Name: IELTS Task 1 Compare Maps Band 9 Writing
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T17:47:28.000Z
Duration: 15 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Reflexive pronouns

Academic IELTS candidates often find themselves stressed when they discover a map Task one Question not to worry.

This lesson explains the correct thinking and steps to compose that high band.

7 to 9 response for any map style question.

The following diagrams show the changes that have happened on an island from the past until the present.

Report the main features and make comparisons where relevant.

The examiners are looking for three paragraphs per task one whether that's line graphs, bar graphs, or maps.

It's the same three kinds of paragraphs that you need to compose effectively.

First, they need an introduction, second an overview, and third, the analyses or the body paragraph.

The introduction is a relatively simple paragraph comprised of two to three sentences.

Many candidates get low band scores and fail the introduction because they just paraphrase the question.

They simply state the blueprint given below.

Show variations that occurred on an island from past years until now.

In order to get higher band scores, you have to use the question, paraphrase it, and

The two blueprints provided show the development that has taken place on paradise island from from the past until the present with labels and pictures.

Both maps include several natural and artificial features in the water and on land.

It is not simply a foreign language exam, but a proficiency exam.

So the examiners are looking for your interpretations of the information that you see in task one.

It's not enough to simply just report what you see.

You have to interpret in this case, giving details in the introduction and explaining in more specifics what you are looking at.

In this case, Notice how the Band 9 introduction does not just simply repeat the word island but gives the specific name paradise island the that can be found in the maps.

Also, it does not just simply paraphrase the question, but

it gives some additional details so the reader can visualize the maps without having to look at them, such as stating that both maps include several natural and artificial meaning man made features in the water and on land.

It also explains that the map can be understood from the labels or the names and the small pictures that decorate the illustration.

This type of introduction will definitely get a higher band score than a simple paraphrase.

The overview, similarly to the introduction, is also a relatively simple paragraph made up of two to three sentences and it also requires your critical thinking Thinking Most candidates make a mistake by just Looking at the biggest and the smallest, or the most and the least, they will state something like the most significant change is in the middle of the island where there is now a hotel.

However, good critical thinking suggests that for maps you need to have clear structure.

Now, of course, many of you know that maps will often have more cardinal directions like north, south, east and west.

Even if the map does not include this type of information, you can reference these cardinal directions and it is a good idea.

Learn these words like north, northwest, south, southeast.

Learn these words before your next IELTS exam.

You can acquire this vocabulary with many more powerful expressions and idiomatic language throughout your premium IELTS package@aehelp.com instead of automatically thinking about the most and the least or the biggest and the smallest, observe the key changes based on some form of structure as from left to right or foreground to background.

The easier it is for your examiner to understand the information that you're providing, the higher your score.

If you jump around in the map, it becomes quite complicated to make sense of the essay.

Your overview has to be a condensed reflection of your analysis.

It is basically the thesis statement of your essay.

The same format that you present in your overview will be the structure of your analyses.

Now let's take a Look at this band 9 overview.

At first glance it is clear that the island has been converted from a scientific research outpost to a tourist destination with many additional amenities in place of palm trees.

Both land and water use have been developed significantly to accommodate holiday vacationers.

This gives the overall understanding of the past and present of Paradise Island.

Now for the body paragraph, I can simply go into more details explaining these changes.

General IELTS Keep in mind that your task 1 questions are significantly different.

You're expected to write letters and emails, but

in the academic ielts you are expected to write an expository essay in the third person voice for task one based on a line graph, bar chart, pie chart, flowchart diagram, or a map.

And any one of these questions can crop up on your next test.

So be sure to prepare and practice each one of these at least a couple of times before your next exam to learn every single type of task one for the academic ielts to understand the applications of these different pictograms, be sure to go through the premium course on on aehelp.com now let's read and review the completed essay.

The two blueprints provided show the development that has taken place on paradise island from the past until the present, with labels and pictures.

At first glance, it is clear that the island has been converted from a scientific research outpost to a tourist destination with many additional amenities in place of palm trees.

Both land and water use have been developed significantly to accommodate holiday vacationers immediately.

It is clear that the smaller research station on the west side of the island has been replaced by a much larger hotel complex and a swimming pool.

In addition, the tropical forest in the center of the island had been cut down to make way for the circular shaped open air restaurant and barbecue area which are accessible from the hotel by a walking path.

In order to service the needs of the island, the smaller original pier had been extended to accommodate larger cruise ships to berth on the shoreline just west of the hotel on the northeast of the island.

The natural spring remains the same with a newly built cafe and lookout as well.

The beach on the northwest of the island remains unchanged and this is where tourists can go for a swim.

Additionally, tourists can use the newly made bicycle path that goes around the circumference of the island.

Ideally, students, you always keep one to two minutes at the end of your task, one within the 20 minute time frame to review and make small corrections to your essay.

Those small corrections to grammar to language and information can help to boost your writing section score by easily a half a band or more.

Make sure to identify unique and advanced vocabulary in this essay that you can also use in other map style question task ones.

For instance, using the word blueprints or artificial features, outpost amenities, circular shaped shoreline and circumference.

Some of these vocabulary are included in the video description.

Be sure to check and use them as soon as possible so that you can remember and apply them effectively.

Although 20 minutes is not a lot of time to write a 150 to 250 word essay, it should be enough to give you a couple of minutes for planning, at least 15 minutes for composition and another minute or two for review.

A very important step in the planning stage is to identify your marks for comparison when you write the body paragraph or the analyses before you begin, indicate on your note paper in the computer based exam and on your question paper in the paper based exam.

Your points of comparison from most to least significant as the question states, describe the main features or compare the main features and that's exactly what you need to do.

Rank order these from most important change to least important change.

If you start running out of time, you will have discussed the most important changes and you can still get a high score.

In fact, some of those task 1 questions in the real IELTS are so complicated and have so much information that you simply will not have enough time to make all of these comparisons.

You need about 5 to 8 points of comparison, depending on the information and your writing speed.

Let's take a look at this map now for these details.

When I circle or identify the differences between paradise island in the past and paradise island in the present, I notice right away that the scientific research station is replaced by a hotel complex.

This is a very obvious difference and I will label this as the number one most important change.

Now, again, is this the only way to do it?

No, but according to me, this is the most significant difference.

Then I also notice that the pier leading to the hotel complex has been greatly developed and cruise ships are now able to dock.

Afterwards, moving towards the east, I notice that the palm tree forest has been replaced by an open restaurant and barbecue area.

Again, I'm going to label this number three.

The natural spring in the northeastern part of the island has remained the same with the addition of a cafe.

I notice the cycling path that goes around the circumference of the island and the rocks to the north that again have remained the same with the addition of a scenic lookout.

This would be my number five or number six.

Last but not least, the beach to the northwest would be my number seven and I follow this pattern in my body paragraph.

It is clear that the smaller research station on the west side of the island has been replaced by a much larger hotel complex and swimming pool.

In order to service the needs of the island, the smaller original pier has been extended to accommodate large cruise ships to berth on the shoreline just west of the hotel.

On the northeast of the island, the natural spring remains as is with a newly built cafe and lookout as well, the beach on the northwest of the island remains unchanged and this is where tourists can go to swim.

With some small slight variations, the order of information is relatively what I have just left listed.