Some people think that the teenage years are the happiest time of most people’s lives. Others think that adult life brings more happiness, in spite of greater responsibility. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
Some think that in most people’s lives the happiest moment are the time when they were teenagers while other people think that, despite taking up more responsibilities, adult life is happier. I agree with the latter statement that, although teenagers generally do not need to worry about their finances, adults can do everything they want legitimately.
Most people in the teenage years do not need to manage their financestake care of their finances. That is because teenagers are usually financially supported by their familiessupported by their families financially, and their parents coverpay all kinds of expenses for them. For example, most parents in Hong Kong give their teenage children US$20 a week in pocket moneyUS$20 a week pocket money. Their parents also buy them the new video games they wantbuy new video games they want or they pay for fees for extracurricular classestuition fees of interest classes. Despite the fact that most people do not need to worry about their finances when they arewere teenagers, I consider that, despite having more responsibilitiesin spite of more responsibilities, adult life is happier because adults can legally do whatever they wantadults can do legally whatever they want.
Adults can do anything they like within the lawas allowed by law. They can get married and have their own families, and they can recreate the joys of childhoodcreate their own childhood joys. Of course, adults have greater responsibilitiesthe adults have greater responsibility as they need to support themselves and their families, and they need to take care of their spouses and children. For instance, people work hardpeople work so hard to make a living and they are usually exhausted when they leave the office. But when they come home, their cheerful spousesspouse and children are there to support them and they feel loved and cared for. Therefore, I think that there is more happiness in adult life.
In conclusion, although teenagers generally do not need to worry about their finances, adulthood is happierbeing adults are happier even though they have greater responsibilities becausethey have greater responsibility, because they can do anything they want legally.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response presents a clear preference for adult life and supports both perspectives with relevant, easy-to-follow examples. Its main limitation is that the discussion remains somewhat repetitive and reduces teenage happiness largely to financial support, while several awkward phrases and agreement errors weaken precision. Prioritise developing each viewpoint through a broader, more analytical explanation and checking subject-verb agreement and collocations during revision.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views are addressed and the writer's preference is clear, with relevant support, though the ideas are somewhat narrow and repetitive.
Develop a wider reason for each stage of life and explain more explicitly why the adult benefits outweigh the teenage advantages.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a consistent conclusion, despite some repetitive restatement.
Reduce repeated versions of the thesis and use each paragraph's closing sentence to advance the comparison rather than restate it.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, but awkward combinations such as references to interest classes and childhood joys reduce naturalness.
Use more precise, conventional collocations for financial dependence, personal freedom, and family fulfilment.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex structures communicates meaning clearly, although agreement, article, tense, and word-order errors recur.
Proofread especially for subject-verb agreement and consistent time reference, including plural subjects and comparisons between life stages.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that the teenage years are the happiest time of most people’s lives. Others think that adult life brings more happiness, in spite of greater responsibility. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.