Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-16

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The diagram below shows the floor plan of a public library 20 years ago and how it looks now.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Central Library 20 years ago

Student answer (Band 4.0)

20 yers ago the public library was has the entrance area and in the right corner the area was equiry desk and in the left was the reading room like newspapers and magazines area. Front of the entrance the area was sitting with table and chairs and in the right of this area, the area was adult non-fiction books and in the left area was adult ficition books. The up side in the eastside the area was for childrens book area and in the west up side the area was CDs, videos, and computer games area.

Now the strutcher is change and the entrance has two area in the right the area is cafe and in the left area is computer then on this way the right area iss for adult fiction, information desk and self-service-machines and in the left area is for all refrence books. In the east up side the area is for lecture room and in the up west side the area is for storytelling events that has sofa in two corner and for childrens fiction books. The relevant is the entrance because all the locations are changed.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.5
Coherence and Cohesion4.0
Lexical Resource4.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.0
Overall4.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to describe the changes to the public library floor plan between twenty years ago and today, covering several key features such as the entrance, reading room, children's books, and the newly introduced café and computer room. However, the overall task achievement is limited by severe expression issues and spatial confusion. For instance, the phrase 'the strutcher is change and the entrance has two area in the right the area is cafe and in the left area is computer' misrepresents the layout, as the café is on the bottom right and the computer room is on the bottom left. Furthermore, the selection of features lacks clear organisation and a coherent overview. While some comparisons are attempted, the severe lack of clarity and misreporting of specific locations pull the task response down into the lower bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The text suffers from a major lack of paragraphing, being presented as two dense blocks of text that fail to properly separate the past layout from current features. Cohesive devices are extremely basic and repetitive, relying heavily on additive chains like 'and in the right... and in the left... and in the...'. Sentences are strung together without proper logical subordination or clear referencing, making the progression difficult to follow. There is no clear overview paragraph to guide the reader. Consequently, the overall structure feels mechanical and poorly controlled, preventing the response from achieving a higher score in this category.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used throughout the response is extremely limited, repetitive, and basic. Words such as 'area', 'room', and 'books' are repeated constantly without synonyms or paraphrasing. There are also frequent spelling and word-form errors, such as 'yers' instead of years, 'equiry' instead of enquiry, 'ficition' instead of fiction, 'strutcher' instead of structure, and 'refrence' instead of reference. The lexical range is barely adequate to describe the basic features of a map, and the frequent lexical and spelling errors cause noticeable strain and confusion for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is severely restricted, consisting almost entirely of simple, repetitive declarative structures joined by conjunctions like 'and'. There is a complete lack of controlled complex sentence forms. Grammatical accuracy is very low, featuring persistent errors in tense usage ('was has', 'is change'), prepositional phrases ('in the right corner', 'Front of the entrance'), and subject-verb agreement. Punctuation is also erratic, with run-on sentences lacking proper terminal punctuation. These frequent errors impede communication significantly and demonstrate a weak grasp of basic sentence construction.

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