Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

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

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)

Here is the comparison of the future plans of a university’s sports centre now, and how it will look after redevelopment.

Overall, the centre of the university will remain unchanged having the same entrance from the south to the reception at front, having a 25m pool behind the reception, changing room on the left and a seating area on the right of the pool.

At present the length of Gym is quite small but it will be expanded to the right in the future. There are two outside outdoor courts on the right and left hand side of university but moving forward the left outdoor courts will be replaced with a leisure pool in the middle having a changing room on the south west corner while a sports shops on the east south corner.

The right sided courts will be evolved into a sports hall, a changing room and a cafe at the right side of the reception and 2 dancing studios on the north east side .

All the areas are interconnected and planned in a full rectangular shape.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You identify the main transformation: the centre expands over the outdoor courts, the gym grows, and new facilities are added. The overview also notes that the pool, reception, seating and central changing room remain in place, which gives the reader a useful comparison. Most locations are broadly reported, including the leisure pool on the west and the sports hall and studios on the east. However, some details are unclear or inaccurate: the sports shop is in the south-west, not the “east south corner,” and the future plan adds a changing room and café in the south-east. The claim that the centre “will remain unchanged” is too broad, and the final statement about a rectangular shape is not a key comparison. More precise coverage would strengthen the response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, an overview, and paragraphs describing the gym and the two sides of the redevelopment. This helps the reader follow the broad changes. However, progression is not consistently clear because several locations are packed into long sentences, particularly the sentence beginning “There are two outside outdoor courts.” The phrase “moving forward” is an imprecise transition, and “the right side” is repeated without always making the reference point clear. The overview also lists unchanged features in a way that is difficult to visualise. Grouping the description into present layout, west-side changes and east-side changes, with clear directional references, would make the organisation more coherent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for describing a plan, including “expanded,” “replaced,” “leisure pool,” “sports hall” and “reception.” These terms communicate the main redevelopment features. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “evolved into” for facilities being replaced or added, “dancing studios” for dance studios, and “outside outdoor courts,” which is redundant. “At front” and “right sided courts” are also imprecise descriptions. The range is adequate for the task, but repeated reliance on “right” and “side” limits precision. Use standard plan-description phrases such as “to the east of,” “in the south-west corner,” and “will be converted into” to describe locations and changes more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast between the current and future gym and a sentence describing what remains unchanged. However, complex sentences are often not controlled accurately. For example, “Overall, the centre … will remain unchanged having the same entrance …” creates an unclear grammatical relationship, while “a changing room on the south west corner while a sports shops” has faulty sentence structure and agreement. There are also errors with articles and plurals, as in “length of Gym” and “a sports shops,” and punctuation is inconsistent, including a space before the final full stop. These errors sometimes make relationships between features harder to follow. Build shorter, complete sentences first, then add subordinate clauses with clear subjects and verbs.

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