The maps below show the changes that occurred to a town named Willington in 1780, 1860, and 2000.
Sample Response
The maps illustrate Willington’s evolution from a small riverside settlement in 1780 to a more developed town by 2000.
Overall, the town progressively expanded its housing stock while incorporating a road and bridgeessential transport links and community facilities. The most significant developments were the construction of a bridge and the addition of a shop, school, wetland reserve, and sports fieldshop, school, wetland reserve and sports field.
In 1780, Willington comprised four farmsfour square housing blocks on the east bank of the riverwest bank of a river, adjacent to a single north–south road. Two villageswindmills stood to the north‑east and together contained about 100 homesamid about 100 scattered homes, and dense woods covered the south‑east. No bridge linked the banks.
By 1860, a bridge had been erected and the road extended north‑eastwards. The number of homes grewwindmill settlement grew to around 200 dwellings, while the number of farms decreased from four to twowhereas the original west‑bank cluster contracted to a solitary block. By 2000, residential development had surged to 500 homesapproximately 500 homes in the north‑east. DeleteA dam appeared at the river’s mouth, and on the eastwest bank a shop and a school were established. Additionally, a wetland bird reserve was establisheda wetland for birds was designated in the south‑west and a sports field was laid outa sports field laid out in the former woodland to the south‑east.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response is exceptionally fluent and well organised, with a clear overview and an effective chronological structure. However, it seriously misreads the map legend by treating farms as housing blocks and villages as windmills, and it also invents a dam and mislocates facilities. The highest-priority improvement is to decode every legend symbol before writing and then cross-check each feature's location and change across the three years.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
A clear overview and broad chronological coverage are undermined by major misidentification of farms and villages, an invented dam, and inaccurate locations.
Use the legend to label every symbol correctly, then verify the number, position, and transformation of each feature in every year.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses smoothly from the overview through the three maps, with clear paragraphing and well-controlled linking.
Preserve the chronological organisation while aligning each comparison more explicitly with the same feature in the preceding map.
Lexical Resource
The response demonstrates a wide, natural range of vocabulary for development and spatial change, with consistently fluent phrasing.
Prioritise terminological accuracy from the legend so that sophisticated wording describes the actual mapped features.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences, passive forms, and time clauses are handled with consistently strong accuracy and control.
Maintain this grammatical control while using concise location clauses to make spatial relationships even easier to follow.
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IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
The maps below show the changes that occurred to a town named Willington in 1780, 1860, and 2000.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.