IELTS Writing Task 1 Sample Answer: Two Maps and What Changed
A four-sentence overview and a three-area selection rule make a workable ielts writing task 1 sample answer for two maps of the same place.
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Two maps of the same place, twenty minutes, and a candidate who starts at the top left corner with the first building they can see. Forty words later they are still listing car parks, and the overview, which carries most of the marks, has not been written.
Map tasks reward comparison, not inventory. The examiner wants to see that you can select the important changes and express them in accurate, varied language. This is a ielts writing task 1 sample answer approach built around four overview sentences and three areas.
What map tasks actually reward
Task Achievement asks whether you covered the key features and gave an overview. For maps, the key features are the changes, not the contents.
Coherence asks whether the answer is organised. Maps organise naturally by area or by type of change, and either works if you keep to it.
Lexical resource asks for the language of change: replaced, extended, converted, removed, added. Grammatical range asks for passives and past tenses, because most changes were done to the place rather than by it.
None of that requires mentioning every building. Selecting is part of the task.
The overview first, in four sentences
Write the overview before anything else, then the details. Four sentences cover almost any pair of maps.
Sentence one: the overall direction. The village changed from a small fishing settlement into a resort with tourist facilities.
Sentence two: what grew. The area given to accommodation and leisure expanded considerably.
Sentence three: what disappeared. The fishing infrastructure was removed entirely.
Sentence four: what stayed. The main road and the church remained in their original positions.
Put that paragraph directly after your introduction. It is not a summary at the end; in Task 1 it belongs near the top.
Choose three areas and ignore the rest
Divide both maps into three zones: for example north of the road, south of the road, and the waterfront. Then describe each zone in two or three sentences.
| Zone | 1990 | today | One sentence to write |
|---|---|---|---|
| North of the road | farmland, two cottages | hotel and car park | The farmland north of the road was built on. |
| Waterfront | pier, boat sheds | marina, restaurant | The boat sheds were replaced by a restaurant. |
| South of the road | school, playing field | school extended, field kept | The school was extended, while the field was unchanged. |
Three areas, three comparisons, and the answer covers the key features without listing every structure.
The verbs and passives that carry the marks
replaced, converted into, extended, demolished, constructed, converted, widened, relocated, kept, retained.
Use them in the passive: the sheds were demolished, the field was retained. The passive is not decoration; it is the natural form when the agent is unknown or unimportant, which is exactly the case with a map.
Add precise location language: to the north of, along the eastern edge, opposite the pier, adjacent to the car park. Precision of place is one of the few things map tasks reward that graph tasks do not.
A full answer to a village pair
The two maps show a coastal village in 1990 and the same village today.
Overall, the settlement changed from a fishing village into a small resort: the waterfront became recreational, the farmland north of the road was built on, and the road and church were retained.
North of the main road, the two cottages and the farmland that surrounded them were replaced by a hotel with a car park. The lane leading to the farmland was widened and is now the hotel entrance.
Along the waterfront, the pier was extended and the boat sheds were demolished. A restaurant was constructed where the sheds stood, and the quay was paved.
South of the road, the school was extended with an additional building, while the playing field was kept and is now used by both the school and the hotel. The church and the main road remained unchanged.
Four paragraphs, about 190 words, and every sentence compares two states rather than describing one.
Three ways this task goes wrong
Describing only the second map. The comparison is the answer; a single-state description cannot score above band 5 for Task Achievement.
Listing without grouping. Twenty short sentences about twenty buildings reads as a list, which the coherence criterion penalises.
Inventing reasons. They built the hotel because tourism increased is not in the data. Describe the change; do not explain it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write the overview for two maps?
Four sentences: the overall direction of change, what expanded, what disappeared, and what stayed the same. Put it immediately after the introduction rather than at the end, and keep it general, because specific figures and building names belong in the detail paragraphs.
Should I describe every building on the map?
No. Choose three areas, describe each in two or three comparative sentences, and leave the rest out. Task Achievement rewards coverage of the key changes and a clear overview, not an exhaustive inventory, and an inventory usually costs you the word count you needed for comparison language.