An IELTS Writing Task 1 map answer at Band 6, 7 and 8
Quick answer
This page describes one invented pair of town maps, 1995 and 2025, three times, at Band 6, 7 and 8, with the same overview and the same changes, and it marks the phrases that earn or lose marks. For a map, the thing that most often separates the bands is whether the overview says what kind of change happened and where, and whether each direction is checked against the compass.
In the app, a Task 1 report is marked with a band range for each criterion, and a Data Accuracy card separates a misread map from a language mistake.
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On this page
This page takes one invented pair of maps and describes it three times, at Band 6, Band 7 and Band 8. The three reports share the same overview and the same changes, so the differences you see belong to the bands, not to the content. How to approach maps is explained in how to describe process diagrams and maps; a map is a visual from practice material, and IELTS.org’s format page does not name it.
The three reports were written for this site. They are not from a real paper, they were not marked by IELTS, and they are illustrations to compare against, not answers to memorise. IELTS.org penalises memorised and plagiarised content, and the maps in your exam will be different, so the use of this page is to see what each band looks like.
Key takeaways
- All three reports give the same overview and report the same changes. What changes is how well the overview names the kind of change, how the areas are joined and how accurately directions and tenses are handled.
- The Band 6 report has an overview and covers the main changes, but it puts a new building in the wrong part of the map, explains a change the maps do not explain and lists each feature in the same sentence frame.
- The Band 7 report organises by area, so a reader can find each change, and keeps its verbs and directions correct apart from one slip.
- The Band 8 report ranks the changes, grouping the large ones before the small ones, and leaves the unchanged features until the end.
The task
This task is invented for practice and is not from a past paper.
The maps below show the town of Port Selby in 1995 and in 2025. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Both maps have north at the top, and the sea lies along the east side of the town. The features of each map, area by area:
| 1995 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| North: farmland across the whole northern part of the map | North: a housing estate on the eastern part of the former farmland, next to the sea; farmland remains in the north-west |
| East coast: a wooden jetty | East coast: a concrete harbour wall and a marina in place of the jetty |
| Centre: a market square open to traffic | Centre: the square closed to traffic and made a pedestrian area with cafes |
| West: a primary school beside the main road | West: the school extended, with a new sports field to the west of it |
| South: woodland across the southern part | South: part of the woodland cleared, with a car park beside the station |
| South-west: a railway station | South-west: the railway station, unchanged |
| Centre: a main road running from north to south | Centre: the main road, unchanged |
All three reports use this plan:
- Introduction: what the maps show, where and when, in new words.
- Overview: the town became more developed, with housing on part of the farmland and a rebuilt harbour, while the main road and the station did not change.
- Detail one: the north and the east, meaning the farmland, the housing estate and the harbour.
- Detail two: the centre, the west and the south, ending with what stayed the same.
The same report at Band 6, 7 and 8
Hover or tap a marked phrase to see what a marker would note. The legend names the criterion for each colour, and orange marks a slip that loses marks.
Band 6
The two maps show how the town of Port Selby changeTense: both maps carry past dates, so this should be “changed” between 1995 and 2025. Overall, the town became bigger and there were more buildings in 2025, but the road and the station were the sameAn overview is there but vague: it does not say where, or what replaced what.
In 1995 the north of the town was all farmland. In 2025 a housing estate was built in the west of the farmlandWrong direction: the estate is on the eastern part, next to the sea, but there was still some farmland in the north-west. This happened because more people wanted to live near the seaA reason the maps do not give; a report describes the changes and does not explain them.
On the east coast there was a wooden jetty in 1995, and in 2025 there was a concrete harbour wall and a marina. In the centre there was a market square, and in 2025 it was a pedestrian area with cafesThe same “there was … in 2025” frame as the sentence before, so the report lists features and does not link them. The school in the west, next to the main road, were extendedAgreement: should be “was extended” and it has a new sports fieldTense shift: should be “it had” or “with a new sports field” to the west of it. The woodland in the south was cuttedWord form: should be “was cut down” or “was cleared” and there was a car park next to the station. The main road and the station stayed the same.
Band 7
The two maps illustrate how the coastal town of Port Selby changed between 1995 and 2025.
Overall, the town became more developed over the thirty years, with housing replacing part of the farmland and the harbour being rebuilt, while the main road and the railway station stayed where they wereOverview names the kind of change, the two largest changes and what did not move.
In the north of the map, the farmland that covered the whole area in 1995 reduced to a strip in the north-westPassive needed: should be “was reduced to a strip”, as a housing estate was built on its eastern side, next to the sea. On the east coast, the wooden jetty was replaced by a concrete harbour wall and a marina.
In the centre, the market square, which had previously been open to trafficA past perfect in a relative clause, for the state before the change, was turned into a pedestrian area with cafes. Further westMoves the reader across the map in a clear order, so the area words give the structure, the school was extended and a sports field was added to the west of it. In the south of the map, part of the woodland was cleared to make way for a car park beside the railway stationNatural, exact wording for a change of land use, which, like the main road, was unchangedA non-defining relative clause that brings the unchanged feature into the same sentence.
Band 8
The maps show how the coastal town of Port Selby developed over the thirty years from 1995 to 2025.
Overall, the town became more developed, as housing took over part of the farmland and the harbour and the centre were remodelled, whereas the main road and the railway station were left as they wereOverview names the kind of change, groups the large and small ones, and says what stayed.
The most extensive change was in the north, where a housing estate occupied the eastern half of what had been continuous farmland, leaving farmland only in the north-westThe biggest change comes first, with its place on the map and its effect on what remained. On the coast, the wooden jetty gave way toExact and natural: says one feature took the place of another a concrete harbour wall with a marina, and in the centre the market square, previously open to trafficFour words give the earlier state of the square, so no extra sentence is needed, became a pedestrian area with cafes.
The school in the west of the town was extended, with a sports field added to the west of it, and part of the southern woodland was cleared to make room for a car park beside the station. The station and the main road, by contrast, were unchangedCloses the report by turning to the features that stayed, and “by contrast” says why. Beyond these features, nothing else on either map alteredA short sentence after long ones, so the punctuation carries the pacing.
What moved the band
The accounts below follow the public band descriptors, as this site paraphrases them. Each quotation comes from the report of the band named in its sentence.
Task Achievement
The Band 6 report has an overview and covers the main changes, but its summary is general: “the town became bigger and there were more buildings in 2025” does not say what replaced what. Its detail also strays from the maps in two places: “a housing estate was built in the west of the farmland” is the wrong direction, and “This happened because more people wanted to live near the sea” gives a reason that no map shows.
Band 7 commits to a kind of change and to the two largest. “housing replacing part of the farmland and the harbour being rebuilt” is a summary a reader can check against the maps, and the detail then matches it.
Band 8 ranks the changes. “The most extensive change was in the north” tells a reader what to take away, and its overview groups the changes into those that remade the town and those that left it alone. The Task Achievement cell at Band 7 holds the wording this account paraphrases.
Coherence and Cohesion
The Band 6 report is organised in paragraphs, but each sentence repeats one frame: “On the east coast there was a wooden jetty in 1995, and in 2025 there was a concrete harbour wall and a marina” is followed by “In the centre there was a market square, and in 2025 it was a pedestrian area”. The report lists features and does not connect them.
Band 7 gives the reader a route. “In the north”, “On the coast”, “In the centre” and “Further west” move across the map in an order that can be followed, and each paragraph keeps to its own area.
Band 8 uses contrast to join the report. “by contrast” turns from what changed to what stayed, so the final sentence reads as the conclusion of the description. The Coherence and Cohesion cell at Band 6 describes the mechanical pattern.
Lexical Resource
The Band 6 vocabulary is enough for the maps, and the attempts at change language are not all right: “The woodland in the south was cutted” has the wrong word form, and “there was” does the work that verbs of change should do.
Band 7 is flexible and mostly exact. “part of the woodland was cleared to make way for a car park beside the railway station” uses a verb and a phrase that fit a change of land use, and “turned into a pedestrian area” says what the market square became.
Band 8 chooses its words for accuracy. “gave way to” says that one feature took the place of another, and “previously open to traffic” adds a fact about the square in four words. The Lexical Resource cell at Band 8 describes this control.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The Band 6 report mixes simple and complex sentences, and its errors are small: “The two maps show how the town of Port Selby change” has the wrong tense, “were extended” loses agreement, and “it has a new sports field” moves into the present for a past map.
Band 7 has several kinds of complex sentence and many are clean. “which, like the main road, was unchanged” is a non-defining relative clause with an inserted comparison, punctuated correctly, and one passive slip remains in “reduced to a strip in the north-west”.
Band 8 widens the range and nearly every sentence is clean. “The most extensive change was in the north, where a housing estate occupied the eastern half of what had been continuous farmland, leaving farmland only in the north-west” holds a relative clause, a past perfect and a participle phrase, and the short sentence after it gives the pacing. Compare the Grammatical Range and Accuracy cell at Band 7.
Traps this task type sets
These come from the process diagrams and maps guide, and each is visible in the Band 6 report.
- Wrong direction. The Band 6 report puts the housing estate in the west when the maps put it in the east. Check the compass and the coast before you write a direction, and check it again against the table at the end.
- Explaining why. The maps do not say why the estate was built. “This happened because more people wanted to live near the sea” is a guess, and a marker reads it as information that the maps do not support.
- Describing the picture in the order you see it. The Band 6 detail goes from one feature to the next with no grouping, so a reader has to build the picture alone. Choose an order, by area or by kind of change, and keep to it.
- Wrong tense. Both maps carry past dates, and the Band 6 report slips into the present in “it has a new sports field”. Settle the tense from the dates before the first sentence.
How to use these answers
Write your own report to the same task first, in 20 minutes. Then read the three answers against yours, one paragraph at a time, and ask which band your paragraph resembles on each of the four criteria. Check every direction in your report against the compass.
Next, mark your own report with the same codes: where your overview names the kind of change, where an area word led the reader across the map, where a verb of change fitted exactly and which slips a marker would circle. Do not memorise any sentence from these pages: IELTS.org penalises memorised content, and the maps in the exam will not match these. For more of the same practice, use the Writing Task 1 practice test.
How the app marks it
IELTS Mentor AI marks a Task 1 report with a band range for each of the four criteria, from a strict to a lenient reading, followed by what worked and how to improve for each one. A Data Accuracy card separates a misreading of the visual from a language mistake, and the editor is timed at 20 minutes with a live word count against the 150 minimum.
Where this fits
This page belongs to the process diagrams and maps guide, which explains the approach, and to the Writing test format guide, which covers the whole test. The same exercise is done for a sequence of stages in the process diagram answer at Band 6, 7 and 8 and for combined data in the two charts answer. For how the four criteria combine into a Writing band, see how the IELTS Writing score is calculated.
Frequently asked questions
Does IELTS Writing Task 1 include maps?
IELTS.org's Academic Writing format page lists graphs, charts and tables, and a diagram of an object, device, process or event. It does not use the word map. Maps appear in practice material, and IELTS publishes no figures on how often any visual appears, so prepare for them without assuming either way.
Are these map answers from a real IELTS paper?
No. They were written for this site, on invented maps, and they were not marked by IELTS. The band each one illustrates is the site's reading of the public band descriptors, not a score that any examiner gave.
Can I memorise the Band 8 answer and use it in the exam?
No. IELTS.org penalises memorised and plagiarised content, and the maps in your exam will be different, so a learned report would not describe them. Use the three answers to compare with your own writing.
Which tense should I use for two maps with past dates?
IELTS.org sets no tense. When both maps carry past dates, the past simple fits both, and a plan for the future takes will be or is planned to. Keep to one choice and check each verb against the dates on the maps.
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