Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The maps below show a small island before and after it was developed for tourism, in 1995 and 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 cities, the number of very tall residential buildings has increased rapidly in recent years, with some towers now housing thousands of people on a single site.
What problems does this cause? What solutions can you suggest?
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: the island changed from an almost undeveloped place with a small pier, a viewpoint and a few fishing huts into a purpose-built resort, while the beach and the eastern forest were left untouched.
- Selects the major changes rather than every detail: the extended pier with a reception building, the new hotel at the centre linked by a vehicle track, the restaurant on the east side, and the swimming pool that replaced the fishing huts.
- Notes what did not change (the beach and the forest) and what was removed (the fishing huts, the viewpoint) — both are key features in a before/after map, not afterthoughts.
- Describes the location of each feature accurately using the compass points and relative position ("in the south, where the pier was lengthened"; "a track running north from the reception to the hotel").
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises spatially or by theme — for example one paragraph on the arrival area (pier, reception, track) and one on the accommodation and leisure facilities — rather than jumping around the map.
- Uses referencing ("this building", "the latter", "from here") and location phrases ("to the east of", "adjacent to") to link sentences so that the reader can follow the layout without the map.
- Begins with an introduction and an overview; the body paragraphs open with a topic sentence that signals which area is being described.
Lexical Resource
- Uses the vocabulary of change on maps with precision: extended, constructed, replaced, demolished, converted, retained, left intact, preserved.
- Controls prepositions and nouns of location: on the southern coast, in the centre of the island, along the eastern side, leading from… to….
- Varies verbs for new features ("was built", "was added", "now stands", "has been laid") instead of repeating "there is a new…" for every item.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Uses the passive voice accurately and naturally for development ("a hotel was constructed", "the huts were demolished"), alternating with active constructions to avoid monotony.
- Handles tense choices for a dated before/after comparison: past simple for 1995, past simple or present perfect for the 2020 map, with "by 2020" constructions used correctly.
- Forms complex sentences combining location, change and comparison ("Whereas in 1995 the only path led from the pier to the viewpoint, by 2020 a track connected the reception to the hotel") with accurate punctuation.
Task Response
- Answers both questions with balanced weight: at least two well-developed problems and two solutions, rather than four problems and a single sentence of remedy.
- Engages with the specific framing — very tall residential towers housing thousands on one site — so that problems concern density, infrastructure load, fire and evacuation safety, social isolation or loss of sunlight, not generic "pollution in cities".
- Solutions are proportionate and directed at the problems raised (e.g. planning rules that require schools and transport capacity before towers are approved; mandatory communal spaces; stricter fire regulation), and the essay shows awareness of who would implement them.
- Reaches a clear concluding position on whether the problems are manageable, without contradicting the body paragraphs.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A recognisable structure — introduction, problems paragraph(s), solutions paragraph(s), conclusion — in which each problem is clearly linked to the solution that addresses it.
- Topic sentences make the controlling idea of each paragraph explicit; supporting sentences develop it with an example before moving on.
- Cohesion comes from referencing and logical sequencing ("this pressure on services", "such measures"), not from a linker at the start of every sentence.
Lexical Resource
- Uses urban-planning vocabulary accurately: high-rise, high-density housing, infrastructure, amenities, overshadowing, zoning, building regulations, evacuation, social cohesion.
- Paraphrases the prompt rather than copying it ("very tall residential buildings" → "residential towers" / "high-rise apartment blocks").
- Shows range in collocation ("strain public transport", "erode a sense of community", "impose a cap on") and uses it appropriately; avoids inflated words that do not fit the context.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Controls problem–solution structures: "one consequence of this is that…", "to counter this, authorities could…", conditionals ("If developers were required to…"), and relative clauses.
- Uses modals for recommendation with appropriate strength ("should", "could", "ought to") and avoids overstating solutions as certainties.
- Sentences are mostly error-free; complex sentences are punctuated correctly and there are no comma splices or fragments.
Common traps for this specific test
The mistakes most likely to cost marks on these two questions.
A map task is about what changed. Writing "In 2020 there is a hotel, a restaurant and a pool" without comparing it to 1995 ("where the fishing huts once stood") fails to make the comparisons the rubric demands.
The beach in the west and the forest in the east are unchanged — the forest is explicitly preserved. Candidates who only describe new buildings miss a key feature of the overview: development was concentrated in the centre and south while the natural areas were left intact.
The fishing huts and the viewpoint disappear between the two maps; the original pier-to-viewpoint footpath is replaced by a vehicle track. A strong answer names what was demolished or replaced, not just what was added.
"Near the sea" and "on the other side" do not locate anything. Use compass directions and relationships: "the restaurant was built to the east of the reception, at the edge of the forest".
Both maps are dated in the past, so "a hotel will be built" is wrong, and "there is a hotel" is inconsistent with past-tense description of 1995. Past simple or present perfect is safest throughout.
The question concerns residential towers. Essays about skyscraper offices, or about urban growth in general, drift away from the prompt and cap Task Response at Band 6.
If the problems are strained infrastructure and social isolation, a solution paragraph about "planting more trees" does not respond to them. Each solution must visibly answer a problem already raised.
This is not an agree/disagree question. Spending a paragraph defending high-rise living as efficient is off-task; your view belongs in a brief concluding judgement on whether the problems can be managed.