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Task 1: Maps

The question

The maps below show a town in 1990 and in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

1990FarmlandHousingSchool2020HousingestateShopping centreHousingSchool (extended)N
The same town in 1990 and 2020

Describe the change, not the two pictures

The commonest map answer describes map one, then map two. It is two descriptions, and it caps the score.

A map question gives you one place at two moments. What is being assessed is whether you can describe the transformation - so every sentence should ideally carry both dates at once. The farmland north of the road was replaced by a housing estate does that in one clause. In 1990 there was farmland. In 2020 there is a housing estate. takes two sentences to say less.

Just as important: say what did not change. The river and the southern housing are identical on both maps. Candidates skip this because it feels like nothing happened - but stability is a main feature, and naming it shows you compared the maps properly rather than only hunting for differences.

Which tense?

Decided by the dates, exactly as with a line graph.

  • Both dates in the past (1990 and 2020, as here) - past simple for the description, and the present perfect is available for the change itself: had been replaced, was converted into.
  • The second map says today or now - past simple for the earlier map, present simple for the later one: the site is now occupied by a shopping centre.
  • The second map is a proposal or plan - use will or is to be: a car park is to be built on the site.
  • Mixing tenses at random is one of the fastest ways to lose grammar marks on this question type, because the error repeats in every sentence.

Location language

  • Compass: in the north, to the south of, on the eastern side, in the north-west corner, along the western edge
  • Relative position: opposite, adjacent to, alongside, next to, beside, surrounded by, between X and Y
  • Relative to a feature: north of the main road, on the far bank of the river, at the junction of, running east to west
  • Extent: occupies the whole of, covers roughly half of, stretches from X to Y
  • Use the compass, not left and right. Left depends on where the reader is standing; north does not.

Verbs of change

  • One thing becomes another: was replaced by, was converted into, made way for, gave way to, was turned into
  • Something new appears: was built, was constructed, was added, appeared, was developed on the site of
  • Something disappears: was demolished, was removed, was cleared, disappeared, no longer exists
  • Something grows or shrinks: was extended, was enlarged, was expanded, was reduced in size
  • Nothing happens: remained unchanged, was left untouched, is still in place, retained its original position
  • Almost all of these are passive, for the same reason as in a process diagram: the maps do not tell you who did the building.

The same maps at band 6, 7 and 8

These are our own model answers, written to illustrate each band. They are not real candidate scripts, and the bands are our assessment rather than an official score.

Band 6Two descriptions rather than one comparison, and no compass

The two maps show a town in 1990 and 2020.

In 1990 there was farmland at the top of the map. Below it there was a road going across. Under the road there was housing on the left and a school on the right. There was a river on the left side.

In 2020 there is a housing estate and a shopping centre at the top where the farmland was. There is also a new road going up. The housing and the school are still there but the school is bigger now.

So the town changed a lot between 1990 and 2020.

Task AchievementEvery feature is mentioned and nothing is invented, but the answer describes each map in turn instead of describing the change, and the overview is a single vague sentence at the end.
Coherence and CohesionOne paragraph per map. Nothing links the two, so the reader does the comparing.
Lexical ResourceTop, below, left, right - position is described as if the reader were looking at a picture rather than a map. There was appears five times, and no verb of change is used at all.
GrammarAccurate, but almost entirely there was and there is, with no passive.

What would lift this: Replace top, left and right with compass directions. Then rewrite each pair of observations as a single change sentence using a passive verb - the farmland was replaced by - which halves the word count and doubles what is being demonstrated.

Band 7Change sentences, compass directions, and the unchanged features are named

The two maps compare a town as it was in 1990 with the same town in 2020.

Overall, the area north of the main road was developed extensively over the thirty-year period, while the southern half of the town changed very little. The town also became considerably more built up, with all of its open land lost to construction.

The most striking change took place on the farmland occupying the northern half of the site. This was entirely built over: a housing estate was constructed in the north-west, and a large shopping centre was developed to the east of it. A new road was also built running north from the main road, separating the two new developments.

South of the main road, far less altered. The housing in the south-west and the school in the south-east both remained in place, although the school was extended. The river along the western edge was left untouched throughout.

Task AchievementThe overview identifies the north-south split, which is the organising idea of these maps, and the unchanged features are reported rather than ignored.
Coherence and CohesionParagraphed by area rather than by date, so each paragraph carries both maps. The transition south of the main road is clean.
Lexical ResourceGood range of change verbs: built over, constructed, developed, extended, left untouched.
GrammarConsistent past passive with a colon-led expansion. One slip: South of the main road, far less altered is missing its verb - it should read far less was altered.

What would lift this: Fix the missing verb. Beyond that, the answer could be sharper about direction of growth - all the development is north of the road and none south, which is a pattern worth naming explicitly rather than leaving the reader to infer.

Band 8The overview names the pattern of development, and every change is placed on the compass

The two maps illustrate how one town developed between 1990 and 2020.

Overall, development was confined almost entirely to the north of the main road, where open farmland gave way to residential and commercial building. South of the road the town was essentially preserved, and the river forming the western boundary was untouched throughout. The town therefore grew by replacing its remaining open land rather than by expanding outwards.

In 1990 the whole of the northern half consisted of farmland. By 2020 this had disappeared completely. A housing estate had been constructed on its western portion, while a shopping centre considerably larger in area occupied the eastern side. The two were separated by a new road running north from the main road, which had not existed thirty years earlier.

The southern half was far more stable. Housing in the south-west and a school in the south-east both remained in their original positions, the only alteration being an enlargement of the school. The main road itself and the river along the western edge were unchanged.

Task AchievementThe overview does more than split north from south: it characterises the kind of growth - infilling rather than outward expansion - which is a claim about the whole pair of maps and is fully supported below.
Coherence and CohesionTwo body paragraphs mirroring the two halves named in the overview, with each opening sentence orienting the reader before any detail arrives.
Lexical ResourcePrecise and varied: confined to, gave way to, essentially preserved, western portion, enlargement, in their original positions.
GrammarSustained control, including past perfect for the completed change, a non-defining which clause, and an absolute construction (the only alteration being).

What would lift this: Very little. Considerably larger in area is an estimate from the drawing rather than a stated fact - defensible, since relative size is visible, but this is the one place the answer relies on judgement rather than the map.

Map mistakes specifically

  • One paragraph per map. Describe the change, not the two pictures. Paragraph by area instead.
  • Left and right instead of compass points. Maps have north. Using left marks you as describing a picture rather than reading a map.
  • Ignoring what stayed the same. Unchanged features are main features. Naming them proves you compared rather than hunted.
  • Random tense switching. Decide from the dates once, then hold it. The error repeats in every sentence otherwise.
  • Inventing reasons. Why the farmland was sold, whether residents objected - none of it is on the map.
  • Counting buildings. Schematic maps are not to scale. Say a housing estate was built, not that eleven houses appeared.

Now you try

The maps below show a village in 1985 and in 2015. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words in 20 minutes.

1985FarmlandShopsHouses2015BypassSupermarket and car parkShops (pedestrianonly)HousesN
The same village in 1985 and 2015

Before you check your answer

  • Does your overview say where the development happened rather than just that it happened?
  • Did you name the bypass as entirely new, in the north, and say what it does to traffic through the village?
  • The main street still exists but its function changed - it is pedestrian only now. Did you capture a change of use, not just a change of building?
  • What stayed the same? The shops and houses are in their original positions.
  • Both dates are in the past, so past simple throughout, with the past perfect available for completed change.
  • Compass directions, not left and right?

Where to go next

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