Some people prefer to live in a house, while others feel that there are more advantages to living in an apartment. Are there more advantages than disadvantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment?
Sample Response
Growing urbanisation has led to a lack of spacethe lacking of space and thus a large number of people are opting to live in apartments. However, some people still prefer to live in a house. This essay explores the advantages and disadvantages of both these stylesstyle of living before coming to a logical conclusion.
Until a few decades agoTill a few decades back, living in individual houses was the most common norm. This was not only due to the fact that land was easily available but also due to the size of the family. The extended family lived and worked together. The house was generally accompanied by a spaciouslarge garden and ample space for the children to play. Even today, people living in houses prefer to do so because they value their privacy and need their own space. They also argue that they can build and design the house layout according to their needsas per their convenience. However, living in a house comes with a high maintenance cost and extra effort.
However, people living in apartments do notpeople living in an apartment does not have to spend much on maintenance. The maintenance is taken care of by the housing societyby society. There is a helpline number that residentsyou can call at any time of the day for any issue they faceany issue that you face. Besides, working parents also value the safetyvouch for the safety of their children within such gated communities. The only drawbackdiscomfort faced by people living in apartments is the lack of privacy and space.
The choice of living in a house or in an apartment depends on factors such as availability, rental costs and need and hence a particular style of living cannot be deemed bettercannot be deemed to be the better than the other.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear, logically organised comparison of privacy, space, maintenance, cost, and safety across houses and apartments. Its main limitation is that the conclusion avoids directly answering whether living in a house has more advantages than disadvantages, and some awkward phrasing reduces precision. Prioritise stating a definite comparative position in both the introduction and conclusion, then use each body paragraph to support that judgement explicitly.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay compares houses and apartments clearly, but the final judgement does not directly say whether houses have more advantages than disadvantages.
State a direct position in the introduction and conclusion, then make each body paragraph support that answer.
Coherence and Cohesion
The paragraphing is logical and progression is easy to follow, with only some mechanical linking and repeated contrast markers.
Use topic sentences that explicitly compare the two living options.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is generally suitable for housing, privacy, cost, and safety, but several collocations are awkward.
Use natural phrases such as lack of space, styles of living, housing society, and gated community.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There is a useful range of sentence forms, but agreement, articles, and plural nouns cause noticeable errors.
Check subject-verb agreement after plural subjects and edit noun phrases for correct articles.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people prefer to live in a house, while others feel that there are more advantages to living in an apartment. Are there more advantages than disadvantages of living in a house compared with living in an apartment?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.