Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-09-13
IELTS Writing Task 1 question
The plans below show the layout of a university’s sports centre now, and how it will look after redevelopment.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
The plan illustrates the layout of a university's sports centre and make a comparison between now and how it will look after redevelopment.
In the entrance, there is a reception on the west side, and 25m pool is attached to a reception. On the left side of pool is a changing room, while on the right side is seating for people. Whereas on the opposite side of reception, in the north side is a gym for people to get fit. Outdoor courts are available on the west and east side of the centre.
Future plan is somewhat different than present with slight improvements. Entrance will be same. Reception will be present in the same south side of centre with pool attached, changing room at west side, while seating at the north side. Gym will also be at the north side۔ But on the right side of reception will be cafe and on the left side will be sports shop, both will have changing room separately. Lerisure poor will be additional at the left side of leisure pool in place of outdoor courts, and sports hall will be at the east of the centre replaced by outdoor courts. Two dance studios will be present at the left side of sports hall (East side).
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response covers the main features of both plans and attempts to make comparisons. You successfully identify the key modifications, such as the replacement of outdoor courts with a leisure pool and a sports hall, and the addition of a café and a sports shop. However, some of your locational descriptions are inaccurate or confusing when compared to the visual stimulus; for instance, you mention that seating and the changing rooms are rearranged in the future plan in ways that do not fully match the map, and there are conflicting directional details. Despite these minor inaccuracies, you present an overview of the changes, satisfying the core requirements of Academic Task 1. To push into higher bands, ensure every spatial relationship is carefully verified against the visual data to avoid misleading the reader.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The text is structured into clear paragraphs representing the introduction, current layout, and future layout, which helps the reader follow the overall progression. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. You rely on basic transitional phrases, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as when referring to positions using 'on the left side of pool' or 'on the right side of reception will be cafe'. Furthermore, some sentences lack smooth logical links, and punctuation errors (such as the Arabic punctuation mark used in the second paragraph) disrupt the flow of the text. Paragraphing is present and logically divided between the current state and future developments, but logical progression within paragraphs requires tighter cohesive ties.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, featuring appropriate architectural and functional terms such as 'entrance', 'reception', 'changing room', 'gym', 'outdoor courts', and 'dance studios'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are noticeable vocabulary and spelling errors, such as 'Lerisure poor' instead of 'leisure pool', and awkward phrasings like 'Future plan is somewhat different than present with slight improvements'. Less common lexical items are attempted but lack precision and natural collocation. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of lexical slips and basic phrasing keeps the score at this level. Expanding your repertoire of synonyms and reporting verbs will greatly benefit this criterion.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting various descriptive patterns (e.g., 'Whereas on the opposite side of reception...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are numerous missing articles ('a reception', 'pool is attached to a reception', 'on west side', 'at west side'), incorrect prepositions ('in the north side' instead of 'on the north side'), and incomplete or awkward clause structures ('Future plan is somewhat different than present'). Although these errors do not completely obscure the message, they occur frequently enough across the text to prevent you from reaching a higher band. Focusing on article usage and prepositional consistency will immediately improve your grammatical accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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