Some people think that cities are the best places to live. Others prefer to live in a rural area. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city to living in the countryside.

Same questionCompare 10 different answers (Band 5.5–7.5)

Sample Response

1

These days, many people are quite concerned about choosing the right place to live their own liveslife. In this essay, I will look at the pros and cons ofpros and cons, aspects of living in a large, crowded townlarge and crowded town compared to the countryside and draw a reasoned conclusion based on my ideas. One of the most significant benefits of settling in a city is health care. Usually, there is a well-functioning healthcare systemwell-functioning health care system available to citizens of the town such as hospitalshospital and clinics, with many specialised doctors and healthcare professionals. For example, in the city, it is very convenient to find physicians, dentists and nurses. In contrast, often inhabitants of rural areashabitants of the rural area have to travel all the way to the city to visit healthcare professionalsvisit the professionals in the city. As a result, people who live in the countryside suffer from the lack of health care laboratories, hospitals and chamber of professional doctors which are not close to them and is one of the reasons people prefer to stay closer to city centres. Furthermore, a city offers better educational, recreational and employment facilities which are difficult to accessquite tough to find in a rural area. However, crime is the biggestthe crime is the biggest challenge that inhabitants of a crowded city have to face. For example, murder, rape, theft, motor vehicle offencesoffence, drugs abuse, firearm and offensive-weapon offencesfirearms & offensive weapon cases are more common in city areas than in thea countryside. Even with a criminal justice systemcriminal justice system and punishment by state law in cities, the rate of these heinous crimes is much higher there than in any other partthan any other part of the country such as villages and rural areasarea. The rate of the crime is much less in a countryside than a city because of the smaller populationdue to the less population and economic factors of that area. As a result, the people who live in a countryside are bettermuch protected against violation of their rights. In conclusion, both cities and rural areasboth large towns and urban areas have some conveniences and drawbacks for its citizens. Living location should ultimately be chosen depending on an individual's base on their professional job. For example, farmer ideally will choose the rural area and on the other hand, IT professional will prefer to be close to city centre.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 6.0

The response compares city and countryside living through relevant contrasts in healthcare, education, employment, recreation, and crime, and it ends with a sensible occupation-based judgement. Its main limitation is uneven development: city healthcare and crime receive extensive attention, while rural benefits and disadvantages are treated more narrowly; frequent language errors also reduce precision. Prioritise balanced comparative paragraphs and careful editing of articles, agreement, and collocations.

Band score breakdown

IELTS Writing Criteria Scores

TR

Task Response

7.0
Scoring rule

The task is addressed with a range of relevant urban advantages and disadvantages and some rural comparisons, though coverage is unevenly developed.

Next step

Develop rural advantages and drawbacks as fully as the city points, using direct comparisons beyond healthcare and crime.

CC

Coherence and Cohesion

6.0
Scoring rule

Ideas progress recognisably from urban benefits to crime and a concluding comparison, but one-block presentation and repetition weaken organisation.

Next step

Use separate paragraphs for city advantages, city disadvantages and rural contrasts, and the final comparative judgement.

LR

Lexical Resource

6.0
Scoring rule

The response uses sufficient topic vocabulary and some less common terms, but recurring inaccurate word choices and collocations reduce precision.

Next step

Use natural phrases such as residents, healthcare facilities, doctors' surgeries, lower population density, criminal offences, and rural areas.

GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

5.5
Scoring rule

The writer attempts varied complex structures, but frequent errors in articles, agreement, plural forms, and clause construction remain noticeable.

Next step

Check every long sentence for subject-verb agreement and correct noun phrases such as a healthcare system, hospitals and clinics, and the countryside.

Put the feedback to work

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 think that cities are the best places to live. Others prefer to live in a rural area. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city to living in the countryside.

Your response

Words0
40:00

Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.