4.3. Maps and Processes
Follow the arrows or compare the two maps, name the stages or the biggest change in an overview, then describe every stage or change in order.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The diagram below shows how olive oil is produced.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
The short version
A process diagram shows stages joined by arrows. You describe every stage, in order, in the passive: the olives are crushed.
A map task shows one place at two dates. You say what was added, removed or moved, and where.
Both need an overview: one or two sentences naming how many stages there are, or the biggest change.
There are no figures to select. Every stage goes in, and no reason for any change.
What you have to do
The test shows a diagram of stages joined by arrows, or two maps of the same place at two dates. Above it is an instruction line. You write a report of at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. It needs an introduction, an overview and two detail paragraphs. The overview names the number of stages or the biggest change. It is marked on four things. First, whether every stage or every main change is covered. Then organisation, vocabulary and grammar.
Which tense and which voice
A process is described in the present simple and usually the passive: the olives are washed. The stage matters more than who does it. A map with two past dates takes the past: a car park was built. A map of a future plan takes will be or is to be: the field will be turned into housing. Sequence words carry the reader: first, then, after this, finally.
Step by step
- 1Follow the arrows, or read the two dates and the compass, first
On a process, find the first box and the last and count the stages between them. Then check whether the arrows loop back to the start. On the diagram above there are six stages, from harvesting to bottling, in one line. On a map, read the two dates, the compass and the key. Then compare the two pictures area by area: north, centre, south.
- 2Decide what the task demands: an overview of the stages or the biggest change
A process report needs an overview that says how many stages there are and where the process starts and ends. Then describe every stage in order. A map report needs an overview that names the biggest change, for instance farmland turned into housing, plus what stayed. On the diagram above, the overview is that six stages turn picked olives into bottled oil, with pressing in the middle.
- 3Paraphrase the instruction line in your first sentence
Say what the task shows in your own words, changing the verbs and the nouns and keeping the facts. The diagram shows how olive oil is produced can become The diagram illustrates the six stages by which olives are turned into bottled oil. For a map, shows the town of Bray in 1990 and 2020 can become compares the layout of Bray at two dates thirty years apart. Keep the dates as shown.
- 4Leave out what did not change and what the task does not say
On a map, name what stayed the same in one clause: the church in the centre was left untouched. Never add a reason: a bypass was built to cut traffic is a guess, and the map only shows the road. On a process, do not add machinery, temperatures or times that the diagram does not show. Every stage goes in, and nothing else.
- 5If you are stuck, write before and after in two paragraphs
For a map, give the first paragraph to what the earlier map showed. Give the second to what had changed by the later date, area by area. For a process, put the first half of the stages in one paragraph and the second half in another. Write one sentence per stage: a sequence word, the stage in the passive, and where it leads. On the diagram above that is three stages in each paragraph.
Once the olives have been harvested, they are washed and then crushed. At the fourth stage the crushed olives are pressed, and the liquid this produces is separated so that the oil is left on its own. Finally, the oil is bottled.
- TaskThe first stage, in the passive, with a sequence word built in.
- CoherenceTwo short stages share one sentence. Neither is skipped.
- CoherenceNumbering a stage tells the examiner you kept count.
- TaskSeparating is explained by its result, with no machinery invented.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Quiz time5 questions
Each drill gives you the map, the diagram or the line it needs, in words. Practise one judgement at a time.
Which sentence is the overview?
Two maps are described in words. Choose the sentence that names the biggest change.
Read thisTwo maps of Ashford harbour. 1995: fishing boats, a fish market, a warehouse, open ground to the east. 2020: a marina, a restaurant in the old market building, flats where the warehouse stood, a car park on the open ground.
Which sentence is the overview?
Paraphrase the instruction line
This opening copies the instruction line word for word. Rewrite it in your own words, keeping both dates.
Read thisInstruction line: The maps below show the centre of Millbrook in 2000 and 2020.
The maps below show the centre of Millbrook in 2000 and 2020.
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Keep to the diagram
Read the five stages, then choose the sentence that reports the middle of the process correctly.
Read thisDiagram: how recycled paper is made. Five stages, joined by arrows: collecting, sorting, pulping, cleaning, rolling.
Which sentence reports the middle of the process correctly?
Spot the change with no place
Four sentences report the maps. One names a change without saying where it happened. Choose it.
Read thisVillage of Renton, 1980 and 2020. 1980: farmland north of the main road, a school to the south, a church in the centre. 2020: a housing estate on the farmland, the school extended, the church unchanged, a new bypass west of the village.
Which sentence contains the error?
Put each stage in the passive
Complete the sentence with the passive form of each verb in brackets. Two words per gap.
Read thisDiagram, fruit juice. Stage 4: fill bottles. Stage 5: seal bottles. Stage 6: pack bottles in boxes.
At the fourth stage the bottles (fill) with juice, after which they (seal) and finally (pack) into boxes.
Write no more than 2 words in each gap.
The full model
Below are a map with two dates and a four-stage diagram, each with a short model. Read each sentence against the picture and check that every change has a place and every stage is there.
Two dates for the same site. Compare them area by area and note three things: what is new, what has gone, and what has not moved.
A boatyard on the north side of the slipway was replaced by a cafe. The car park to the south became a market, and a boardwalk was added on the east side, while the slipway itself was left unchanged.
Each change has a place, and the one thing that stayed is named too. “There were many changes” would not be enough.
Four stages, in order from the first box to the last. A process diagram gives you a sequence, not amounts to compare, so describe each stage in turn. A figure that belongs to a stage, like the five days here, is part of that stage, not a trend.
First, the title is requested online by the reader. The book is then picked from the shelves by staff and held at the desk for five days, before it is finally collected.
Every stage is here, in the passive. Two small steps can share a sentence. Do not skip a stage.
Your turn to write2 questions
Write two map sentences
Name two changes on Quay Lane. Each change needs a place. Do not invent a reason.
2005: boatyard (north), slipway (centre), car park (south), shed (west). 2025: cafe (north), slipway, market (south), flats (west), boardwalk (east).
0 / 20 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Write the process
Describe all four stages in two or three sentences. Use the passive and sequence words (first, then, finally).
Library reservation: (1) reader requests the title online, (2) staff pick the book from the shelves, (3) it is held at the desk for five days, (4) the reader collects it.
0 / 25 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Tips
- Number the stages before you write
List the stages 1 to 6 in your notes. A numbered list is hard to skip a stage from, and at the fourth stage is a free linking phrase.
- Use compass words on a map
To the north of, on the eastern side, opposite the church. A change with a place is a change the examiner can find.
- Name what stayed in one clause
While the slipway was unchanged shows you compared the whole map. It needs no more than that.
Recap
Follow the arrows or compare the two dates area by area before you write.
Write an overview naming the number of stages or the biggest change. Then describe every stage or change in order, each with a place.
Leave out reasons and anything the task does not show. Use the passive for stages.
Next: how to write the overview that every Task 1 needs.