This is an IELTS Cambridge 13 Map Sample Answer based on a map of a sports centre now and future plans for its redevelopment.
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When it comes to IELTS task 1 writing, I prefer to write about maps. I think it is easier to structure and describe all the information.
The trickiest part is the overview. I tell my students that they should focus on two things: what changed and a way to group/describe the changes. This is very similar to the overview for a process.
A lot of students make the mistake of just listing the changes or saying that there were major changes. Those don’t count as overviews and you will get band 5 for task achievement.
Make sure that you describe the changes but also define them in some way – for example, by saying that the building has become more modern.
Just be careful not to veer into opinion. Modern is fine. Convenient is not because that is opinion/specualtion about how people will view the changes.
As always, practice makes perfect!
Check out some task 2 sample answers here.
Here is another task 1 writing sample also from IELTS Cambridge 13.
Enjoy!
IELTS Writing Task 1: University Sports Centre Map (IELTS Cambridge 13) by Dave (former IELTS examiner)
The plans below show the layout of a university’s sports centre now, and how it will look after redevelopment.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
The diagrams detail the present construction of a sports centre and plans for its renovation. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym with additional facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities largely unrelated to exercise like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked by large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour of a leisure pool larger in size than the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only slight exception is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be lengthened eastwards and connect with two new adjoining dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will be replaced by a sports hall and to the southeast of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is mirrored by the same room in the southwestern corner of the plans) and an abutting cafe to the west. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Analysis
1. The diagrams detail the present construction of a sports centre and plans for its renovation. 2. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym with additional facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities largely unrelated to exercise like shopping and having coffee.
1. My first sentence repeats the topic. This sentence won’t have a major impact on your vocabulary or task achievement score so write it as quickly as possible!
2. The second sentence is my general overview. Be sure that you at least touch on all areas (without simply listing them) by trying to group them together in some say (and define, not give an opinion on, the biggest changes). Try to limit your overview to one or two sentences, though you can add on a conclusion at the end with more information if you feel your overview didn’t include all the changes.
1. At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked by large outdoor courts. 2. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour of a leisure pool larger in size than the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. 3. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. 4. The only slight exception is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be lengthened eastwards and connect with two new adjoining dance studios.
1. I begin with the map in the past and a general description of the largest area of the map. Try to give your writing a logical structure starting with the topic sentence.
2. The second sentence describes one of the biggest changes (the new pool) and includes a part of the map that has not changed. It is important to mention what changes as well as what doesn’t change.
3. My third sentence further details the areas that will not change.
4. My fourth sentence includes an exception and some of the other changes taking place near the main building.
1. The outdoor court on the eastern side will be replaced by a sports hall and to the southeast of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is mirrored by the same room in the southwestern corner of the plans) and an abutting cafe to the west. 2. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
1. In the first sentence I describe the changes to the courts and what will replace them.
2. The second sentence finishes describing all the changes not yet mentioned as well as the entrance area (which will not change).
Vocabulary Practice
Remember and fill in the gaps with the useful vocabulary for maps:
The diagrams detail the present _________________ of a sports centre and plans for its _____________. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to ____________ the outdoor courts and ____________ the gym with ____________ facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities ____________ unrelated to exercise like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is ____________ by large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts ____________ a leisure pool larger in size than the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. The entire main building will not ____________ including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only ____________ is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be ____________ ____________ and ____________ with two new ____________ dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will be ____________ a sports hall and to the ____________ of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is ____________ the same room in the southwestern corner of the plans) and an ____________ cafe to the west. The large entrance area will not be ____________ in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Answers
The diagrams detail the present construction of a sports centre and plans for its renovation. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym with additional facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities largely unrelated to exercise like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked by large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour of a leisure pool larger in size than the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only slight exception is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be lengthened eastwards and connect with two new adjoining dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will be replaced by a sports hall and to the southeast of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is mirrored by the same room in the southwestern corner of the plans) and an abutting cafe to the west. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Vocabulary Definitions
construction: the buildings
renovation: to remodel or change
remove: to get rid of
expand: to make larger
additional: another one
unrelated: not related, different
flanked: on either side of
in favour of: in order to have, replaced by
undergo alterations: have changes made
slight exception: small difference
lengthened eastwards: made longer going to the East
connect: join together
adjoining: connected
replaced: takes the place of
southeast: to the south and east
mirrored: reflected, in the same place but on the other side
abutting: next to
impeded: in the way of, blocking
Grammar Practice
I put some grammar mistakes related to prepositions in it – can you find and correct all the prepositions?
The diagrams detail the present construction of a sports centre and plans to its renovation. Looking at an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans for remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym towards additional facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities largely unrelated with exercise like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked in large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour at a leisure pool larger in size that the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only slight exception is that the gym upon the northern end of the building will be lengthened eastwards and connect for two new adjoining dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will on replaced by a sports hall and to the southeast of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is mirrored for the same room in the southwestern corner at the plans) and an abutting cafe at the west. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Answers
The diagrams detail the present construction of a sports centre and plans for its renovation. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym with additional facilities for swimming, changing, dancing, and activities largely unrelated to exercise like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked by large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour of a leisure pool larger in size that the current pool, which will itself remain unchanged during renovations. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only slight exception is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be lengthened eastwards and connect with two new adjoining dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will be replaced by a sports hall and to the southeast of the sports hall the university will add an additional changing room (which is mirrored by the same room in the southwestern corner of the plans) and an abutting cafe to the west. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Links
You can find some useful images for task 1 writing here on HowtodoIELTS’ Instagram.
Here are some links related to maps:
Why All World Maps are Wrong
Maps that Show Us Who We are (not just Where We are) | Danny Dorling
Comment any questions that you have about IELTS maps below!
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is using ‘will’ for future plan correct?!
Yes, it is fine. You can also qualify it with ‘will probably/likely’ or use the passive voice: is expected to.
Hi, can you please take a look at my answer? Thank you.
The two presented pictures demonstrate the layout of the current university’s sports center and the future plans. Overall, the two outdoor courts will me removed. The current facilities in the sport center will be remained as same while other facilities will be added largening the size of the center.
The biggest difference is the existence of outdoor courts. The two courts on the both side of the center will be removed, and the center will be expanded taking that space over. The facilities exiting now, including 25m pool, changing room, seating, and reception will be remained exactly same as today. Although current gym will be sized up almost as double since the whole center size will be expanded. On the east side of the 25m pool, there will be sports hall right beside of seating area and two dance studios against the wall. Changing room will be built at the east south corner and the café will be next to it. On the wet side of 25m pool, a big leisure pool will be located taking almost most of west side of the building. At the west south corner, there will be changing room as same as the other corner. Also, sports shop will be located right beside the west side changing room.
Yep!
Here are some edits:
The two presented pictures demonstrate the layout of the current university’s sports center and the future plans. Overall, the two outdoor courts will be removed. The current facilities in the sport center will remain the same while other facilities related to… will be added largening the size of the center.
The biggest difference is the existence of outdoor courts. The two courts on the both side of the center will be removed and the center will be expanded taking that space over. The facilities exiting now, including 25m pool, changing room, seating, and reception will remain exactly the same as today. Although the current gym will nearly double in size since the whole center size will be expanded. On the east side of the 25m pool, there will be a sports hall right beside of seating area and two dance studios against the wall. Changing room will be built in the southeast corner and the café will be next to it. On the wet side of 25m pool, a big leisure pool will be located taking up most of west side of the building. In the west south corner, there will be changing room mirroring it in the other corner. Also, sports shop will be located right beside the west side changing room.
Hi Dave, This is the answer of mine for this. Could you please comment ?
The plans compare the current setting of a sports center of a particular university and the future arrangements after being encountered for a recreation process.
Overall, it is readily apparent that, future plan includes additional facilities such as, leisure pool, sports hop, cafe and dance studios. While 25m pool, seating, reception and the entrance remain the same, gym is expected to be extended for a wider space. More over, present outdoor courts which exist in west and east sides of the sports complex, is forecast to be removed.
Looking first, the contemporary sports center is constructed with a 25m pool, which is in the middle and few other compartments surrounding it. Gym is located in the north to the main pool, seating is in the east, changing room situates in the west and reception in the southern side together with the entrance. Furthermore, two outdoor courts are observable in west and east sides of the main building,
Future layout elucidates several modifications, for instance, number of changing rooms increased up to three from one, which are located in the two opposite corners of the southern boundary of the sports center and the area of gym approximately doubled. Even though, the upcoming sports center added enormous novel features for example, leisure pool lies far west to the center pool, two dance studios in far east, a sports hall in between seating and dance studios, sports shop which places south-west , and the a new cafe in south-east of the the complex, the reception, seating, existing changing room and the 25m pool will not likely to undergo with any alterations.
Thank you very much Dave !
Sure Div!
Be careful with simple grammar like subject verb agreement – the plans give or the plan gives in your first sentence…
Your overview is too specific. Better to try to group and define the information presented. Compare it with the one that I wrote for this map.
There are a lot more accurate sentences in this writing – you are making some good progress!
But be careful of words like ‘elucidate’ which we wouldn’t use in this context.
Also study up a bit on using the passive – you can type passive voice practice into Google and work on that.
Well done!
Thank you Dave. I’m following your examples and trying to improve. Thanks a again !
You’re welcome again!
Hi Sir, I have developed your sample answer into the following text in my favour. I’m wondering whether you will find it useful or not!
The diagrams depict the current construction of a sports complex, followed by the subsequent plan to get it renovated. Looking from an overall perspective, it is readily apparent that there are plans to remove the outdoor courts and expand the gym by providing specialized spaces for swimming, changing and dancing, accompanied by recreational facilities offering services like shopping and having coffee.
At the moment, the university’s main building is flanked by large outdoor courts. The plan is to remove the western courts in favour of a leisure pool larger in size than the current pool, which will itself remain intact during the course of renovations. The entire main building will not undergo alterations including the changing rooms, reception and seating area. The only minor exception is that the gym on the northern end of the building will be extended eastwards insofar as it faces the two new adjoining dance studios.
The outdoor court on the eastern side will be replaced by a sports hall nearly facing an additional changing room in the southeastern corner of the plan. This space is mirrored by the same room in the bottom left-hand corner, abutting a cafe to the west. The large entrance area will not be impeded in any way but a new sports shop will open next to the westernmost changing room.
Thanks for that – I hope it was useful practice for you!
thank you for your precious sample answer.
only on the picture of this page, it is written it is a bar chart, but they are pie charts.
Thank you for noting that – I will correct it!
Hi Dave,
Could you please check my answer?
The given diagrams illustrate the present plan and the renovated layout of the University sports center. Looking at the overall perspective, it is readily apparent that the outdoor courts at both the west and the east side will be converted into a leisure pool and sports hall respectively with few more changes in the new layout.
It is evident that on the westside, there will be a large pool connecting to changing room, however, on the east side, a sports hall will take the place of previous outdoor courts. Interestingly, the sports room will be adjoined by two dance studios and a changing room.
Furthermore, the gym will be stretched to the east side and connect to the dance studio, whereas the old seating area will get connected to the sports hall. The entrance of the building remains the same but will be flanked with a sports shop and cafe on both sides. However, the changing room and the reception area, close to the indoor pool will remain unchanged.
Please check my this task and band score as well according to this
The plans illustrate how the layout of a university’s sports center will look after reconstruction.
Overall, both outdoor courts will be demolished in the university’s sports center. It will be converted to a leisure pool, sports hall, sports shop, cafe, changing rooms and dance studios with the extension of the gym.
According to the layout, at the present time, the two outdoor courts are available at either side of the pool (25m). However, in the future, both outdoor courts will be removed. The gym will be expanded. Besides that, the leisure pool (west side) and the sports hall (east side) will be constructed at either side of the pool in the sports center. Apart from this, additional changing rooms will appear at the west side and the east side corner with the sports shop and the cafe in the reception area. In addition, two dance studios are going to be built on the east side of the pool.
Hello! Good description of all the changes but there are a lot of small issues you can fix with your level of formality, vocabulary, and grammar.
For full corrections, check here: course.howtodoielts.com/band-scores-corrections
If i wrote this in exam then how many band could i get?
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You can also see it at the top of the page…
If i wrote this answer in exam then how many band could i get?
Sign up and I’ll let you know!
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Hi, are you studying for IELTS?
Yes