The maps show the change of Pentland from 1980 to 2007.
Sample Response
The mapsyielded pictures illustrate changes made between 1980 and 2007 in Pentland.
Overall, it can be seen that Pentland was a more residential area after roughly a quarter-century while before it was an industrial site.
In 1980, on the north side was a semicircular baya half-cup shape sea. There were two roadsHad two roads, running north-south and east-westnorth to south and east to west. The roads also divided the areaRoads also forge area into four parts. Additionally, it crosses at the centre of Pentland. Grassland was inon the southeast corner, whereas the car parkwhereas car parking was on the east side. To the westIn the west direction and north of the east-west roadabove road place was an industrial area.
In 2007, the sea was later known as yacht marina and surrounded new road developed in the northwest corner new park build. Car parking was relocated below the swimming pool and became multi-storeyshifted below to park, which was multi-storey. Next to the car parkNext to it, a swimming pool was created. A housing areaHouses area took the place of grassland whereas, a cinema was built across the roadopposite the road developed cinema. Moreover, alongside the road, many shops were built on the northeast sidemany shops opened—apparently built on the northeast side.
Why this response received Band 5.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear before-and-after organisation and its coverage of many major additions, including housing, shops, a cinema, a pool, and multi-storey parking. Its main limitation is that some spatial relationships are unclear and the new apartments are omitted, while frequent grammatical breakdowns obscure several changes. The highest-priority improvement is to verify every location against the maps and describe each replacement in a separate, complete sentence.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The response identifies the overall redevelopment and many key features, but it omits the apartments and describes some locations and replacements imprecisely.
Include the northeastern apartments and clearly explain how the former industrial and grassland areas were replaced by the new facilities.
Coherence and Cohesion
Separate paragraphs for 1980 and 2007 create a logical overall progression, although fragments and a long malformed sentence weaken local coherence.
Present each major change in its own complete sentence and group related developments by side of the road or map quadrant.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a reasonable range of change and location vocabulary, but frequent unnatural choices such as yielded pictures, half-cup shape, and forge area reduce precision.
Use standard map-report language such as curved coastline, intersecting roads, was replaced by, was converted into, and was constructed.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Frequent fragments, missing articles and auxiliaries, tense errors, and malformed clauses cause noticeable difficulty despite a few accurate structures.
Write complete subject-verb sentences and systematically check passive forms, articles, and past-tense verbs when describing construction and replacement.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The maps show the change of Pentland from 1980 to 2007.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.