Hello IELTS Daily students! I'm here, and I have a wonderful class today because we're going to talk about maps. We're going to talk about writing task one, so I have my cup of tea and I'm going to talk about an example that I have written. And this is a map. It's a before and an after map. And I know some of you really struggle with this type of writing task. So, if you want to learn how to improve your writing test one, you can download this sample answer from the IELTS Daily website. You can come and download lots of sample answers from there. Learn about how we approach the task, but I'm going to talk a little bit today about some of my thoughts and the way which I approached this task. So, you're gonna need a pen, some paper to make some notes. You need to put your thinking hat on and get ready, because we're gonna have lots of information. Lots of ideas, so let's go. All right, welcome back. So, I like doing maps, but I know that they're not
as easy as some of you think. On the screen now, you will see there is a map from a town called, "Islip". Let's look at the question itself, because you should always start by looking at the question prompt, and it says: The maps below show the centre of a small town called Islip as it is now, and plans for its development. Summarize information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. And this is important for comparisons. In the map, you will often have to make a comparison. Alright. How would you approach this? Because it's always
interesting to hear ideas about how you would organize your writing and how many paragraphs you would write. And interestingly, If you come over to the IELTS daily website and if you download this particular sample, you will find there are actually two samples for you to look at. And the organization of both
of them is slightly different. You can see how I have organized the paragraphs in one writing and in another writing. Personally, and I think today, we'll focus on the second example that I've written in this particular exercise. and you can think, would you do the same or would you use the first example? Right. Let's analyze the map and talk about how we could maybe organize our ideas. So on the map, we can see there are some shops, a main road, and some shops at either side of the main road. There's a school, a park, and some housing, the housing is in the centre of the town, but it's also worth noting that the countryside is at the top, the north section of the town. So it's a fairly simple town, the... you could say the road say: The road runs through, that's why the road runs through the centre of the town. Interestingly, In the future, We're talking about the future now, and this is important for your language. You need to be able to identify the difference between something which happened in the past. Something which is now and something which is predicted to be or going to be, or planned to be, and that will influence your writing style. Please, please pay attention to this because the examiner is looking out for it, if it's a planned or a future development. Use the future forms, and we'll talk a little bit about how I did that and which language I used. In the future, the centre of the town is going to look really different. There are going to be many changes. And for you to score above a band 7, you need to identify the main changes, the biggest differences. And you need to cover those in your overview. What's the main thing that's happening to the town? Then in your body paragraphs, you need to look at the details. OK. And this is one of the hardest tasks for many people who do maps, and I'll talk about how I did it in my sample. So let's have a look at my sample, and we'll first read the introduction, which should be fairly simple. I said: the maps illustrate how the town centre of Islip is expected to be redeveloped from its current setup. So, is expected to be redeveloped, and that's the passive form for the future, in terms of the expectation. It is clear that the town centre is due to undergo significant redevelopment. Is due to, future form is: expected to, is due to undergo significant redevelopment. Notably, the addition of a new transport network and various other commercial facilities. at the expense of some of the green belt around the town. Now for some of you, you're going to be thinking, this is really difficult language and what's the purpose of this particular section? Well, this particular section is my overview. What are the main differences? And remember that an overview has to be in every writing piece for the academic training test, for every writing piece that you do. You have to have an overview. Some people have an overview as a separate paragraph. Normally, I have an overview as a separate paragraph but today, I've just decided to include my overview in my introductory paragraph. That's okay. You could also have your overview at the end. It's up to you. So, I've just looked at the main differences. The main differences are: there's going to be big changes in the transport. There's going to be lots of new development of shops and the centre of the town, and there's going to be a loss of some of the countryside. Did you notice that the countryside has been lost? So you need to know that. Looking back sometimes, I noticed things that I could improve. Looking back, you may want to include the idea that there's probably going to be more housing as well. But in the overview, you don't need to have lots of details. Let's go back and have a
look at my first paragraph. It says: At present. Now, this is an indicator for the reader what the purpose of this paragraph is, and I'm talking about comparing the two maps. And I've said: At present, which means now, and I'm just going to describe the situation of the map now. Not going to talk about the future at the moment, because the future and the comparison will be in the next paragraph. At present, Islip Town Centre comprises a series of shops with a main road running through the centre of the town. To the south, this is interesting. To the south, you could say: in the south, but it's even better, to the south. To the south, there are two housing estates. A park is situated to the east, and a school is located to the southwest. So I've just noted each important feature on the map: Housing, a main road, school and park. That's, they are the main features. Now, you're going to write your next paragraph, which makes the comparison about what the new town will be like. The future of Islip will look rather different, with the main shopping area being radically transformed, affecting some of the countryside. The central road will be converted to a pedestrian area. And a brand new ring road will be constructed around the town. So, Brand new, which means really new, brand new. Good language there. The shops to the north will be converted to a shopping center. Car park, bus station and some new housing. So we're looking at each part and introducing the new features of the map. The shops to the south of the former main road will remain. They will stay the same. They will remain. They will stay the same. The park will lose some of its size as a result of the dual carriage way. And the housing in school will remain fairly unchanged. So you're talking about things which are changing, but you're also talking about things which are not changing, so they will remain unchanged or remain the same. It's important to make some comparisons. Now you may want to include a section. Maybe I missed it here. You may want to include a section to say the town is going to be much more accessible, because the ring road will go around, so it's going to be easier for residents to get around. And I think that would be something that you might want to include in your writing. Sometimes I look back at my writing and I think, how could I make that a little bit better? And it's always possible to make things a little bit better, right? So in a map, you have to think about the key features: what are the big differences? You have to organize your ideas into clear paragraphs. Very, very important that you have clear paragraphs which signify or have a main purpose. Fantastic. Do you think maps are easy? I don't think they're that easy. I think they're enjoyable, and they seem quite logical, but you have to make sure that you're covering all the points that the examiner wants. So you have to think about, are you mentioning the main differences? Are you covering the the key details? Are you making comparisons where relevant? Having all those ticked and
having all those covered, it's extremely important. Don't forget, if you want money, you write and comment and leave your answer in this section below. Come over to the IELTS Daily App and you could write a sample answer and get some feedback from us on how you can improve. Super, super useful. Did you enjoy this video today? If you did, share it with your friends. Tell your friends how great the IELTS daily videos are, and I look forward to seeing you for another writing task one very soon Bye for now!
