Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The two maps below show the seafront of the coastal town of Porthaven in 1990 and in 2020.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
In many countries, it is now common for people to change their career several times during their working lives, rather than staying in one profession from the start of their working life until retirement.
Why is this happening? Is this a positive or a negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
What a Band 8–9 response must demonstrate
Measured against the four official assessment criteria — specific to this test's two tasks.
Task Achievement
- Gives a clear overview that captures the overall transformation: a working fishing port became a leisure and tourism destination, with most change concentrated on the waterfront and the north-west fields, while the houses and church were untouched.
- Groups the changes sensibly (harbour and fish market → marina and yacht club; car park → hotel; warehouses and net sheds → apartments and restaurants; fields → housing and park) instead of walking through fifteen features one by one.
- Uses the compass and relative position accurately ("to the west of the main road", "north of the houses", "along the shoreline") so the reader could locate each change without seeing the map.
- Mentions what was added that had no 1990 equivalent — the pier and the relocated car park — as well as what was converted or removed.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises by area or by type of change (waterfront, inland, unchanged features), typically in two body paragraphs, rather than one sentence per building in map order.
- Uses referencing and substitution ("the former harbour", "this site", "the same stretch of coast") so that place names are not repeated in every sentence.
- Links changes with purposeful cohesive devices ("whereas", "to the east of this", "meanwhile", "the only features to survive") rather than "also… also… also".
Lexical Resource
- Commands the vocabulary of change: converted into, replaced by, demolished to make way for, redeveloped as, extended, pedestrianised, relocated, retained.
- Uses precise location language (adjacent to, bordering, running parallel to the shore, at the western end) and the correct nouns (marina, promenade, pier, yacht club) without inventing features that are not shown.
- Keeps the register neutral and descriptive; no evaluative comments such as "the town looks much nicer now".
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Uses passive constructions naturally and accurately for change ("the fish market was knocked down and a yacht club built in its place") alongside active sentences, rather than the passive in every clause.
- Controls tense across the two dates: simple past or present perfect for the changes, and present tense (or "remains") for the unchanged houses and church.
- Handles complex sentences with participle and relative clauses ("the warehouses that once stood beside the harbour have been converted into apartments"); the majority of sentences are error-free.
Task Response
- Answers both questions explicitly: at least one clear reason why career change has become common (e.g. the shorter lifespan of skills, longer working lives, the weakening of the job-for-life contract) and a definite judgement on whether this is positive or negative.
- Takes a position on the second question — positive, negative, or positive on balance with a stated condition — and keeps it consistent; "it has both good and bad sides" with no verdict caps Task Response.
- Develops causes with specific illustration (a mid-career accountant retraining in data analysis; a manual worker displaced by automation) rather than the vague claim that "the world is changing fast".
- Engages with the several times and whole working life framing — the shift from a single lifelong profession — not just with people changing one job for another.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A clear structure in which the two questions are visibly separated, typically one body paragraph on causes and one on evaluation, each with a topic sentence that signals its purpose.
- Ideas progress logically from cause to consequence to judgement; the evaluation paragraph refers back to the causes rather than introducing unrelated points.
- Cohesion is achieved through referencing and logical sequencing, not a linker at the start of every sentence ("Firstly… Secondly… Moreover… Furthermore…").
Lexical Resource
- Uses precise, topic-appropriate vocabulary: career trajectory, job security, transferable skills, reskilling, upskilling, redundancy, pension entitlement, linear career path, portfolio career.
- Paraphrases the prompt in the introduction instead of copying it ("change their career several times" → "move between professions repeatedly over a working life").
- Uses less common collocations naturally ("a job for life", "dead-end role", "start from scratch", "bear the cost of retraining") without forcing in rare words.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- A mix of complex structures under control: causal clauses ("since skills now date within a decade…"), concession ("While frequent moves can unsettle families…"), and cleft sentences for emphasis.
- Accurate use of present perfect for developments up to now ("has become", "have weakened") contrasted with present simple for general truths.
- Punctuation supports complex sentences — commas around subordinate clauses, no comma splices — and errors are rare and never impede meaning.
Common traps for this specific test
The mistakes most likely to cost marks on these two questions.
The houses, church, main road and beach are identical on both maps. A Band 7+ overview notes that change was concentrated on the waterfront and the north-west fields while the residential core was retained; ignoring the unchanged features makes the summary incomplete.
With fifteen labelled items on the 2020 map, reporting each one from left to right produces a flat inventory. Group the changes by theme: the fishing economy being replaced by leisure (harbour, market, sheds) versus new accommodation (hotel, apartments, housing).
The marina occupies the exact footprint of the old harbour, and the yacht club stands where the fish market was. Writing "a marina was built next to the harbour" is inaccurate; the harbour itself was converted. Only the pier, the northern car park and the park are genuinely new.
The seafront car park was replaced by the hotel, but parking did not disappear — a larger car park appeared north of the houses. Candidates who write "the car park was removed" miss the relocation, which is one of the clearest comparisons available.
"The harbour was turned into a marina because fishing declined" is a reason, not a feature, and Task 1 does not reward it. Describe the change and its location; leave the causes out.
Two-part questions require two answers. Essays that spend four paragraphs on why careers change and finish with one line of "overall it is positive" will be marked down on Task Response, however well the causes are argued.
The prompt is about moving between professions several times, not swapping employers within the same field. Examples of a teacher moving to another school do not address the question; a teacher becoming a software developer does.
Declaring the trend positive "because people are happier" is an assertion. The evaluation must weigh something concrete — the gain in adaptability and satisfaction against the loss of deep expertise, pension continuity and stability — before reaching its conclusion.