In the past, many people had skills such as making their own clothes and doing repairs to things in the house. In many countries, nowadays, skills like these are disappearing. Why do you think this is happening? How far is this situation true in your country?
Sample Response
Many years ago, peopleMany years ago people used to make everything themselves from scratcheverything themselves and from scratch. Everyone's main duties included building a home, working in the field, cooking and making clothes. Most of the jobs we know today did not exist. There were no lawyers, bankers, journalists and many more. Nowadays, however, it is differentit's different. With the integration of technology into our daily livesintroduction of technology in our daily lives and in the production of many goods, the world has changed. People no longer learn how to make their own clothes or repair their houses. NowadaysIn modern days peopleyou either hire someone to do the job for you or use technology. As for clothes and food, you can simply go to the nearest shopping centrejust pop to the nearest shopping centre and find everything you need. In my country, things are more or less the same. It's not common for people, especially younger ones, to haveespecially younger ones to have skills like these. Some years ago childrenkids were taught how to sew and use machinery at school but this no longer happensbut this does not happen anymore. Of course, there are people who still know how to make things by themselves, butthings by themselves but they usually do sothey are usually doing it because they have no other choice: theychoice - they either live in the countryside or are not particularly wealthy. In general, I believe that fewerless and fewer people rely on themselves to do such work. It is a good thing that nowadays everything is so easy to get and technology is so advanced but thinkthinks about it - if all of our machines broke downmachines broke, who would know how to do their jobsjob?
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response answers both questions clearly, linking the decline of practical skills to technology, specialist services, easy access to goods, and changes in schooling, while explaining that the pattern is widespread in the writer's country. Its main limitations are one-block organisation, a few sweeping historical claims, and some informal or inaccurate wording. Prioritise focused paragraphs and deeper explanation of the strongest causes with precise examples from the country discussed.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both the causes and the extent of the trend in the writer's country are addressed, though development is fairly general and some historical claims are unsupported.
Focus on technology, affordability, and education, explaining each cause with a concrete contemporary example from the writer's country.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has a clear overall sequence from past to present and then national experience, but the absence of paragraphs weakens organisation.
Separate the historical context, reasons for the decline, national extent, and final reflection into distinct paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficiently varied and generally natural, although a few informal expressions and inaccurate combinations reduce academic precision.
Replace pop to the shops, more or less the same, and less and fewer people with more formal, accurate alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of structures is mostly controlled, with occasional errors in punctuation, comparison forms, and verb choice that do not obstruct meaning.
Check comparative quantifiers and commands, using fewer people and think about it, and punctuate parenthetical phrases clearly.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
In the past, many people had skills such as making their own clothes and doing repairs to things in the house. In many countries, nowadays, skills like these are disappearing. Why do you think this is happening? How far is this situation true in your country?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.