Writing Task 1: Map / Plan (change over time): Question 1
Syllabus W.task1
The two maps below show the coastal town of Portbray in 2003 and 2023. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Portbray in 2003
Harbour Road ran along the coast from west to east. A stone harbour, used by fishing boats, stood in the centre of the coastline, directly south of the middle of the road. A row of fishermen's cottages lined the western half of Harbour Road, immediately west of the harbour, and a single-storey grocery shop stood at the far western end of the road. A fish-processing warehouse occupied the coast immediately east of the harbour. North of Harbour Road, the land was entirely open farmland stretching to the northern edge of the town, crossed only by an unfinished dirt track that left the road beside the harbour.
Portbray in 2023
Harbour Road remains in the same position along the coast. The harbour has been converted into a marina, with the fishing boats replaced by yachts and small pleasure boats. The row of cottages west of the harbour has become a row of shops and cafés, and the grocery shop at the western end of the road has grown into a supermarket. The warehouse east of the harbour has been demolished and replaced by a large four-storey hotel on the same site, and a paved seafront promenade now runs the length of Harbour Road. The dirt track north of the harbour has been paved, renamed Station Road, and extended to a new housing estate that now covers most of the former farmland, with a small car park at the entrance to the estate.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Achievement
The overview immediately names the overall shift from fishing settlement to tourist town rather than listing features in map order. Every change reported (harbour to marina, cottages to shops, warehouse to hotel, farmland to housing estate) is drawn accurately from the two maps, and comparisons are made explicit through paired before/after statements rather than describing each map in isolation.
Coherence & Cohesion
The description moves systematically along Harbour Road from west to east before turning to the area north of the road, mirroring how a reader would scan the maps. Paragraphing separates context, overview, the 2003 map and the 2023 map, and change-of-state phrases (“has been converted into”, “has grown into”) cohere the two time periods without repetitive linking words.
Lexical Resource
Precise location and change language is used throughout: “west of the harbour”, “to its east”, “converted into a marina”, “demolished and replaced by”. Near-synonyms avoid repetition (settlement, town, seaside destination), and vocabulary is topic-appropriate without straying into invented explanations.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Simple past reports the static 2003 map (“ran”, “stood”, “occupied”), while present perfect passive reports completed changes visible on the 2023 map (“has been converted”, “has been demolished and replaced”, “has grown into”), a controlled and accurate tense contrast with no errors of form or agreement.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is failing to link the harbour on both maps as the same feature under a new use, which produces a disjointed list rather than a report of genuine change.