Describing maps

Buildings: demolish, clear, remove, knock down, flatten, replace, renovate, build, construct, reconstruct, develop, extend,
expand, relocate, convert, modernize.
Trees and forests: clear, cut down, chop down, remove, plant.
Roads and railway lines: construct, build, extend, expand, remove.
Leisure facilities: open, set up, develop.
Writing overview
Over the period, the area witnessed dramatic changes. From 1995 t0 2005, the city center saw spectacular developments.
The village changed considerably over the period of time. During the 10-year period, the residential area was totally
reconstructed. Over the period of time, the old docks were totally redeveloped. Between 1995 and 2005, the old houses
were rebuilt. The central business district was completely modernized during the time period.
Sample 1
The three diagrams depict the changes to West Park Secondary School and the area in its vicinity in the sixty-year period from 1950 to 2010.
As can be seen in the diagrams, in this period, the school had another block annexed to the main building. There were also many alterations in
the use of the properties around the school during this period.
Significant changes occurred to the area and plots around the school building. Firstly, the land to the west of the school was a residential area
with houses in it in 1950. In 1980, these houses were removed and part of this land was claimed by the school to become the new annex used
as the science block. The rest of this land turned into a small car park in the same year. Secondly, in 1050, there used to be a farmland to the
southwest of the school building which was reused as a sports field in 1980. This whole area, however, was added to the car park in 2010 to
create a very large parking space, even larger than the school itself.
The area to the south of the school was a large playground in 1950 and remained the same recreation area for a long time, but in 2010, as the
car park had taken up the land for the sports field, part of the playground, about a third, was altered to a sports field. The main road to the
north of the school did not see any changes during these entire six decades.
 Line graph
The line graph provides a comparison of the fast-food consumption of teenagers in Australia between 1975 and 2000, a
period of 25 years.
From the graph it can be plainly viewed that, the consumption of fish and chips declined whereas the amount of pizza and
hamburgers eaten soared over the period.
In 1975, the most popular fast-food with Australian teenagers was fish and chips, being eaten 100 times a year. This was far
higher than pizza and hamburgers, which were consumed approximately 5 times a year. However, apart from a brief rise
again from 1980 to 1985, the consumption of fish and chips gradually declined over the 25-year timescale to finish at just
under 40.
In sharp contrast to this, teenagers ate the other two fast foods at much higher levels. Pizza consumption increased
gradually until it overtook the consumption of fish and chips in 1990. It then levelled off from 1995 to 2000. The biggest rise
was seen in hamburgers as the occasions they were eaten increased sharply throughout the 1970s/1080s., exceeding that of
fish and chips in 1985. It finished at the same level that fish and chips began, with consumption at 100 times a year.
Bar Chart
Gradually increases, makes a slight fall, keeps rising, reaches a peak, increases at a steady rate, falls, increases sharply,
finishes at, stands at, finishes the period at.
Sample
The bar chart illustrates the download rate per week of ActiveX, Java and Net computer packages over a period of five
weeks.
It can clearly be seen that ActiveX was the most popular computer package to download, whilst Net was the least popular of
the three.
To begin, the downloads of ActiveX and Java showed similar patterns, with both increasing gradually from week 1 to week 5.
However, the purchase of ActiveX remained significantly higher than that of the other product over this period of time. In
week 1, the purchases of ActiveX stood at around 75000, while those of Java were about 30000 lower. With the exception of
a slight fall in week 4, downloads of ActiveX kept increasing until it reached a peak of just over 120000 in the final week. Java
downloads also increased at a steady rate, finishing the period at 80000.
The product which was downloaded the least was Net. This began at slightly under 40000, and, in contrast to the other two
products, fell over the next two weeks to reach a low of about 15000. It then increased sharply over the following two weeks
to finish at about 50000, which was well below that of ActiveX.
Table
The table illustrates the percentage of school children attending four different types of secondary school from 2000 to 2009.
It is evident that whereas the community schools experienced a marked increase in the proportion of those attending their
institutions over the period, the others saw a corresponding decline.
To begin with, the percentage of pupils in voluntary-controlled schools fell from just over a half to only 20% or one fifth from
2000 to 2009. Similarly, the relative number of children in grammar schools – just under a quarter – dropped by half in the
same period. As for the specialist schools, the relatively small percentage of pupils attending this type of school (12%) also
fell, although not significantly.
However, while the other three types of schools declined in importance, the opposite was true in the case of community
schools. In fact, whereas only a small minority of 12% were attending these schools in 2001, this figure increased to well over
half of all pupils (58%) during the following nine years.
Static Table
The table uses four economic indicators to show the standard of living in five selected countries.
Overall, it can be seen that the quality of life in the USA is far higher than the other four countries.
To begin, the USA, which is a developed country, has the highest GNP at 13160 dollars per head. It also has a much higher
daily calorie intake and life expectancy, and the lowest rate of infant mortality.
The other developing countries indicate quality of life ratings that are significantly lower. The range of indicators for Egypt,
Indonesia and Bolivia look similar, with Egypt having the highest quality of life amongst the three. However, the infant
mortality rate in Egypt is slightly higher than Indonesia’s at 97 deaths per 1000 compared to 87 in Indonesia.
Bangladesh by far shows the lowest quality of life in all the indicators. Its GNP stands at 140$, one hundred times smaller
than that of USA. Its calorie intake and life expectancy are about half of those of USA, and its infant mortality rate is 10 times
greater.
Mixed graphs
The line graph illustrates the number of visitors in million from the UK who went abroad and those who came to the UK
between 1979 and 1999, while the bar graph illustrates the most visited countries by UK tourists.
Overall, it can be seen that the rate of visits to and from UK increased over the period, and that France was the most popular
country for UK tourists to visit.
To begin, the number of visits abroad by UK residents was higher than visits to the UK, and this remained so throughout the
period. The figures started at a similar amount, approximately 10 million, but visits abroad increased significantly to over 50
million, whereas visits to the UK rose steadily to reach just under 30 million.
By far the most popular country for UK tourists to visit was France at 11 million visitors in 1999, followed by Spain at around
9 million. The USA, Greece and Turkey were visited far less than France and Spain at 4, 3.5 and 2.5 million visitors,
respectively.
2
The bar chart and table give information about export earnings of a selected country in five groups of products in 2015 and
2016.
It is noticeable that export revenue in all but one of the five products increased over the period. While petroleum products
were the highest earning exports in both years, the textile products saw the most significant rise in value.
Export earnings from petroleum increased from 60 billion in 2015 to 63 billion in 2016, which was a 3% rise in the value.
Income from engineered goods reached a similar level. The country’s export earnings from this group of products increased
by 8.5% to approximately 61 billion in 2016.
From 2015 to 2016, there was a 15.24% increase in export revenue of textile category, with earnings rising from roughly 26
billion to just over 30 billion. By contrast, there was almost no change in the amount of money earned from agricultural
products, which remained at just above 30 billion. Finally, the only decline was observed in gems and jewelry, with a
decrease of roughly 5% from 43 billion to 40 billion.