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User-written IELTS example

Writing Academic Task 1 Band 8.0 Example

Original task prompt, user essay, band score, and related examples in the same report workspace.

225 words AcademicTask 1Map
Task 1

Illustrative target band for this original model answer.

Plan your answer

Try your own response before reading the samples.

Ideas to explore

  • Highlight the main transformation: a central seating and table area in the earlier plan gives way to a layout with more specialised facilities.
  • Compare how the east side changes from children's and adult non-fiction books plus an enquiry desk to a lecture room, an information desk, self-service machines and a café.
  • Track the west side from media, adult fiction and a reading room to storytelling, children's fiction, reference books and a computer room; note that the entrance stays centrally located.

Suggested structure

  1. Introduce the two plans and give an overview of the most significant changes and any feature that remains.
  2. Describe the earlier layout, grouping rooms by side or by upper, middle and lower sections.
  3. Describe the current layout using the same spatial framework so the reader can compare positions.
  4. Finish with a concise summary of how the library's range of facilities has changed.
Useful vocabulary & examples
occupy the upper-left corner
be located in the top-left part of a floor plan

The media room occupied the upper-left corner of the library.

be replaced by
be removed and have something else put in its place

The central seating area was replaced by several new facilities.

remain in the same position
stay in the location shown in the earlier plan

The entrance remains in the same position at the centre of the lower wall.

be located opposite
be positioned across from another place or feature

The enquiry desk was located opposite the reading room.

Task Prompt

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.
IELTS Writing Task 1 visual

User Essay Analysis

Review the public answer with report-style highlights.

Band 8.0

The diagram demonstrates the view of the central library twenty years ago and at present. Overall, the book room has become spacious. By making various changes, new facilicties and furniture have been introduced in the area. About twenty years ago, the upper-left section of the room was provided with CDs, videos, and computer games. This area has since been reorganised: the CDs, videos and computer games have been removed, and storytelling events are now held in the upper-left corner, with two sofas nearby. Children's fiction occupies the space below, while all reference books are located in the lower-left section, above a new computer room.

On the right, children's books and adult non-fiction books were previously arranged in the upper and middle sections, respectively, with an enquiry desk at the bottom. In the current plan, a lecture room occupies the upper-right corner, adult fiction books are placed underneath it, and an information desk and self-service machines have been added further down. A café now takes up the lower-right area.

The central tables and chairs shown in the earlier plan have been removed, leaving the floor arranged as separate functional areas, although the entrance remains at the centre of the bottom wall. Thus, the main changes are the replacement of media and reading facilities with event, computer and service spaces, alongside a wider range of designated rooms.

Targeted Improvement Tips

1
Make the overview factual and map-based: state that the layout was reorganised and central tables were removed, rather than asserting that the library physically became larger.
2
Group the comparisons by location: describe the left side, then the right side, and finish with features that stayed the same or were removed.
3
Proofread the opening for spelling and phrasing, especially “facilicties” and the construction beginning “By making various changes.”

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