Academic Task 1
IELTS Task 1 Map Vocabulary and a Band 8-Style Sample
IELTS task 1 map vocabulary is the language that puts a change in a place. Academic Task 1 asks for a summary of the visual. On a pair of maps, that summary is a change in use or in layout. A compass point and a verb still have to match the plan.
The notes below paraphrase the public IELTS Writing band descriptors published on ielts.org. The file itself is marked as updated in May 2023. This page does not reproduce that scale, and it does not award a band. A script has to fit the positive features of a band as a whole.
Task Achievement is the Academic Task 1 name. The public task asks you to summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and to make comparisons where relevant. It also asks for at least 150 words. A map has places where a chart has figures. The Task 1 overview guide walks through line graphs, bar charts, pie charts, tables, and processes. This page is the map. The four criteria sit side by side in the band descriptors guide. General Training Task 1 is a letter, and a letter has no map.
What the overview is asked to select
Band 5 on the public scale describes detail recounted mechanically, with no clear overview. Band 6 says the response addresses the requirements and presents an overview with information appropriately selected. Key features are presented and adequately highlighted, while details may be irrelevant, inappropriate, or inaccurate. A compass point from a different corner is that kind of detail.
Band 7 asks for a clear overview of the main trends, differences, or stages, and for key features that are clearly presented and highlighted. On a before-and-after map the main difference is the change in use or in layout: what stood in a place, and what stands there on the later plan.
Band 8 covers the requirements sufficiently and presents, highlights, and illustrates key features clearly and appropriately. Lexical Resource is separate. Band 7 there asks for a sufficient range, with some flexibility and precision, and for less common items used with some awareness of collocation. Band 8 asks for a wide range used fluently to convey precise meanings. A rare verb misses that when it names a change the plan does not show.
Introduction, overview, then the same places twice
- One opening sentence names the place and the two times on the plans. That sentence introduces the maps. It is not the overview.
- One or two overview sentences name the main change in use, and name an important feature that stayed. The Task 1 map sample on this site uses that order for a different, coastal example: the biggest shift in function, then the features that did not move.
- One body paragraph describes the earlier map by area. North and west before south and east gives the reader a path to follow.
- A second body paragraph takes the same areas on the later map, so each change has a location that can be checked.
Add a reason only when the map itself prints one. The comparison belongs with the later plan: the playground is still in the centre, and it is larger.
Before and after: the tense follows the labels
Read the dates before you choose a tense. If both plans are in the past, describe the earlier plan in the past simple and the later plan with “by” plus that year, or with the past perfect for the change. “In 2005 the cafe stood south of the playground. By 2018 it had been demolished.” Both times are finished.
If the second plan is labelled “now” or “the present”, this site’s map page uses the past simple for the earlier plan and the present perfect or the present simple for the current plan. “The forest has been replaced by a golf course” fits a plan marked as today. Keep one time frame for that plan. The passive fits, because the drawing rarely names who did the work. “A bridge had been built” reports the plan. “The council built a bridge” adds an actor the drawing does not show.
Compass points, and where a feature sits
IELTS task 1 map vocabulary for location splits into two jobs. One job names a region of the map. The other names a position next to a second feature. Use both, and keep them distinct.
| Phrase | What it locates |
|---|---|
| in the north / south / east / west | a region of the map |
| in the north-west / south-east | a corner, when the feature is in that quarter |
| on the western edge / along the river | a boundary or a line |
| in the centre | the middle of the plan |
| immediately south of / just north of | the side of another feature |
| beside / next to | adjacent, without a compass claim |
“In the north” is a region of the park. “North of the cafe” is the cafe’s north side, which can still sit near the centre. “On the western edge” is the boundary. “To the west of the lake” can fall anywhere west of the lake, including the centre. The lexical resource band 7 guide is the check for range that stays accurate.
Verbs for a change, and verbs for what stayed
| Verb | Use it when |
|---|---|
| was replaced by / gave way to | a new feature stands where an old one stood |
| was converted into / was turned into | the same building has a new use |
| was demolished / was cleared / was removed | the earlier feature is gone |
| was built / was constructed / was added | something appears that the first plan lacks |
| was enlarged / was extended / was expanded | the same feature occupies more ground |
| remained / was unchanged / was still in place | the feature is on both plans, in the same place |
“Replaced” means the old feature has gone and another occupies the site. “Converted” means the same building has a new use. A cafe knocked down for a visitor centre has been replaced. A fish market that becomes a restaurant, the change on this site’s coastal map sample, has been converted. Use enlarged when an area such as a playground grows, and extended when a car park or a road lengthens. “Was expanded” covers either shape when the plan is less specific.
Name what stayed. “Remained”, “was unchanged”, and “kept its original line” fit a river, a path, or a lake that is on both plans. The Task 1 common mistakes guide treats a missing overview as a frequent failure. On a map, the matching failure is an overview that says “many changes” and never says what did not change.
An example park, drawn for this page
Example maps, invented for this page. They show Riverside Park in 2005 and 2018. This is not an official task, a past paper, or a record of a real park. The sample below describes only this labelled pair.
| Place | 2005 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Western edge | River, with a footpath beside it | River and footpath unchanged |
| North | Woodland | Woodland cleared; sports field |
| North-west | No bridge | Bridge across the river to the field |
| Centre | Playground | Same playground, enlarged |
| Immediately south of the playground | Small cafe | Cafe gone; visitor centre on that site |
| South-east | Boating lake | Lake unchanged |
| East, beside the main gate | Car park | Same car park, extended |
A Band 8-style example response
Example response, written for this page. It is not an official IELTS sample, and it is not a score. It is written so the key changes are presented in a precise place. A real script is judged across all four criteria.
The two maps compare Riverside Park in 2005 and in 2018. Overall, the north of the park changed from woodland to a sports field, and the cafe was replaced by a visitor centre, while the river, the footpath, and the boating lake stayed in place.
In 2005, the river formed the western edge, and a footpath ran beside it. Woodland covered the north. A playground stood in the centre, with a small cafe immediately to its south. The south-east was taken up by a boating lake, and a car park sat in the east, next to the main gate.
By 2018, the woodland had been cleared and a sports field had been laid out in its place. A bridge had been built across the river in the north-west, linking the footpath to that field. The playground was still in the centre, but it had been enlarged. The cafe had been demolished, and a visitor centre stood on the same site, just south of the playground. The lake was unchanged. The car park remained beside the main gate, although it had been extended. The river and the footpath kept their original line.
The opening names both years. The overview selects the northern change of use, the new visitor centre, and the features that stayed. “Replaced” is only the cafe site, “enlarged” is the playground, and “extended” is the car park. The example is longer than the public minimum of 150 words. The Band 8 feature illustrated here is that each key change sits in a place a reader can find on the plan.
A clear sentence can still miss the map
Example of a sentence that misses this plan. “Overall, the park changed a lot between 2005 and 2018.” The sentence is grammatical, and it selects no place. “Overall, the lake was removed and a bridge was built in the south-east” is specific, and it is wrong on these plans: the lake stays in the south-east, and the bridge is in the north-west.
“There was a river. There was a path. There was some woodland” can be accurate and still match the Band 5 pattern of detail recounted mechanically, when the overview never arrives. The Task 1 figures guide is the same check for numbers on a chart. On a map, every north, south, east, and west has to match the plan. “The whole park was redeveloped” fails here, because the river, the path, and the lake are unchanged.
Read the places against the map you can still see
On this site the checker scores the words you submit. The map stays in front of you. The IELTS Writing Checker takes a pasted report, and it also takes a photo of a handwritten report. Recognition of a photo runs in the browser. You confirm the text before the diagnosis. The Task 1 checker is the door for charts, maps, processes, and tables. The chart-upload guide is the sequence for a photo: confirm the recognised words, then match each compass point and verb to the plan.
Paste the report with the task wording if you have it. Read the Task Achievement line for the overview before the overall estimate. The methodology page describes the product as a diagnostic and revision tool. A band estimate shows a likely bottleneck. It is not an official IELTS score. The form runs from 50 words. A complete Academic Task 1 response is still at least 150.
Paste one Academic Task 1 map report. Read the Task Achievement note for the overview, then check each place against the map you can still see.
The form runs from 50 words. A complete Academic Task 1 report is at least 150 words.
What this page is not claiming
This site is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP, or Cambridge English. The band descriptions here are a paraphrase of the public Writing descriptors, so you can revise a draft. They are not the official wording, and they are not a result. Only an official IELTS test assigns an examined band.
Riverside Park was drawn so the vocabulary could be checked against a label. It is not a past paper and not evidence of a band. On your own pair of maps, mark the main change in use, mark what stayed, and give every new or missing feature a place you can point to.