By English Test Coach · Updated
All sample answersAcademic Task 1 · 188 words
Library redevelopment: changes and continuity
Compare two plans by location, explaining new uses of space alongside the features that stay unchanged.
Study the method: Maps and plans: compare completed changes and proposals →
Band 7 goal: Map comparisons
Develop and connect relevant ideas or select and compare the most useful details. This is a study route, not an examiner score assigned to the answer. How IELTS Writing is assessed.
The question
The maps show a public library before and after redevelopment. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Open full-size diagram (new tab)The sample answer
The two plans show the layout of a public library before and after redevelopment. They compare the uses of four main areas inside the building, as well as the position of the entrance at the bottom of each plan.
Overall, the library retained its adult book area and entrance, while the other three sections acquired different or additional functions. The reading room was converted into a café with seating, and the children's section and information area were also changed within the existing layout.
In the upper-left part of the building, the adult books remained in the same position, occupying the same rectangular area in both plans. On the opposite side, the former children's books section became a children's area with storytelling. This section stayed in the upper-right corner rather than being moved elsewhere in the library.
The most noticeable change on the left was in the lower section, where the reading room was replaced by a café and seating area. Across from this, the information desk gave way to self-service facilities and a help desk. The entrance remained unchanged at the bottom centre, between these two lower areas.
Vocabulary in context
Each phrase appears in the answer above. Learn how it works, not just a replacement word.
- was converted into
- Was changed to serve a different purpose.
Use for the reading room becoming a café, not for a feature that only moved.
- gave way to
- Was replaced by a different feature or use.
This phrase describes the change from an information desk to the new facilities.
- remained unchanged
- Stayed the same in the two situations shown.
Name the unchanged feature explicitly so the reader can check both plans.
Now make it your own
Write a fresh overview without naming every room. Then describe the two unchanged features and two changed areas using relative positions, not invented compass directions.
For a smaller practice step, use the explanation, knowledge check and self-review exercise in Describe maps and processes precisely.
The practice link opens the original question, not a copy of this answer.
Open the writing workspaceMore examples of this question type
Summarise the main changes, group features by location and distinguish what changed from what stayed the same.