APIEWriting Task 1: Urban Development
Cities, housing and urban life
Answers and an explanation for each question appear once you add this activity to your own library.
How to Use This Lesson
👩🏫 For the Teacher
Guide learners through core vocabulary before setting timed writing tasks.
Check auto-graded practice items instantly to target sentence structure weaknesses.
🧑🎓 For the Learner
Complete each warm-up question carefully to build natural phrasing for data reports.
Review feedback explanations immediately so you can reuse these patterns in your writing.
Hotel Data: Words and Sentence Patterns
Master essential word forms, collocations, connective phrases, and sentence paraphrases based on visitor numbers and room bookings.
A Word Forms (Hotel & Visitor Trends)
Choose the correct grammatical form to complete each statement accurately.
1. Between July and August, the hotel witnessed a significant ______ in direct bookings.
2. Average room ______ dropped to its lowest point during the winter season.
3. A large ______ of international tourists arrived by public transport.
4. Customer satisfaction ratings improved ______ after the main lobby was renovated.
5. Guest numbers showed notable ______ across the different quarters of the year.
B Collocations for Describing Data
Select the word that naturally completes the common data description phrase.
6. The hotel's daily revenue reached a ______ of $18,000 during the annual festival weekend.
7. Following the travel restrictions, the resort experienced a ______ drop in weekend reservations.
8. The percentage of domestic travelers remained ______ at roughly 45% throughout spring.
9. After three months of continuous growth, room rates began to ______ off in September.
10. Over the entire five-year span, luxury suite bookings followed a clear upward ______.
C Common Phrases for Reporting Data
Fill each blank with the most fitting phrase from the word bank below.
Word Bank
11. Online reservations [ ... ] nearly 60% of all stays in 2022.
12. [ ... ] guest numbers, the seaside hotel outperformed all other branches.
13. Last year, the city hosted [ ... ] 120,000 hotel visitors.
14. Only 300 business trips took place in April, [ ... ] over 900 in the previous month.
15. [ ... ] customer ratings, family suites received the highest praise.
D Paraphrasing Sentences
Select the sentence that expresses the same meaning as the original sentence without changing the facts.
Original Sentence:
"The number of hotel guests increased steadily from 2010 to 2015."
Original Sentence:
"Roughly 70% of all guests preferred luxury rooms over standard rooms."
Original Sentence:
"Expenditure on hotel meals dropped sharply before recovering slightly in December."
Town Centre Maps: 2000 vs 2020
Task Instructions
"The two maps show a town centre in 2000 and in 2020. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant."
🎯 Target: Write a well-structured summary of at least 150 words.
Map Layouts
Examine the spatial changes in the town centre over the 20-year period.
Initial layout with industrial and vehicular transport infrastructure.
Modernized layout highlighting residential, green, and pedestrian additions.
Checklist: What Every Effective Map Report Needs
Review these five core elements before you begin drafting your response:
Identify overall patterns of modernization, pedestrianization, and residential redevelopment without listing every minute change.
Organize changes logically by area (north vs south, or facilities that were replaced vs facilities that stayed untouched).
Use precise comparative language (e.g., "doubled in width", "replaced by", "converted into a pedestrian zone").
Refer to compass directions accurately (e.g., "in the north-west", "south of the town hall", "across the river").
Write at least 150 words using an objective, reporting voice. Avoid personal opinions or explanations for why the town decided to modernize.
Draft Your Map Report
Type your response below. Your report will be evaluated against four core criteria:
A Clear Model Answer: Town Centre 2000–2020
Study this complete 152-word sample report based on the two town centre maps. Examine how the numbered bold phrases create logical flow, spatial precision, and clear comparisons.
The two maps illustrate how a town centre developed over a twenty-year period from 2000 to 2020.
Overall, the town centre 1underwent significant pedestrianization and residential development, transitioning away from vehicle traffic and industry while preserving its key civic buildings.
Looking first at the northern and central areas, the car park in the north-west 2was replaced by a public park, whereas the market square, bus station, and central town hall 3remained unchanged. Immediately south of the new green space, the main road 4was converted into a pedestrian street. Alongside this, the retail sector expanded considerably, with the shops on the eastern side 5becoming twice as wide as they were in 2000.
In the southern half, the factory 6gave way to apartments in the south-west. The houses and the river stayed in exactly the same places as in 2000, but a new footbridge 7constructed across the river now stands next to the houses.
Why This Works: Phrase Breakdown
Here is why each selected phrase performs effectively in an informative map report:
Why this works
Combines an active reporting verb ("underwent") with a strong summary noun ("pedestrianization") to outline a major town-wide trend in your overview without getting bogged down in tiny details.
Why this works
A fundamental, objective passive structure. It immediately communicates that an older facility (car park) made way for a brand-new amenity (park) in the exact same footprint.
Why this works
Pointing out what stayed the same demonstrates balanced, thorough attention. Grouping three constant landmarks into one phrase saves words and prevents repetitive sentences.
Why this works
More precise than "changed". It signals that the existing physical corridor was repurposed for foot traffic rather than newly constructed from scratch.
Why this works
Accurately reports visual scale without inventing fictitious square-meter measurements. It delivers an exact comparative relationship between the two time periods.
Why this works
Another way to say "was replaced by". It shows one use of the land ending and another taking its place, and it adds no detail that the maps do not show.
Why this works
Combines an accurate past participle ("constructed") with the correct directional preposition ("across"). It clearly clarifies what was built and its exact relationship to natural geography.
Key Takeaway for Map Reports
Notice how the report divides the information: an introduction stating the topic and dates, an overview capturing the broad shift from industrial/traffic to pedestrian/residential, a body paragraph for northern/central developments, and a final body paragraph for the south. Applying this straightforward layout ensures clear organization every time.
Related lessons
Reading: Greener Cities and Urban Renewal
Cities, housing and urban life
Reading · 18 min
IELTS Speaking Practice: Cities and Urban Life
Cities, housing and urban life
Speaking · 30 min
Vocabulary: Cities, Housing and Urban Life
Cities, housing and urban life
Vocabulary · 20 min
IELTS Writing: Children and Smartphones
Technology
Writing · 40 min
Writing B2: Report on a Staff Survey
Work & careers
Writing · 25 min
IELTS Academic Writing: Science in Everyday Life
Science in everyday life
Writing · 40 min