The two maps below show an island, before and after the construction of some tourist facilities.
Sample Response
The two maps illustrate the changes toon an island after construction and redevelopmentdue to the constructions and adaptations made for tourismthe tourism activities. In general, the island contained many new tourist facilitiesbecame more crowded with entertainment facilities after the introduction of tourism. In the first picture before the construction of tourist facilities, there was no accommodation and the whole island had almost nothing except for a few groups of trees and a beachexcept few trees. Furthermore, the area was undevelopedcompletely calm and quiet. However, in the second mapturning to the second picture, the island containedthis island provides two groups of accommodation hutsa lot of accommodation facilities and a large restaurant. A reception buildingReception block is located close to the restaurant and these buildings are linked by a vehicle trackthese buildings are linked through vehicle tracks. From the reception centre, people can reach the pier along the vehicle trackgo to the pier through the vehicle track. Moreover, the a swimming area was also added beside the beachswimming area is also available near the beach for visiting tourists. Tourists can walk alongon the footpath to reach the beach from their cottages. Overall, tourism facilities made greater development on this island, while it became congested. However, it is notablegood no notice that trees were not chopped down during the redevelopmentrenovation works.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response identifies nearly all the principal additions and explains the transport links and beach access clearly. Its main limitation is a reliance on subjective or unsupported descriptions such as the island being calm, crowded, or congested, while the layout and locations of the accommodation groups receive little precise comparison. The priority is to describe observable spatial changes objectively and organise them into clear before-and-after detail paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
Most major facilities and access routes are accurately reported, but some subjective claims replace precise spatial description of the accommodation areas.
Describe the two accommodation clusters and their positions relative to the reception, restaurant, beach, and preserved eastern area.
Coherence and Cohesion
The description moves logically from the original island to the developed map, though one long paragraph and repeated overview statements weaken organisation.
Use a separate overview followed by distinct paragraphs for the western accommodation area and the central transport and service facilities.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary covers facilities, routes, and development adequately, but several collocations and evaluative terms are imprecise or unnatural.
Replace phrases such as 'tourism activities', 'made greater development', and 'became congested' with objective map-description language.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of sentence forms conveys the map changes clearly, despite recurring article, plural, preposition, and word-form errors.
Check determiners and fixed patterns, including 'a few trees', 'the reception block', and 'connected by a vehicle track'.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The two maps below show an island, before and after the construction of some tourist facilities.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.