IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 Maps

hi I'm Alex I'm an ex IELTS examiner and one of the expert teachers here at e2 language comm and in this session I'm going to be guiding you through how to write an academic task 1 Maps task let's get started we're going to start by analyzing an academic task 1 map then you're gonna write with me so grab a pen and paper or open a document along the way I'm going to show you what you need to do to score and seven and above and I'll finish with five top examiner tips for this type of task let's talk about writing task 1 I'm not going to go over this too much because if you're an e2 language subscriber you will know all about IELTS academic task 1 if you click on writing task 1 you'll see that we cover all of the possible tasks that you might get lion graphs pie charts pie charts tables diagrams maps mix charts and in each section we have methods sample and plenty of practice something I do want to mention is the marking criteria if you've watched my video on the criteria for writing task 2 you should know that three sections are exactly the same for writing task 1 coherence and cohesion lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy that's basically no difference in the marking scheme here however this first column task achievement is different but more on that later I mentioned our life classes a couple of times and I want to show you two of the tasks that we cover in our academic tasks one class just to warm up for today's task now this is one which shows two maps one from 1980 on the left and the changes in 2010 so the maps show the changes that occurred in this town of Newport between 1980 and 2010 notice that these are both in the past so in this task we had to use past perfect past simple no present or future tense was needed another task we've done in our live classes is this one showing an island in 1990 and the island now so of course with this type of map we need to be using different tenses past tense present tense present perfect as well now today's task is a little bit different to those let's look at the instructions first these are always the same you should spend about 20 minutes on this task summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant right at least 150 words and here is the important instruction the maps show Southside a shopping mall as it is now and plans for its development so even before we've seen the maps you know that you're going to be using present tense and also future tenses let's see the maps here's the first one Southside present day as it is now and here is the Southside planned development now the first thing we're going to do is analyze these two maps now the first thing I want to know is what will stay the same pause the video if you want and have a look hopefully you found that only the entrance the supermarket and the toilets are gonna remain from the original sites everything else is gonna change what will get bigger or smaller well obviously if we're looking at the bottom map here the whole shopping center is gonna grow the car park also is gonna become bigger and the department store will expand what will change from one thing to another thing well inside the shopping center the cafe is going to become the Information Center and the play area noodle shop and cinemas are gonna change into these stores and finally what will be added or removed well these new fashion stores will appear a new entrance to the department store and on the top graph you'll notice that the Golf Course in the park will make way for the expansion and the fitness center will also be demolished so there's a lot of information there which information do you need to include well here is my first important tip a really important tip for this type of task you need to describe all of the changes that happen so it's a little different to when you're writing about a pie chart or a line graph or a bar chart where we choose the important features when you're writing about a map you need to explain or describe all of the changes that happen so it's quite a lot of information that you're going to include why do we need to do this well it's in the criteria on the left is the task achievement column let me zoom in to band 9 8 7 and 6 to score band aint you need to present highlight and illustrate the key features whereas down and for it says does not cover all key features so there's quite a difference between band 8 and a band 4 and as I said the examiners want you to describe all of the changes that happen so to avoid scoring band 4 make sure you don't miss anything so that's why a very careful analysis before you start writing if you're on the paper-based test you should be drawing all over the map and if you're on the computer-based test make a list of those changes so what will be added or removed what will grow what will change and what will remain the same these are important things structure of our academic task 1 is always the same we have an introduction overview and key features in the introduction we just reword the summary in the overview we describe the main trends stages or differences in this case we're describing the main differences and then we have the key features where we present and highlight important features usually we use data but obviously in this case there is no data let's do the introduction here you just need to tell me what do the maps show and you can do this by rewording the summary up here or you can simply look at the two maps on the left and tell me what are they showing pause the video for two minutes and write your introduction here's my example the two maps show the shopping mall southside in its current form and its proposed expansion pretty short and simple introduction because I've got a lot of information to include after this next stop is the overview people ask all the time do I need to include an overview when I'm writing about a map or a process in task one and again we need to look to the criteria for the answer to this in the task achievement criterion to score band 7 you need to present a clear overview of main trends differences or stages if you have no clear overview this will get a band 5 in task achievement so the easy answer to that question is yes you have to include an overview for any task one that you do how do we do it well we're basically answering this question what are the major changes that will happen pause the video for 3 minutes and have a go on your own here's my example overall it is clear that the plan is to extend the center and its carpark to nearby green space to allow for more stores and a greater focus on fashion at the expense of eateries and space activities this is just one sentence but I've covered the important changes the center is going to get bigger it's going to eat into the golf course and the park there'll be more fashion stores and there'll be nowhere to eat your overview may be completely different to that and that's okay there's not just one way to write that overview but the important thing is that you include an overview it can be here where I've put it after the introduction or at the end of your task one but don't forget it or you're gonna score bad form in task achievement after the intro and the overview it's time for key features now I'm gonna write two little paragraphs this is where we put all of the detail about the changes I'm gonna split this into two paragraphs in the first one I'm gonna deal with this question what is currently on the site and in the other paragraph I'm gonna explain what changes are planned pause the video for ten minutes and have a go by yourself here's my example this is my first key features paragraph dealing with the first map currently southside mall consists of only a supermarket department store cinemas a noodle shop and cafe with the children's play area and toilet facilities to the east of the center there is a golf course that backs on to a park while to the south there is a fitness center and a car park opposite the mall entrance now I'm going to deal with the changes according to the proposal only the supermarket toilets and entrance will remain from the original sites the most significant development will be the extension of the mall in an easterly direction where it will overtake land previously occupied by the golf course and park the fitness center too will be demolished to make way for the car park which will more than double in size inside the mall itself although the proposed renovation will allow for more stores including fashion boutiques and shoe stores the department store will remain increasing in size and acquiring its own entrance a cosmetics and gift shop will be added as well as a beauty salon there will however be nowhere to eat as plans show the cafe will become an information center here is the full response you can see that it's over 150 words which is the limit there is no upper limit so it doesn't matter how many words I've written as long as it's over 150 so now that we've analyzed and written a full task one with maps let me share with you five examiner tips number one organize logically make sure that you're using small paragraphs to separate the introduction overview and key features and also think about how you're going to group your information in the key features you may like to talk about the first map and then the second map or you might want to talk about inside the shopping mall and outside the shopping mall there's usually a way to group the information into two paragraphs number two include an overview as I mentioned this is essential regardless of what you're writing about in task one three describe all changes this is a specific point to make about maps don't miss anything now before be careful with tenses in this task we were talking about the present and the future but often you'll have to write about the past or the past and the future together so be sure to edit carefully and number five use complex sentences check out our video in the notes below to see how this is done so in addition to these five tips another one is to have your work checked by IELTS experts make sure that you're working with somebody who knows the criteria really well all of the ins and outs and of course we can help you with that at e2 language comm you can sign up for free to access some of our course materials and some of our life classes or you can upgrade your package and get one-on-one tutorials speaking feedback writing feedback access to all of our live classes and recordings and heaps more basically everything you need to pass your IELTS and be sure to like us on facebook at facebook.com slash e to IELTS so now it's your turn I'm going to show you a similar task one with in the present and one in the future and I'd like you to write your task one give yourself 20 minutes to analyze write and edit and share your overview in the comment section below so I can have a look and that's it from each day I'll see you soon on e to language calm [Music]

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Id: XU5sMqd2eP0

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 03 2019