Cambridge IELTS 21 · Test 2 · Task 1 · Task 1

College Cafe Redesign

Task 1

Question

The plans below show a college café 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 two plans illustrate how a college café has been redesigned, with several functional areas added,

expanded, or replaced to offer a wider range of food and seating options.

The most striking change concerns the serving area. In the original layout, a single serving area

provided all food and drink, with two staff dining rooms situated on the right-hand side. In the

current design this has been replaced by a more varied setup: the kitchen still occupies the top-left

corner, but it is now flanked by a hot meals counter, a salad bar, a take-away food section

and a dedicated coffee bar. The two staff dining rooms have been removed to make way for these new

facilities and additional table space.

Elsewhere, the café has expanded its capacity. A refrigerator section has been added on the right,

and the toilets, which were previously a single block, have been enlarged. The most noticeable

addition, however, is the new outdoor seating area at the bottom of the plan, furnished with

several tables and a barbecue, which was not present before. The tables and chairs that used to

fill the interior have largely been moved outdoors to accommodate the extra counters.

In summary, the café has been transformed from a simple self-service dining hall into a more

versatile eatery, adding coffee, take-away, salad and outdoor barbecue facilities at the expense of

the old staff dining rooms.

Fully addresses the task by describing both plans and making clear comparisons. The report covers the

layout in 2000 and the present, and every structural change is signalled with a comparison word

("replaced", "removed", "added", "expanded").

Takeaway: For maps, organise by what changed in each zone rather than describing each plan

separately — this keeps the comparison explicit.

The plan is logical: the serving area first (the biggest change), then capacity, then outdoors. Each

paragraph opens with a clear topic sentence, and linking phrases ("The most striking change",

"Elsewhere", "In summary") guide the reader smoothly.

Takeaway: Use one clear paragraph per zone of change, not per diagram.

Precise spatial and functional vocabulary: "flanked by", "make way for", "enlarged", "at the expense

of", "self-service dining hall". The register is academic and varied without being forced.

Takeaway: Learn directional and substitution verbs — *replaced, added, expanded, removed,

converted into* — for any map task.

Accurate mix of passive voice ("have been removed", "has been transformed") and present perfect for

change, with complex subordination ("which was not present before"). No errors.

Takeaway: Passive + present perfect is the natural tense pair for describing renovation and change.