How to Write Map Essay in IELTS Writing Task 1

In this blog post, we’ll be looking at the Map questions which are likely to show up in your Academic IELTS Writing Task 1. 

In the Map Question type, you could be asked to describe: 

1. One map in the present day.
2. Or Describe two maps – one in the present and one in the future.
3. Or Describe two maps – one in the past and one in the present.

Out of these three main types, the third one, where you have to compare the map of the past to the one of the present, is the most common and will be the main focus of this blog post. 

Describe two maps – One in the past and One in the present.

So, you’ll basically be looking at two maps of the same place but one will be of the past and one of the present. You will have to describe the main features and differences between the two maps. As you’ll be talking about two different times, past and present, it becomes very important that you use proper tenses. To describe the map of the past, you’ll be using the simple past tense whereas to report the present-day map you’ll be using the present perfect tense. Why present perfect? Because, even though the changes started in the past, they continue to the present day, and they exist in the current time. Right! Makes sense? Now let’s discuss a sample map question. 

Sample Map Question – Refer to the main image 

The two maps in the image are of hotel Paramount, one is of the year 1990, when the hotel was constructed and the other is of the current year, i.e. 2020. In the question, you are asked to write a summary that describes the various changes that have taken place at the hotel from 1990 to 2020. Now, to describe the different changes you would have to first analyze and identify all those changes. Right? So, the first step in writing a map summary would be analyzing and identifying the changes. Take a couple of minutes to observe the changes from the past up until the present day. 

 Let’s first list down all the changes between the two maps of the hotel Paramount. 

1. The number of houses has increased which means the population has increased over all these years.
2. The farmland has been reduced to half to make a place for a restaurant.
3. A huge patch of forest has been cleared to build a swimming pool and children’s play area.
4. Car-parking space has also been increased.
5. Also, the single-lane road has been widened to a double-lane one.

There you go! These are the major changes at the hotel from 1992 to 2020. 

Sample Map Answer: Step-by-step instructions to write high-band answer

Now, you have to elaborate on these points in your map summary. Once you have analyzed and identified the different changes between the two maps, you can start writing the response. To give a proper structure to your response you can divide the content into four paragraphs:

• Introduction 
• Overview 
• Paragraph 1 
• Paragraph 2

Let’s begin with the Introduction. 

Introduction:

Begin your map summary with an introduction which is meant to introduce the topic to the examiner.  You just need to tell what the maps show, for this, you can simply paraphrase the question stated in your own words using synonyms. For our sample question, the introduction could be something like, 

The two maps illustrate significant changes that have occurred at hotel Paramount, over a 30-year period, from 1990 to 2020. The main features in the maps (farmland, forest, restaurant, swimming pool, and kid’s zone) are presented using different colors. 

Here, paraphrasing is done by replacing the words, “diagrams” with “maps”, “show” with “illustrate”, and “taken place” with “occurred”. The adjective “significant” has been added before the noun “changes” because we do see a lot of changes. Besides this, the phrase “over a 30-year period” has also been added which simply expresses the duration between the two years. So, our introduction says the same thing as the topic statement but in a different way. Let’s move ahead to the overview. 

Overview: 

In the overview, give a general description of the maps and write about the most noticeable differences between the two maps.  If you look at the two maps, there are two major changes. One, the hotel has expanded substantially, it has increased its Infrastructure and amenities. Two, the green area has been reduced to a great extent. So, in the overview, you can make these two general statements about the maps. Here it is! 

Overall, the hotel has expanded substantially in the 30-year period by adding three new amenities, a restaurant, a swimming pool, and a children’s play area. However, this expansion has also resulted in a large-scale reduction of forest cover and agricultural land in the area.  

If you noticed instead of the word “farmland”, “agricultural land” is used, the point is to use as many synonyms as you can to show off your vocabulary range. This could really help boost your score. After the introduction and the overview, it’s time to write the 2 body paragraphs, where we discuss both maps in detail. 

Body Paragraph 1: 

Body Paragraph 1 is where you describe the first map in detail. Since the map is of the year 1990, we’ll use the simple past tense to describe it. All you have to do is simply describe the location of each place on the map, which was located where. That’s all! For instance, if we look at the farmland, to its west there was a residential area and to its south, there was a forest and beside the forest, there was a parking area. Just like this, you have to describe the entire map. So, it goes something like this: 

In 1990, the hotel was built next to farmland close to a single-lane main road. To the west of the farmland, there was a residential area that included a few houses and to the south was a vast woodland (which is a synonym for forest). The hotel also built a car parking area alongside the forest land. 

Not that difficult, right? Just focus on describing the location of each place on the map. 

Body Paragraph 2: 

Body Paragraph 2 is where you describe the second map in detail. Since the second map is of the present year, we’ll be using the present tense, more specifically, the present perfect tense. Here you have to describe all the changes that have taken place till today. Remember the list of changes we made? it’ll come in handy here. So, here’s your second body paragraph. 

By now, 2020, the hotel has extended dramatically. It has cleared most of the forests to increase the parking area. Also, a part of the forest has been supplanted(meaning replaced) by a swimming pool and a play area for children. Furthermore, the farmland has been reduced to half in order to make way for a small restaurant. Besides, the main road has also been widened to a double-lane road. 

You can see all the changes that have been described really well. With this our map description is complete and here is the full response. It’s over 150 words which is the minimum word limit. 

4 important points to keep in mind to score high in the map task

Now let me take you through 4 important points or parameters that you need to keep in mind to score high in the map task. 

Task Achievement: 

Cover all the parts of the question, which is also known as Task Achievement. The examiner expects you to write a clear introduction, an overview, and a description of the specific features of the maps, just like this sample answer does.

Do what they expect – cover all the parts and you’ll get a higher score in the Task achievement category. 

Coherence and Cohesion:

Write a Well-structured and logical response, which is also known as Coherence and Cohesion. The examiner expects you to write a response that is well-organized and understandable.

If we look at the model answer it has been structured well-using paragraphs and it has a clear progression as the topic is first introduced, then the general features are identified, and further, it clearly compares the first map with the second. This is why using an outline is so important, it gives your writing a natural and logical flow. Also, linking words such as Overall, However, Furthermore, and Besides, have also been used to connect different ideas. Paragraphing, linking words, and following a proper outline help you in writing a well-structured and logical response. 

Lexical Resource:

Use a wide range of appropriate vocabulary. You will need to use specific vocabulary in this task to express where things were positioned in the past and how things have changed or remained the same presently.

In body paragraph 1, notice the words, “next to”, “close to”, “to the west”, “to the north”, “and alongside”, all these words and phrases help in describing the locations of things on the map in 1990. As body paragraph 2 describes changes, so change specific vocabulary has been used – the hotel has extended, rising population, cleared forest, increased parking area, supplanted a swimming pool and a play area, farmland has been reduced to half, the road has been widened – all these words represent change. So, I would say start familiarising yourself with such a location and change specific vocabulary to get a higher band score. Plus make sure you use a wide range of words, don’t use the same words repeatedly. 

Grammatical Range and Accuracy:

And finally, use a wide range of grammatical structures correctly because the examiner looks at your Grammatical Range and how accurately you have used grammar while writing the summary.  For the map task, you need to pay special attention to tenses as well as to active and passive voice.

“The farmland has been reduced to half”, and “the main road has also been widened”, that’s written in passive form because we don’t know who reduced the farmland or who widened the road. Right! Along with this, you should use a mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences. The more you are able to use complex grammatical structures the better your score will be, of course, if they are accurate. So, keep these 4 things in your mind and you’ll definitely score high in the map task. 

If you want to know more about the writing section of IELTS then read more about IELTS Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2 in this blog. That’s all for this post! And in case you are preparing for IELTS and need any further assistance we are always there for you. 

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