left corner and the other is located on the lower right corner. The doors lead to and from the outdoor seating area and the barbecue station which is located to the left side.

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 added salad bar, and the replacement of the staff dining rooms. Most locations and functions are reported accurately, including the kitchen’s change to hot meals and the toilets remaining in place. This covers the task well and selects relevant features. However, a few details are imprecise: the original serving area is described as serving “all foods and drinks,” while the plan labels it “all food & drink,” and “outside of which were tables and chairs” makes the seating arrangement unclear. The new doors are also described as being at the lower left and lower right, whereas the plan only establishes two doors on the southern wall. More precise spatial reporting would strengthen an already well-developed summary.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised effectively into an introduction, an overview, and separate descriptions of the original and current layouts. The progression from the overall changes to the earlier plan and then the present arrangement is easy to follow. Linking expressions such as “Overall,” “Before renovation,” and “Now” clearly signal the stages, while “replaced with” helps connect related changes. Some phrasing, however, makes relationships less clear: “outside of which were tables and chairs” is difficult to interpret, and “the doors lead to and from the outdoor seating area and the barbecue station” could suggest that the doors connect directly to the barbecue. Use more precise references and describe the southern access and outdoor features separately to make cohesion smoother and less dependent on repeated location phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 7.0

You use a suitable range of vocabulary for describing a redesigned space, including “modernization,” “supplanted,” “introduced,” and “replaced.” These choices allow you to report changes without relying entirely on basic words, and the meaning is generally clear. Some collocations and labels are less natural or precise: “barbecue station” is not the plan’s label, “take away food bar” is an awkward rendering of “Take away food,” and “in and out doors” is less exact than “entrance/exit.” Repetition of “located” and “added” also limits flexibility in the location descriptions. Aim to use the plan’s labels accurately and vary expressions such as “is positioned,” “occupies,” or “has been converted into.” This would make the vocabulary more precise and natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex structures, including the overview sentence beginning “The main feature is…” and several fronted location phrases. Most sentences communicate the intended changes, but some grammatical errors remain. Articles are missing in “Before renovation, kitchen was located” and “On the upper side of the main cafe,” where “the kitchen” and “the main café” are needed. The clause “outside of which were tables and chairs” is structurally awkward, and “one is on the lower left corner and the other is located…” shifts tense within a description of the current plan. There is also a comma splice in “Two new doors have been added, one is…”. These issues do not prevent understanding, but more consistent article use, tense control, and sentence boundaries are needed for stronger accuracy.

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