Writing Task 1: Map / Plan (change over time): Question 10
Syllabus W.task1
The maps below show an area of open land at Cranmoor in 1990 and the same area, developed into the Cranmoor Rise housing estate, in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
Map 1 (1990): A large open field occupies most of the site, bordered by a country lane along its western edge and a stream along its eastern edge. A single farm track crosses the field from a gate on the lane in the west to a footbridge over the stream in the east. In the north-east corner of the field is a small area of woodland, and in the south-west corner, close to the lane, stands an isolated cottage.
Map 2 (2020): The farm track had become the estate's main road, running from a new junction on the lane in the west to a widened bridge over the stream in the east, and a network of smaller residential roads branched off it in a loop, lined with rows of houses. A primary school had been built close to the centre of the estate, and a small parade of shops had been built near the junction with the lane. The area of woodland in the north-east corner had been kept as a public park within the estate. The cottage in the south-west corner remained standing, now surrounded by new houses on three sides.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Achievement
The overview captures the key relationship in the data (new development built around, rather than erasing, the original track, woodland and cottage) and every body paragraph then supplies the specific figures of that relationship: which route became the main road, where the school and shops were placed, and exactly how the cottage was affected.
Coherence & Cohesion
The report proceeds logically from the 1990 baseline to the 2020 outcome, tracing the track-to-road transformation before moving outward to the new facilities and the retained features, with cohesive ties (“the farm track had become”, “the woodland was preserved”) that make each 2020 feature traceable to its 1990 origin.
Lexical Resource
A sophisticated range of location and development vocabulary is used precisely (“branching off it in a loop”, “surrounded by new houses on three sides”, “widened bridge”), avoiding generic phrases like “lots of new roads” in favour of an exact description of the road pattern.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Past perfect is used accurately and consistently to present the 2020 state as the outcome of development from 1990 (“had become”, “had been built”, “had been kept”), and complex sentences with participle clauses (“connecting a new junction… with a loop of smaller residential roads branching off it”) are controlled without error.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: the most damaging is stating or implying that the woodland was cleared for housing, when the maps clearly show it being kept as a park. Misreading a retained feature as a removed one reverses the actual information and would cost task achievement marks.