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IELTS Coherence and Cohesion

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Maps In IELTS Task

Maps are often used in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 to illustrate changes to a location over time or differences between two or more places.
Writing about maps involves describing spatial relationships, changes, and developments clearly and coherently.

This guide provides a detailed approach on how to approach map tasks, including strategies, structure, vocabulary, and common mistakes to avoid.

Maps typically require candidates to describe how an area has developed or changed between two different time periods. Successful answers highlight the most important developments without describing every small detail, use appropriate vocabulary to describe changes (such as “replaced,” “introduced,” “expanded”), and maintain clear organisation and tense consistency.

Candidates should aim to describe logical groupings of changes, link spatial relationships clearly, and ensure the word count exceeds the minimum of 150 words.

Understanding the Task Requirements

  • Word Count: Write at least 150 words. Although there is no strict upper limit, responses exceeding 180 words may risk including unnecessary detail.

  • Time: Allocate around 20 minutes.

  • Focus Areas: Address Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

  • Overview: Highlight the main changes or key features succinctly.

The maps illustrate how the Norbiton industrial area is expected to change in the future, transitioning from a zone dominated by factories to a residential and community-focused area.

Overall, the Norbiton industrial area is set to undergo major redevelopment, with factories being removed and replaced by housing and public amenities such as shops, a medical centre, a playground, and a school, while natural features like the river and farmland will remain unchanged.

In the current northern section near the river, all factories will be removed and replaced by new housing developments. A new road will be constructed extending north from the roundabout to provide access to these residential units. Around the existing roundabout, additional infrastructure changes include the construction of a group of shops to the west and a medical centre to the south-east.

Further changes are planned in the eastern part of the site, where a playground will be introduced adjacent to the new housing, and a school will be built slightly further east. Meanwhile, the river and surrounding farmland will stay intact, preserving the area’s natural landscape. Additionally, the southern roundabout will be expanded to support improved traffic flow.

Vocabulary for Maps

Describing Changes:

  • Additions: built, constructed, added, introduced

  • Removals: demolished, removed, cleared, replaced

  • Transformations: converted, redeveloped, expanded, modernised

  • No Changes: remained, was unchanged, stayed the same

Descriptive Phrases:

  • located to the north/south/east/west

  • adjacent to the main road

  • in the centre of the map

  • along the coastline/river

Descriptive Adverbs:

  • significantly, dramatically, extensively

  • slightly, minimally, moderately

Common Pitfalls

  • Misinterpreting Changes: Always ensure accuracy when describing developments or removals.

  • Omitting the Overview: Always include a summary of the main changes.

  • Overloading Details: Focus on the most important features rather than describing every single change.

  • Inconsistent Tenses: Use the past tense for describing changes and the present tense for static features.