More and more people in the city live in homes with small spaces or no outdoor areas. Do you think it is negative or positive development?
Sample Response
The rising urban populationRising urban population has made more urban dwellers opt for small living spaces. From my perspective, this trend in urban housing poses more threats than benefits.
On the one hand, tiny spaces offer homeowners a simple, frugal and blissfully stress-free lifestyle. First, given the limited space, one would have to make some hard choices about what to keep andkeep, and what to discardget rid of. People do not feelThey don’t feel weighed down by their unnecessary possessions or a large mortgageall the frivolous items they used to own or a huge mortgage, and they spend less time and money cleaning and maintaining their homeshome, allowing themwhich allows more time and money for leisure activities. In addition, living in a tiny home can help save money in many different ways. People would be able to trim their monthly expenses on heating, cooling, property taxes, or home maintenance and hence puthome maintenance; and hence, put a little extra each month in the savings account.
However, opponents of this housing trend would argue that smaller spaces may be linked to health risks and privacy issues. Although micro-apartments may be fantastic for young professionals in their 20s20’s, they definitely can be unhealthy for older people who face different stress factors that can make tight living conditions a problem. Home is supposed to be a safe haven, and a resident with a demanding job may feel trapped in a claustrophobic apartment at night. Another main concern of putting people in tightly-packed living situations is the fundamental lack of privacy forto all residents, exerting negative influences on their well-being. There might be a trickle-down effect for children raised in these spaces, who might struggle to findfind it difficult to find a quiet, private room to read and complete their schoolwork.
In short, living in a tiny home does have compelling benefits, but it is not without its challenges as well. Taking the potential health risks and crowding challenges into accountTaking the potential health risks and crowding challenges, I believe micro-living may not be the urban panacea we’ve been waiting for. All in all, tiny spaces should be seen as a negative development.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response presents a clear position and supports it with well-developed, relevant discussion of financial benefits, health concerns, and privacy, using a strong range of language. Its main limitation is a handful of awkward grammatical and collocational choices that slightly reduce precision. The highest priority is to refine sentence-level control and phrasing while preserving the effective depth and balance of the argument.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The question is fully addressed through a clear negative position and well-developed consideration of both benefits and drawbacks.
Make the comparative judgement even sharper by explicitly weighing why the drawbacks outweigh the financial and lifestyle benefits.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through well-focused paragraphs, with cohesive devices used clearly and effectively.
Refine a few internal transitions so that the movement from general claims to particular groups feels entirely seamless.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise vocabulary supports nuanced discussion, although a few collocations are awkward.
Replace expressions such as privacy to all residents with more natural collocations to improve precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A broad range of complex structures is used with strong control, despite occasional agreement, reference, and phrasing problems.
Check pronoun consistency and introductory participle clauses carefully to eliminate the remaining non-impeding errors.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
More and more people in the city live in homes with small spaces or no outdoor areas. Do you think it is negative or positive development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.