1. Understand the task
Use this original Academic Task 1 practice to work on spatial grouping, replacement, expansion and unchanged features. Write at least 150 words and allow about 20 minutes for the whole task. These length and timing points follow official IELTS Writing format guidance.
Original practice task
Redevelopment of Elm Park
The plans show the layout of the fictional Elm Park in 2010 and 2025. Describe the main changes and make relevant comparisons. North is at the top of both plans. The maps are schematic and contain no scale. Write at least 150 words.
| Location or feature | 2010 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest | Flower beds | Community garden, same footprint |
| Northeast | Pond | Pond, unchanged |
| Southwest | Tennis court | Lawn, same footprint |
| Southeast | Playground | Playground expanded northwards |
| Paths | Cross-shaped main paths | Same main paths |
| Entrance | South boundary, centre | Same entrance |
Allow about 20 minutes including planning and checking. This timer counts up and does not submit your writing.
2. Make a focused plan
Use the compass before choosing location words. The top left is northwest, and the lower right is southeast. The entrance lies in the middle of the southern boundary. “On the left” can work, but compass directions remain clearer when your reader moves between two plans.
- List replacements. The northwest flower beds become a community garden. The southwest tennis court becomes a lawn.
- Separate expansion from replacement. The playground remains in the southeast but extends northwards. Do not describe it as an entirely new facility.
- Find stable reference points. The pond, main paths and entrance remain in the same positions. These anchors make changes easier to locate.
- Group geographically. Describe the two changes on the western side together, then compare the eastern side. Finish with circulation features if useful.
A useful overview mentions that recreational and planted areas were reorganised while the access arrangement stayed intact. Be careful with purpose: the maps show a lawn, but they do not say it was intended for concerts. They also do not identify the park’s owner, visitor numbers or the cost of redevelopment. Schematic drawings allow relative comparisons, not calculations in metres.
Write your own response
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3. Compare the annotated model
Write first, then compare choices rather than memorising phrases. This original model is an instructional example, not an examiner-marked response; no band score is claimed.
Read the model and paragraph notes
The two plans compare the layout of Elm Park in 2010 and 2025. They show the positions of planted areas, leisure facilities, paths and the main entrance, with north located at the top of each plan.
Overall, several facilities were replaced or enlarged, while the main access routes were retained. The western side experienced two complete changes of use, whereas the eastern side kept its pond and playground, with the latter expanded.
In the northwest corner, the flower beds shown in 2010 were replaced by a community garden occupying the same area. To the south of this, the tennis court was removed and a lawn was established in its place. These changes affected both sections on the western side of the park.
On the eastern side, the pond remained in the northeast corner without a change in its position or size. The playground in the southeast was extended northwards, while its other boundaries stayed in the same places. The main paths continued to form a cross through the centre of the park, dividing it into four sections. Access was still provided by an entrance in the middle of the southern boundary, connected to the central junction by the same north–south path.
Why this response is organised this way
- The introduction establishes the two dates and the orientation without describing every symbol.
- The overview separates changing facilities from unchanged circulation. This gives the report a clear overall pattern.
- The western paragraph uses “replaced by” and “in its place” to identify both the previous feature and its successor.
- The eastern paragraph distinguishes enlargement from retention, then uses the entrance and path junction as spatial anchors. No exact distances are invented.
4. Practise a precise revision
Edit this short description so that every change agrees with the plans: “A new playground was built in the southwest, doubling in size. The pond was moved east to make room for it. The tennis court became a community garden. A second entrance was added in the north.” Identify all four misleading claims before reading the repair.
Check the location-and-change repair
Playground: It already existed in the southeast and expanded northwards. The map does not establish that its area doubled. Replace the first sentence with: “The existing playground in the southeast was enlarged towards the north.”
Pond: It remained in the northeast. The maps show neither a move nor a stated reason involving the playground.
Tennis court: It became a lawn in the southwest. The community garden replaced the flower beds in the northwest, so these two changes must not be exchanged.
Entrance: Only the southern entrance is shown in both plans. The unchanged vertical path reaches the northern boundary, but that is not labelled as an added entrance.
Now rewrite “They changed the flower beds into a community garden” in a neutral passive form. A precise version is “The flower beds were replaced by a community garden.” The passive avoids introducing an unspecified “they”. Use active forms where they are natural, such as “The pond remained unchanged”; forcing every sentence into the passive makes the description unnecessarily heavy.
5. Review and try again
Trace each location in your report with a finger on the plan. Check that the object after “north of” or “beside” is the correct reference point. Then highlight the verbs: replaced, removed, enlarged and retained express different changes, so they should not be treated as interchangeable synonyms.
For a second attempt, organise the report by change type rather than geography. Put the two replacements in one paragraph and the expansion plus unchanged features in another. Compare the two drafts for clarity. A map report does not need numerical data to be specific; accurate location, direction and change language provide its detail. Avoid a personal conclusion about whether the new layout is better.
Format checked on 15 October 2026 against IELTS Writing format. Task, model, visual material and practice explanations are original. This independent lesson is not an official IELTS test.