The map below is of the town of Garlsdon. A new supermarket (S) is planned for the town. The map shows two possible sites for the supermarket.
Sample Response
The first potential location (S1) is outside the town itself, and is sited just off the main road to the town of Hindon, lying 12 kmkms to the north-west. This site is in the countryside and so would be able to accommodate ample parkinga lot of car parking. This would make it accessibleaccessable to shoppers from both Hindon and Garlsdon who could travel by car. As it is also close to the railway line linking the twowho towns to Cransdon (25 km to the south-east), a potentially large number of shoppers would also be able to travel by train. In contrast, the suggested location, S2, is right in the town centre, which would be good for local residents. TheoreticallyTheorically the store could be accessed by road or rail from the surrounding towns, with Bransdon connected by roadincluding Bransdon, but as the central area is a traffic-free zoneno-traffic zone, cars would be unable to park and access would be difficult. Overall, neither site is appropriate for all fourthe towns, but for customers in Cransdon, Hindon and Garlsdon, the out-of-town site (S1) would probably offer more advantages.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response gives a clear, well-developed comparison of the two sites, accurately covering their positions, transport access, and the town-centre traffic restriction. Its main limitation is that a few claims about parking capacity and likely customers are inferred rather than directly shown, while the single-paragraph presentation weakens the visible structure. The priority is to foreground mapped facts and divide the contrasting site descriptions into distinct paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The principal locations and access differences are accurately identified and compared, although parking capacity and shopper numbers go somewhat beyond the map's explicit information.
Base every point directly on visible features and add the relevant population differences if explaining the potential reach of each site.
Coherence and Cohesion
The description moves logically from S1 to S2 and ends with a clear comparison, but presenting everything as one paragraph limits structural clarity.
Use a short overview followed by separate detail paragraphs for S1 and S2 so the contrast is immediately visible.
Lexical Resource
A good range of generally precise location and accessibility vocabulary is used, with only occasional spelling and word-choice slips.
Proofread terms such as 'accessible' and 'theoretically' and avoid speculative wording when a neutral map description is sufficient.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex clauses and comparisons are handled with strong control, and the few slips do not impede communication.
Correct isolated errors such as 'the who towns' and continue checking articles and noun phrases during proofreading.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The map below is of the town of Garlsdon. A new supermarket (S) is planned for the town. The map shows two possible sites for the supermarket.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.