In this post: An overview of my three Task 1 map essays, then a close look at the Band 6 hospital essay and the wrong overview that held TA at 5.
Task 1 Map Samples · 3 parts
- 1. The Band 6 hospital map (you are here)
- 2. Harbour 6.5 and sports centre 7
- 3. Comparison, rewrites and checklist
During the six weeks of intensive marking, I wrote six map essays in total, with overall scores ranging from 6 to 7. In this post I have picked three of them: the hospital roads essay from 10 June (Essay 19, overall 6, but only TA 5), the harbour essay from 21 June (Essay 33, overall 6.5, TA 6) and the university sports centre essay from a week later (Essay 38, overall 7).
What makes maps hard is that, unlike a bar chart, there are no numbers to copy. You have to decide for yourself which changes matter, which location words to use and which tenses go together. This time I compared each of the three essays with the two maps, item by item, and the reasons I lost TA marks turned out to be very concrete: an overview that was wrong or too vague, missing changes, and inaccurate descriptions of location. On top of that, mixed-up tenses pulled GRA down as well.
1. The three map essays at a glance
| Item | Hospital roads | Harbour then and now | University sports centre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Cambridge IELTS 13, Test 1 | Cambridge IELTS 19, Test 2 | Cambridge IELTS 13, Test 4 |
| Time relationship | Past → past (2007, 2010) | Past → present (2000, today) | Present → future (redevelopment plan) |
| Date written | 10 June 2024 | 21 June 2024 | 28 June 2024 |
| Time / length | 19 minutes; about 193 words | Time not recorded; about 192 words | 17 minutes; 219 words |
| Sub-scores | TA 5, CC 7, LR 7, GRA 6 | TA 6, CC 8, LR 6, GRA 6 | TA 7, CC 8, LR 7, GRA 7 |
| Overall | 6 | 6.5 | 7 |
By chance, these three essays cover the three most common time relationships in map questions, so tenses are one of the main topics of this post. None of the three has a low CC score (7–8), because in every essay I followed the rule from my notes, “one paragraph, one time period”. What separates them is TA, plus GRA in the Band 6 and Band 6.5 essays.
2. Band 6 (TA 5): road access to a city hospital
What the task shows
Two maps compare the road access to a city hospital in 2007 and in 2010. In 2007, the hospital was surrounded by a Ring Road, and Hospital Road ran north from City Road in the south to join the Ring Road. There were six bus stops along the two sides of Hospital Road, and to the east of Hospital Road there was a car park shared by staff and the public.
In 2010, a roundabout had been built at each end of Hospital Road (one where it joins City Road and one where it joins the Ring Road). The six bus stops had gone, and a bus station had been built to the west of Hospital Road, linked to both roundabouts. The old shared car park had become a staff-only car park, and a new public car park had been added to the east of the hospital, outside the Ring Road.
Here is the version I submitted for marking, unedited (spelling and grammar mistakes kept).
The pictures illustrate the transformation of the road access of a city hospital as it was in 2007 and 2010. Overall, it has witnessed significant changes. In 2007, the only transportation allowed to park in hospital was car; in contrast, in 2010, it catered to various visitors by increasing the space of different transportation.
In 2007, a city hospital was surrounded by a ring road. To enter the hospital, people can go through a city road, which located in the southern part of the picture, and turn right and left on hospital road. Besides that, six bus stops were located on both sides of the hospital road and a car park for both staff and public located on the right of the hospital road.
In 2010, the section once housed a car park for both staff and public accommodated staff only car park. As for a park for public cars, it was relocated on the right side of the city hospital. In addition, former six bus stops had been knocked out, and there were two roundabouts had been built on two sides of the hospital road, connecting a bus station on the left.
Item by item: what I got right and wrong
| On the map | What my essay says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 2007: Ring Road surrounds the hospital | surrounded by a ring road | Correct |
| 2007: Hospital Road runs north from City Road to the Ring Road | go through a city road … and turn right and left on hospital road | Unclear: you cannot tell how the roads connect |
| 2007: six bus stops | six bus stops were located on both sides | Correct |
| 2007: shared car park east of Hospital Road | on the right of the hospital road | “Right” is imprecise; the map has a compass, so “east” is better |
| 2010: shared car park → staff car park | the section once housed a car park … accommodated staff only car park | Content correct, sentence structure wrong |
| 2010: new public car park east of the hospital | relocated on the right side of the city hospital | Roughly correct; same problem with the direction word |
| 2010: bus stops removed | former six bus stops had been knocked out | Content correct, wrong verb |
| 2010: a roundabout at each end of Hospital Road | two roundabouts … on two sides of the hospital road | Wrong location: they are at the north and south ends, not on the two sides |
| 2010: bus station to the west | connecting a bus station on the left | Roughly correct |
Major problem 1: the overview got 2007 wrong
My overview says “In 2007, the only transportation allowed to park in hospital was car”. But the 2007 map clearly shows six bus stops, and I even mentioned them myself in the second paragraph. The overview and the body contradict each other. The overview is the most important place for the examiner to judge whether you have identified the key features, so if you get it wrong there, it is very hard for TA to go above 5.
The second half, “it catered to various visitors by increasing the space of different transportation”, is also far too vague. The three most important changes in this task are: two roundabouts were built, the bus stops were replaced by a bus station, and the car park was split into separate areas for staff and the public. My overview does not name any of them.
Major problem 2: wrong roundabout location and a route nobody can follow
“two roundabouts had been built on two sides of the hospital road” makes it sound as if the roundabouts are on the left and right of the road, when they are actually at the north and south ends of Hospital Road. In the 2007 paragraph, “go through a city road … and turn right and left on hospital road” was meant to describe “turning off City Road into Hospital Road, which then joins the Ring Road”, but the examiner would struggle to picture that route. In map questions, TA depends heavily on whether your description of locations lets the reader redraw the map.
GRA 6: tenses and sentence structure
| My essay | Problem | Better version |
|---|---|---|
| people can go through a city road | Describes 2007 but uses the present tense | visitors could reach the hospital from City Road |
| which located in the southern part | Missing the verb “be” | which was located in the south |
| the section once housed a car park … accommodated staff only car park | Two verbs with nothing linking them (missing “that”) | the area that once housed … had become a staff car park |
| had been knocked out | “Knock out” means to hit someone unconscious or eliminate them from a competition, not to remove a structure | had been removed |
| there were two roundabouts had been built | Two main verbs in one clause | two roundabouts had been built |
Continue reading · Part 2 of 3
IELTS Notes in English · Band Score Samples (post 7 of 19)
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✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
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