Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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 plans illustrate the design of a college cafe before and after it was renovated.

Overall, the cafe has been expanded from its prior design of just the kitchen, staff dining rooms, and toilets to now also account for counters for take away food, coffee bar, salad bar, expansion of recycling bins, and an outdoor seating area for barbecue.

Prior to the proposed redesign, the cafe consisted of the kitchen to the north-west allowing for a serving area for all varities of food and drinks. The main room consisted of the staff dining rooms, toilets, bin, and tables and chairs kept in an open space inside the room.

Post the changes, inside the kitchen in the top-left corner, counter for hot meals has replaced the prior serving area. Moreover, the staff dining rooms have been demolished to give way to take away food counter and coffee bar, with tables and chairs still in the open space inside the room. There has also been an addition of a salad bar, with the recycling bins extended. The outdoor seating area has also been developed for barbecue.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response gives a clear overview of the main transformation: new food and drink counters, recycling facilities, and outdoor seating have been introduced, while the kitchen and central seating remain. It also accurately identifies the former staff dining rooms being replaced by takeaway and coffee-bar areas, and the serving counter becoming a hot-meals counter. This selection of key changes is relevant and generally well supported. However, some details are over-generalised or imprecise: the outdoor area is described as being “for barbecue,” although the plan shows outdoor seating with a separate barbecue area, and the recycling bins are said to be “extended” rather than replacing the single bin. Mentioning the toilets’ unchanged position would make the comparison more complete and precise. Overall, the main features are addressed clearly, with a few details needing sharper reporting.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response is organised into a clear introduction, an overview, and two paragraphs comparing the earlier and current layouts. This gives the reader a logical progression from the overall change to specific features, and linking expressions such as “Prior to,” “Moreover,” and “Post the changes” help signal relationships between ideas. The main improvement is to make the description more spatially precise and ensure each sentence develops one clear comparison. For example, the final sentence combines the outdoor seating and barbecue without explaining their separate locations, while “with the recycling bins extended” is not a clear reference to the change shown. More explicit contrasts—such as noting that the toilets remain in the same corner—would strengthen the progression and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The response uses a suitable range of vocabulary for describing a redesigned plan, including “renovated,” “demolished,” “replaced,” “addition,” and “open space.” These choices allow the main changes to be communicated, and there is some flexibility beyond basic location words. However, several collocations or word forms are imprecise: “account for counters” does not naturally describe new facilities, “expansion of recycling bins” suggests they became larger, and “developed for barbecue” does not clearly express the outdoor arrangement. There is also a spelling error in “varities.” To move further, choose precise plan-description language and distinguish between a facility being added, relocated, or replaced. This would make the vocabulary more accurate and natural without requiring more elaborate wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 7.0

There is a useful mix of sentence forms, including the overview sentence with a contrast between the former and current layouts and the complex sentence explaining that the staff rooms “have been demolished to give way to” new counters. Most sentences are understandable, and the past-to-present comparison is generally maintained. Some grammatical control is less secure in compressed phrases: “inside the kitchen in the top-left corner, counter for hot meals has replaced the prior serving area” lacks an article before “counter,” and “the cafe consisted of the kitchen … allowing for a serving area” leaves the relationship between the kitchen and serving area unclear. “Post the changes” is also an awkward construction. Use complete noun phrases and clearer clause links, while keeping the effective range of sentence structures already present.

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