IELTS Writing Task 1: University Sports Centre Map (IELTS Cambridge 13)

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IELTS Writing Task 1: University Sports Centre Map (IELTS Cambridge 13)

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!

Dave

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.

IELTS Cambridge 13 Writing Task 1 Map Sports Centre

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

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30 Comments

  1. Hossein Zarbati on November 25, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    is using ‘will’ for future plan correct?!

    • Dave on November 25, 2019 at 8:36 pm

      Yes, it is fine. You can also qualify it with ‘will probably/likely’ or use the passive voice: is expected to.

  2. Reina on February 20, 2020 at 1:34 am

    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.

    • Dave on February 20, 2020 at 8:16 am

      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.

  3. DIV on March 8, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    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 !

    • Dave on March 8, 2020 at 4:00 pm

      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!

      • DIV on March 8, 2020 at 5:12 pm

        Thank you Dave. I’m following your examples and trying to improve. Thanks a again !

        • Dave on March 11, 2020 at 7:08 am

          You’re welcome again!

  4. Nariman on May 18, 2020 at 8:15 am

    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.

    • Dave on May 20, 2020 at 10:15 am

      Thanks for that – I hope it was useful practice for you!

  5. saeideh on May 18, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    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.

    • Dave on May 20, 2020 at 10:01 am

      Thank you for noting that – I will correct it!

  6. RAY30 on July 23, 2020 at 3:49 am

    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.

    • Dave on March 2, 2021 at 1:01 pm

      Nice writing Ray! Try to vary your grammar!

  7. Anonymous on November 2, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    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.

  9. Jisha on December 11, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    The plan demonstrates the current and future designs of a university’s sport centre. Overall, there will be notable changes with the introduction of new amenities for swimming, dancing, changing, shorts shop, and cafe in the sports center. The sports center is going to be fully indoor.
    The university’s sports center is planning to increase the area for indoor activities by replacing the outdoor courts. First of all, a reception, a 25m pool, a changing room, and a seating area which are present today will be held in place after remodeling, whereas  the gym is going to be expanded. Moreover, the new establishment for the center will be a leisure pool, a changing room for the people who use leisure pool and a sports shop to the west of the reception, whereas a cafe, a sports hall, two dance studios and another changing room for the dancers in dance studios and the gym will be built to the east of the reception.

    • Dave on December 16, 2020 at 4:55 pm

      Great! You can say will remain instead of ‘held in place’, Jisha!

  10. Burcu Meral on February 20, 2021 at 8:52 pm

    Can you check my answer as well pls? Thank you!

    The two presented maps depict the schemes now and then in a university’s sports center after the new features added. At first glance, it is clear that too see an expansion in the overall closed spaces and destruction of outdoor courts. Furthermore, it is possible to see new facilities in the future scheme such as a dance studio, sports hall, cafe, sports shop, and leisure pool.

    In the center’s plan, the pool, changing room, reception, seating, and gym remained steady with a slight change only. That change is the footage of the gym area that expands along the east side. 

    The new areas for the sports centre replaced by the outdoor courts. Instead of an outdoor court in the east, a new sports hall, two dance studios, and a changing room added. On the other side of the centre, outdoor courts in the west were replaced with a leisure pool and changing room. Finally, a cafe and sports shop area added in the left and right-hand-side of the reception respectively in the future development plan. 

    • Dave on March 2, 2021 at 1:02 pm

      Nice writing, Burcu!

      Careful with paraphrasing to the wrong words – otherwise some nice accurate grammar!

  11. Bhawana on January 29, 2023 at 8:49 pm

    What band this essay could get?

    There are two blueprints of the layout of present day university sports centre and the planned redevelopment map for the future. The new developed plan of sports centre depicts many major changes for the future.

    Some of the major changes would be seen in the east part of the sports centre, where the outdoor courts would be redeveloped and other different facilities would be made, such as two dancing studios, a big sports hall, along with changing room and a cafe just by the entrance of the sports centre. Moreover, the centre part of the sports facility would remain unchanged, although the gym would be stretched towards the east section of the complex. In the Western Wing of the sports centre other noticeable changes would be seen, as the outdoor courts would be used to make a leisure pool with a well attached changing room at the south of the pool. Beside the changing room, a sports shop would be installed, at lefty by the entrance.

    Overall, the new layout of the sports centre outlines the major development plans, which would take place at the Eastern and western section of the sports facility.

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