The plans below show how the ground floor of a particular building has changed over time.

Ground Floor Changes of a Particular Building Over Time - IELTS Writing Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

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

Write at least 150 words.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 6 · 257 words.

The diagrams illustrate how the basement of a particular building has changed between 1958 to the present.

Overall, kitchen and entrance remained unchanged while other areas such as meeting room assistant's office secretary office, toilet, managers's office, reception arena and toilet have changed, before have been replaced by other features.

Between 1958 and 1984 the accomodation was an office, the entrance to the building was at the bottom of the layout. Toilet was situated at the left side of the entrance, meanwhile, reception arena was at the right side. Assistant's room with secretary's office were placed at the western part of the room, while manager office was at the eastern part of the room. At the top right corner, there was a kitchen and at the top left corner meeting room was set up.

From 1985 to 2000 office was converted to apartment, there has been several changes. While entrance and kitchen stayed at their initial area, meeting room was converted to living room and toilet replaced with bathroom and shower. Additionally, in the place of the reception area and manager office, two bedrooms have been built.

In 2001-present period, the area was worked as a flower shop, but entrance and kitchen were still remained unchanged. In the previous living room, there was constructed gift cards area, which was connected with flower area in the south. At the bottom of the layout, play area was situated at the left and another flower area was located at the right corner. Between kitchen and flower areas, office was constructed.

Examiner feedback

The response effectively communicates the main changes in the building's layout over time and follows a logical structure. To improve the score, the writer needs to eliminate frequent minor grammatical errors, such as missing articles and incorrect verb forms, and ensure that the vocabulary used is more precise and accurately spelled.

Task Achievement - 6

- The response covers the requirements of the task by describing the main changes across the three periods. - An overview is provided, though it incorrectly refers to the 'basement' instead of the 'ground floor' and includes minor inaccuracies. - Key features are selected and supported with descriptions, but the comparison between periods could be more nuanced.

Coherence & Cohesion - 6

- The response is organized chronologically, which provides a clear progression through the three time periods. - Cohesive devices such as 'meanwhile', 'additionally', and 'in the previous' are used to link ideas, though some phrasing is slightly repetitive. - Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different stages of the building's history.

Lexical Resource - 6

- The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with terms like 'converted', 'situated', and 'layout'. - There are spelling errors ('accomodation', 'reception arena') and awkward word choices ('the area was worked as a flower shop'). - Some repetition of 'area' and 'office' limits the range of expression.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 6

- A mix of simple and complex structures is used, including passive voice ('was converted', 'have been built'). - There are several grammatical errors, such as 'office was converted' (missing article) and 'entrance and kitchen were still remained' (incorrect passive construction). - Punctuation errors occur, particularly missing commas in lists (e.g., 'meeting room assistant's office secretary office').

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