The map below shows the changes in an American town between 1948 and 2010.
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Sample Response
The two mapsThe given illustration shows how an American town changed between 1948 and 2010compares the map of an American town in 2010 with that of 1948. Analyzing the town in both 1948 and 2010, it is obvious that despite substantial changes such assome general changes like the relocation of buildings or the establishment of new facilities, the road and canal layout remained, but land use changed substantiallyits main structure remained almost the same. As can be seen, residential housesapartments in the south-east corner of the town remained unchangedwere untouched, as wereand it is the same for the streets of the town and the canal. Moreover, trees remained along several roadsthe trees of the town were not chopped-down for new developmentconstructions. It is worth noticing that the petrol station beside the roaddown the streets, which ran from south-west to north-eastwhich run south-west to north-east, remained in the same locationwas not demolished or repositioned. By contrast, several sites were redevelopedLooking further at the maps, many changes took place during the period. The supermarket was relocated and the church was demolished to make way for a sports stadium. The residential houses located at the corner of the main streets were knocked down in order to build commercial buildingstwo commercial structures. Furthermore, by 2010 an airport had been builtin 2010 there is an airport, located in the eastern part, on the former factory sitethe place where four factories were running in 1948. The presence of commercial buildings in 2010 is noticeable while houses and factories were predominant in the 1948 map1948’s map.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response identifies most of the major replacements and retained features, and it is organised into a clear overview followed by detail. Its main limitation is visual precision: the claim that the town’s main structure and trees remained almost unchanged understates substantial redevelopment, while a few location descriptions are awkward. Prioritise a more accurate overview and exact map-based wording.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Most key changes and several unchanged features are covered, but the overview understates the scale of redevelopment and the claim about trees is not fully supported.
Summarise the dominant shift from residential and industrial uses to commercial, transport and leisure facilities, then select exact supporting features.
Coherence and Cohesion
The report progresses logically from overview and unchanged features to changes, though all content is presented in one paragraph.
Use separate overview and detail paragraphs, grouping retained features apart from replacements.
Lexical Resource
There is a good range of map vocabulary, but several collocations and location phrases are unnatural.
Use precise forms such as remained unchanged, along the road, and on the 1948 map.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is generally controlled, with occasional tense, article and hyphenation problems.
Keep past tense consistent when describing completed changes and check compound forms.