Task 2 · Band 8 path
Map — How a Place Changed
Report the change, not the two pictures. Passive voice, compass directions, no numbers.
Recognise the visual
What this visual type shows, the tense and voice it demands, and the traps that cap it at Band 6.
Report the change, not the two pictures. Passive voice, compass directions, no numbers.
Set regularly, and the visual candidates are least likely to have practised.
Also called: Plan · Site plan · Two maps · Town plan
Spotting it
How this question is worded
Two maps of the same place, labelled with two past years
Completed change. Past simple passive throughout: "the woodland was cleared", "a car park was built".
One map labelled with a past year, one labelled "today" or "now"
Change with a present result. The present perfect passive is the precise choice: "the shops have been replaced by a supermarket".
One map of today and one marked "proposed" or "planned"
A plan, not a record. Everything in the second map takes "will be", "is to be" or "is due to be" — writing it in the past reports something that has not happened.
Two plans of the same building, floor or site
Same task at a smaller scale. Compass directions may not apply, so rely on relative position: "to the left of the entrance", "at the rear of the building".
The rule that decides Task Response
You are reporting CHANGE, not two pictures. Every sentence should contain both states — what was there and what is there now — so that "a cinema stood on the eastern edge" becomes "the cinema on the eastern edge was demolished and replaced by flats". A report that describes the first map in full and then the second in full has made the reader do the comparing, and Task Achievement is capped however accurate each half is.
The standard
What a Band 8 answer to this type does
- An introduction naming the place, what the maps show, and the two dates.
- An overview naming the overall character of the change — rural to residential, open to built-up, expanded or reorganised.
- Change reported inside single sentences, not two separate descriptions.
- Precise location for every feature — compass points, or relative position on a plan.
- The passive voice, in the tense the two dates require.
- Features that did NOT change reported too, because stability is part of the picture.
Where the band is lost
The 6 traps in this question type
Each of these is a specific, repeatable way to lose marks on this type — not general writing advice.
Describing map one, then map twoTask Achievement capped at 6 · Coherence 6
It is the natural thing to do and it is the wrong thing to do. The task is a comparison, so a report that lists everything in 1990 and then everything in 2020 has never actually stated a change — the reader has to infer every one of them.
The fix
Write in pairs. "The woodland in the north was cleared to make way for a housing estate" is one sentence containing both maps. Build the whole report that way.
No compass directionsTask Achievement capped at 6.5 · Lexical Resource 6.5
"A new building was built near the road" could be anywhere on the map. Without location the reader cannot reconstruct the place, and precision of location is the main thing this question type tests beyond the grammar.
The fix
Give every feature a position: "in the north-west corner", "along the southern edge", "immediately east of the river", "opposite the station".
Active voice, with an invented agentGrammatical Range & Accuracy capped at 6
"The council built a car park" and "they cut down the trees" introduce actors the map never shows. As on a process diagram, the action matters and the actor does not, and the error repeats in every sentence.
The fix
Passive everywhere: "a car park was built", "the trees were cut down". If you cannot name the agent from the map, you should not have one in the sentence.
The wrong tense for the dates givenGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5
Two past years take the past simple passive. A past year and "today" take the present perfect passive. A present map and a "proposed" one take the future. Candidates default to the past for all three, which on a proposal reports as fact something that has not been built.
The fix
Read the two labels before writing a verb. They decide the tense of the entire report.
Prepositions of place used looselyLexical Resource 6.5 · Grammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5
"In the north" and "to the north" mean different things — inside the area, versus beyond it. "Opposite", "adjacent to", "alongside", "within" and "surrounded by" are equally precise, and using them interchangeably describes a place that is not the one on the map.
The fix
Learn the small set that matters: IN the north (inside), TO the north (outside), ON the northern edge, ALONG the river, ADJACENT TO, OPPOSITE, SURROUNDED BY, WITHIN.
Ignoring what stayed the sameTask Achievement 6.5
Maps almost always keep one or two features fixed, and they are the landmarks by which everything else is located. A report that mentions only changes leaves the reader without a reference point, and misses a genuine feature of the data.
The fix
Give the unchanged features one sentence, usually near the start of a detail paragraph: "the river and the main road running beside it were left untouched".
Quick reference
The Map at a glance
You are reporting CHANGE, not two pictures. Every sentence should contain both states — what was there and what is there now — so that "a cinema stood on the eastern edge" becomes "the cinema on the eastern edge was demolished and replaced by flats". A report that describes the first map in full and then the second in full has made the reader do the comparing, and Task Achievement is capped however accurate each half is.
Set regularly, and the visual candidates are least likely to have practised.
How to recognise this question
- “Two maps of the same place, labelled with two past years”
- Completed change. Past simple passive throughout: "the woodland was cleared", "a car park was built".
- “One map labelled with a past year, one labelled "today" or "now"”
- Change with a present result. The present perfect passive is the precise choice: "the shops have been replaced by a supermarket".
- “One map of today and one marked "proposed" or "planned"”
- A plan, not a record. Everything in the second map takes "will be", "is to be" or "is due to be" — writing it in the past reports something that has not happened.
- “Two plans of the same building, floor or site”
- Same task at a smaller scale. Compass directions may not apply, so rely on relative position: "to the left of the entrance", "at the rear of the building".
The four-paragraph structure
Name the place, say the maps show change, and give the two dates.
The character of the change overall, and anything that did not change.
The biggest changes, in pairs, with precise locations.
The rest of the site, and the features that survived.
The traps that cap this type at Band 6
Describing map one, then map twoTask Achievement capped at 6 · Coherence 6
It is the natural thing to do and it is the wrong thing to do. The task is a comparison, so a report that lists everything in 1990 and then everything in 2020 has never actually stated a change — the reader has to infer every one of them.
Fix: Write in pairs. "The woodland in the north was cleared to make way for a housing estate" is one sentence containing both maps. Build the whole report that way.
No compass directionsTask Achievement capped at 6.5 · Lexical Resource 6.5
"A new building was built near the road" could be anywhere on the map. Without location the reader cannot reconstruct the place, and precision of location is the main thing this question type tests beyond the grammar.
Fix: Give every feature a position: "in the north-west corner", "along the southern edge", "immediately east of the river", "opposite the station".
Active voice, with an invented agentGrammatical Range & Accuracy capped at 6
"The council built a car park" and "they cut down the trees" introduce actors the map never shows. As on a process diagram, the action matters and the actor does not, and the error repeats in every sentence.
Fix: Passive everywhere: "a car park was built", "the trees were cut down". If you cannot name the agent from the map, you should not have one in the sentence.
The wrong tense for the dates givenGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5
Two past years take the past simple passive. A past year and "today" take the present perfect passive. A present map and a "proposed" one take the future. Candidates default to the past for all three, which on a proposal reports as fact something that has not been built.
Fix: Read the two labels before writing a verb. They decide the tense of the entire report.
Prepositions of place used looselyLexical Resource 6.5 · Grammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5
"In the north" and "to the north" mean different things — inside the area, versus beyond it. "Opposite", "adjacent to", "alongside", "within" and "surrounded by" are equally precise, and using them interchangeably describes a place that is not the one on the map.
Fix: Learn the small set that matters: IN the north (inside), TO the north (outside), ON the northern edge, ALONG the river, ADJACENT TO, OPPOSITE, SURROUNDED BY, WITHIN.
Ignoring what stayed the sameTask Achievement 6.5
Maps almost always keep one or two features fixed, and they are the landmarks by which everything else is located. A report that mentions only changes leaves the reader without a reference point, and misses a genuine feature of the data.
Fix: Give the unchanged features one sentence, usually near the start of a detail paragraph: "the river and the main road running beside it were left untouched".
Map questions — frequently asked
Which tense should I use?
The two labels decide it. Two past years → past simple passive ("was demolished"). A past year and "today" → present perfect passive ("has been replaced"). Today and a proposal → "will be", "is to be". A proposal written in the past reports as fact something that has not been built.
Do I really need compass directions?
Yes — location is the main thing beyond grammar that this type tests. "A supermarket was built" is unplaceable; "a supermarket was built opposite the church, on the site of the former shop" lets a reader who cannot see the map reconstruct it.
What is the difference between "in the north" and "to the north"?
"In the north of the village" is inside the village. "To the north of the village" is outside it. It is a small preposition that completely changes where you have put something, and examiners notice.
Should I mention things that did not change?
Yes, briefly. They are the landmarks everything else is located against, and stability is a genuine feature of the data. One sentence — usually the last — is right.
Next
Once this type is at Band 8, move to another — Line graph, Bar chart, Pie chart — or check a full essay you have written in the Essay Checker
Go deeper on Task 2
- Band 9 vs Band 6.5 sample answersThe same question answered twice, compared criterion by criterion
- How IELTS Writing is markedWhat each of the four criteria actually rewards
- More Task 2 questionsA large bank of practice prompts by topic
- Timed writing mock testTask 1 and Task 2 in 60 minutes, marked like the exam