Riverside Town Centre Before and After Pedestrianisation
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 question with a model answer of 221 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 20 minutes. Write at least 150 words.
The two maps below show the centre of the town of Riverside before and after the local council introduced a pedestrianisation scheme in the High Street area. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words. [Map description — Riverside town centre, before] - A bus station sits in the north-west corner, with a busy two-lane High Street running south through the heart of the map. - A row of small independent shops occupies the east side of the High Street. - Parallel rows of on-street car parking are marked all along the High Street on both sides. - A grey concrete square containing a war memorial sits in the centre of the map, with traffic passing on three sides. - The Town Hall stands on the east side of the square, with a small Library on the west side. - A river runs along the southern edge of the map, crossed by an old stone bridge from north to south. - South of the river is undeveloped grassland. [Map description — Riverside town centre, after pedestrianisation] - The bus station has been relocated to the south side of the river, on the former grassland, with a new pedestrian bridge linking it to the town centre. - The High Street has been closed to vehicles and turned into a paved pedestrian street with benches and planters. - The on-street car parking has been removed entirely; a new multi-storey Car Park has been built behind the Town Hall, accessible from a re-routed ring road on the north and east of the map. - The central square has been re-laid with trees, a fountain, and outdoor café seating; the war memorial has been retained at its centre. - The Town Hall and the Library remain in their original positions. - The old stone bridge is now used only by pedestrians and cyclists. - The east-side row of independent shops has been retained and joined by several new cafés.
How to approach it
- 01Open with an overview that captures the central shift — vehicle-centred to pedestrian-centred — and the buildings that have been retained
- 02Use a 'here, then there' structure with cardinal directions: 'in the north-west', 'on the south side of the river'
- 03Group the changes by theme (transport, public realm, retail) rather than walking through every feature in order
- 04Use present perfect passives consistently: 'has been relocated', 'has been removed', 'has been re-landscaped'
- 05Note what has NOT changed — at least once — to lift Task Achievement
Model answer
221 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
The two maps illustrate Riverside town centre before and after a pedestrianisation scheme transformed its core.
Overall, the redesign has shifted the town from a vehicle-centred layout to a pedestrian-friendly one, while the historic landmarks — the Town Hall, Library, war memorial and stone bridge — have all been retained. The most visible change is the removal of traffic from the High Street.
Looking first at the transport changes, the bus station has been relocated from its original north-west position to the previously undeveloped grassland on the south side of the river, with a new pedestrian bridge linking the two banks. The on-street parking that once flanked the High Street has been removed entirely and replaced by a new multi-storey Car Park behind the Town Hall, which is reached via a re-routed ring road running north and east. The old stone bridge has been reserved for pedestrians and cyclists.
Turning to the public realm, the central square has been completely re-landscaped with trees, a fountain and outdoor café seating, with the war memorial kept at its centre. The High Street itself has been closed to vehicles and paved over, with benches and planters added. The original row of independent shops along its east side has been preserved and joined by several new cafés, suggesting a deliberate emphasis on leisure and social use.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 38 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
13.5 more than the median answer for this task type
11 words at the shortest, 38 at the longest
2 fewer than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 24.6 words and vary by 9.8 words either side of that, running from 11 words to 38. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 2 of the 9 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
3 in total, spread across 3 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
while
once
overall
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 84 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 73 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 8 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Achievement
Cover all key changes and unchanged features across both maps with an overview and clear comparisons
Coherence & Cohesion
Organise by theme or zone rather than describing each feature in turn
Lexical Resource
Use accurate vocabulary for urban features, location and change
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use the present passive accurately for changes and contrast structures when describing the two time points
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