Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-02

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 4.0)

The given map illustrates the college cafe before redesign and how it looks today .

Overall, it is clear that cafe has will witnessed significant modification over the period. Particularly by adding several table and chairs and other things making it more modernised.

In detail, before the cafe was seems to located in negligible place with

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 2.5

The opening identifies the visual as a plan of the café before and after redesign, and the overview attempts to note that changes occurred. However, the response does not meaningfully summarise the plans: it gives no accurate details about the retained kitchen and toilets, the new food counters, recycling bins, or outdoor seating and barbecue. The claim about “adding several table and chairs” is not a reliable overview of the main changes, since the central seating remains and the major additions are specific facilities. The description then stops mid-sentence. The response is also 94 words below the required minimum, leaving the task substantially incomplete. To improve, provide a clear overview and compare the most important changes with accurate locations and functions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt at organisation: an introductory sentence is followed by an overview beginning “Overall” and a detail paragraph signalled by “In detail”. These markers show awareness of a report structure. However, the progression is not developed because the detail paragraph ends after “with”, and there are no comparisons or connected descriptions of the two plans. The overview’s ideas are also difficult to follow, particularly “Particularly by adding several table and chairs and other things making it more modernised.” Use complete paragraphs that move from an overall summary to grouped changes—for example, facilities retained, changes inside, and additions outside. Linking phrases should clarify relationships rather than introduce points that are not explained.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The response uses a few relevant task words, including “map”, “college cafe”, “redesign” and “modification”, so the topic is identifiable. However, the vocabulary range is very limited for describing a plan, and several choices are inaccurate or awkward: “negligible place” does not clearly describe the café’s size or layout, while “other things” is too vague to report specific facilities. “Modernised” is also an unsupported generalisation rather than a precise description of what changed. Build a small set of accurate location and change expressions, such as “along the western wall”, “was replaced by”, “was retained” and “an outdoor seating area was added”. Naming the actual features would make the report more precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts a few sentence forms, including a present-simple introduction (“The given map illustrates…”) and an overview introduced by “Overall”. However, control is weak in the overview: “cafe has will witnessed” combines incompatible verb forms, and “it is clear that cafe has…” is missing an article. The phrase “before the cafe was seems to located” also has an incorrect verb sequence and lacks the required form of “be”. The final sentence is incomplete, ending with “with”, so it cannot communicate a finished idea. Use straightforward, complete sentences first, checking tense and verb patterns—for example, “The café has undergone significant changes” and “The kitchen and toilets have remained in the same locations.” Then add more varied structures once these are accurate.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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