Task 1 Academic · Map · Travel
A fishing village that became a resort
Two maps of a small bay thirty years apart, in which every change points towards tourism — and the best answer notices that nothing old was knocked down to get there.
The question
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.
The maps below show the village of Hallow Bay in 1995 and today.
- Both maps show Hallow Bay, with the sea along the southern edge, a sandy beach along the shore, and a coast road running from west to east just north of the beach.
- 1995: a fishing harbour with a stone pier lies at the western end of the bay, with a fish market beside it on the coast road.
- TODAY: the stone pier remains, but the harbour has become a marina with pontoons for pleasure boats, and the fish market building has been converted into a restaurant.
- 1995: a row of fishermen's cottages lines the north side of the coast road in the centre of the village.
- TODAY: the cottages remain unchanged.
- 1995: a village shop and post office stands at the eastern end of the row of cottages.
- TODAY: the shop and post office remains, and a car park has been built opposite it on the seaward side of the coast road.
- 1995: sand dunes cover the eastern end of the bay.
- TODAY: the dunes have been removed and a hotel stands in their place, reached by a short access road from the coast road.
- TODAY: a wooden boardwalk runs along the back of the beach from the pier to the hotel. There was no path here in 1995.
- 1995: farmland covers the whole area north of the village, reached by a narrow lane from the coast road.
- TODAY: the western half of the farmland has been replaced by a caravan park, and the lane has been widened into a road serving it; the eastern half remains farmland.
- 1995: a lighthouse stands on a hill in the north-east.
- TODAY: the lighthouse remains, and a footpath now leads up the hill to it from the hotel.
A 150-word factual summary of a graph, chart, table, process or map. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.
What separates the three answers
Every change points from fishing to tourism; the answers divide on whether they say so, and on whether they see that the old buildings were converted while the new ones went onto empty land.
The three answers
Band 6.5
190 words (the task asks for at least 150)The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.
The answer
The maps show the changes in the village of Hallow Bay from 1995 to today.
In 1995 there was a fishing harbour in the west of the village with a stone pier and a fish market. Now the pier is still there but the harbour is a marina for the pleasure boats and the fish market is a restaurant4. The fishermen's cottages in the centre did not change and the shop and post office is still at the end of them, but there is a car park opposite it now.
In the east of the bay there were sand dunes in 1995, but now there is a big hotel on the dunes2 with a road to the coast road. Also there is a boardwalk along the beach which go from the pier to the hotel3.
In the north there was farmland in 1995. Today the half of the farmland is a caravan park and the lane is wider. There is still a lighthouse on the hill in north-east and now there is a footpath to it from the hotel.
Overall, there are many new things in the village for tourists.1
What an examiner notices
1. Task achievement
“Overall, there are many new things in the village for tourists.”
The right direction, stated too vaguely to count as a full overview. It says nothing about the fishing village the tourists replaced.
2. Task achievement
“now there is a big hotel on the dunes”
The dunes are gone; the hotel stands where they were. A small misreading, but it is the sort of inaccuracy that costs marks on a map.
3. Grammatical range and accuracy
“a boardwalk along the beach which go from the pier to the hotel”
The relative clause takes a plural verb for a singular noun. Meaning survives, which is why it is a band 6 error rather than a band 5 one.
4. Lexical resource
“the harbour is a marina for the pleasure boats and the fish market is a restaurant”
'Is' where 'has become' and 'has been converted into' were needed. The change is described as a state, so the fact of conversion is lost.
One honest caveat
Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.
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