More houses are needed in many countries to cope with increasing populations. Would it be better to build houses in existing towns and cities, or to develop new towns in rural areas?
Sample Response
The demand for houses has increased rapidly these days, due to the substantial growth in the world's populationsignificant growth of the world population. Some people think that it is better for property developers to build more houses in existing cities, while others believe that it would be better to develop new residential areasbuild new areas. The following essay will discuss both arguments in detaildetails.
It is a fact that the world population has grown rapidly nowadays which increased the demand for housing. It is believed that building more houses in existing townsthe existing town is better than expandingbetter than to expand to new areas. As most workplaces are located in and around citiescities surrounding, it would be better for residents to have accommodation thatwhich is located near their workplaceslocated near to their work. However, many people do not realise that building more homes in existing citiesbuilding more properties in the town means that the city would become denser and traffic congestion would worsencongestion would become worst. As a result, air pollution would worsenair pollution become worst and it harms the healthdistracts the health condition of the residents.
On the other hand, developing new housing areas bringsbring a lot of benefits for residentsbenefits for the people. Firstly, new towns or cities have lower property priceshave a lower property price than properties locatedthan those who are located in the city centre; therefore,city centre, therefore more people could own a house. Secondly, as some city residentssome of the cities' people move to new towns, it would gradually reduce the density, air pollution and traffic problems in the cities themselves. Thirdly, by developing rural areas, it would promote economic growthit would develop the economic growth of the rural areas themselves, as there will be new commercial areas and new workplaces as well.
In conclusion, it is obvious that the demand for properties has risen due to the increase of the world population. To cope with the issue, people could build more houses in existing cities or develop new towns. I personally believe that building and developing new areas is better than building new houses in the existing towns.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response presents a clear preference for developing new towns and organizes relevant advantages and disadvantages in a logical sequence. Its main limitation is that several claims remain broad, while frequent agreement, comparison, and collocation errors reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to develop each main point with a concrete consequence or example while proofreading sentence structure and word choice.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response answers the choice directly, considers both locations, and supports its preference with several relevant reasons, though some claims remain broad.
Develop each main reason with a more specific example or explanation of its practical consequences.
Coherence and Cohesion
The four-paragraph structure and progression from the urban option to rural development are clear, despite some mechanical sequencing and repetition.
Use referencing and varied transitions to connect related claims without repeatedly relying on formulaic markers.
Lexical Resource
The response uses an adequate range of housing and urban-development vocabulary, but recurrent inaccurate collocations and word choices reduce precision.
Replace combinations such as comparative forms and health-related phrases with natural, context-appropriate collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex sentences communicates the argument clearly, although agreement, article, comparison, and verb-form errors recur.
Proofread systematically for subject-verb agreement and correct comparative and verb forms in every sentence.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
More houses are needed in many countries to cope with increasing populations. Would it be better to build houses in existing towns and cities, or to develop new towns in rural areas?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.