Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 13 · 2026-10-02

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)

There are two layout plans for university's sport centre. The layout of a university's sports centre now consists of reception, 25m pool, seating area, cleaning room, gym and two outdoor courts. On entering a sports centre there is a reception right infront of you and behind reception there is a 25m pool. There is a also a seating area to the east, changing room to the west and a gym to the north as comapre to the future development plan of sports centre which is expande and it comprises of more facilities which are not present today such as cafe to the east, three changing rooms,one in the east and two on the west, two dance studios to the east, leisure pool and a sports shop to the west.

Overall, the layout plan for the redevelopment shows vital facilities available for people for their comfort. Future layout plan looks more appealing than it is now.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the task by outlining both the present and future layouts of the university sports centre, and provides an overview. However, the information lacks full development and contains some inaccuracies or omissions. For instance, the student writes "cleaning room" instead of changing room, and groups multiple future developments into a single extremely long sentence without clear, selective highlighting of the most significant changes. The overview is also rather simplistic, stating that the future plan looks more appealing rather than highlighting structural expansions like the removal of outdoor courts and the addition of major recreational facilities. To reach the next level, the response needs to more fully and accurately report the key features with better differentiation between major changes and minor details.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has some overall organization and attempts to sequence the spatial features of the maps, starting with the present layout and moving to the future plan, followed by an overview paragraph. However, the progression is hindered by poor paragraphing—the entire body of the report is crammed into a single massive, breathless paragraph. Furthermore, cohesive devices are weak, repetitive, and mechanical, relying heavily on strings of words like "and a gym to the north as comapre to the future development plan of sports centre which is expande and it comprises of...". Referencing is also occasionally unclear. To improve, the writer must use paragraph breaks logically to separate the present layout from the future layout, and employ a wider, more accurate range of cohesive markers to guide the reader smoothly through the visual data.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to describe spatial arrangements and features. The student uses basic location vocabulary such as "to the east", "to the west", and "to the north". However, there are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as writing "cleaning room" instead of changing room, and spelling errors like "infront", "comapre", and "expande". Attempts to use less common vocabulary are limited and often inaccurate. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to incorporate a wider and more precise range of vocabulary related to architectural and spatial changes, such as "replaces", "extension", and "incorporates", while eliminating basic spelling and word-form errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response employs a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple clauses strung together with coordinating conjunctions. When the student attempts more complex structures, such as in the long comparative sentence describing the future plan, the grammar becomes faulty and tangled. There are frequent errors in articles ("university's sport centre", "a reception"), prepositions, and verb forms. Punctuation is also weak, particularly the lack of commas to break up long clauses. To move higher, the writer must demonstrate greater control over complex sentence patterns, use articles and prepositions accurately, and avoid run-on sentences by breaking complex ideas into distinct, grammatically sound clauses.

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

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