Many men and women are making the decision to have children later in life. Why is this trend occurring? What are the impacts of this development on both family and society?
Sample Response
In the past, it was a natural step that a couple would get married fairly young, and then start a family. However, this is no longer the case and delaying childbirththe delaying of childbirth is becoming very common. This essay will consider the reasons for this trend and the possible effects on families and society.
OneThe driving force behind this trend is changing employment patterns. As more women have pursued an education and entered the workforce, they tend to marry later and have children later in lifelater in their life. This can be difficult to avoidThis is unavoidable in many cases because women cannot balance family life and workcombine family and work well due to costly childcare. Another factor is the wider range of opportunities availableall the other opportunities available to everyone. For example, many men and women choose to travel around the world or take the opportunitychance to work in another country, thus delaying the decision to settle downdelaying settling down.
There are a number of possible impacts on families and society. Firstly, with regardregards to families, it can be more difficult for older women to get pregnant and they may experience more health problems, such as a miscarriage, high blood pressure or diabetes, during pregnancy. Also, the parents may find the whole experience of bringing up children more tiring if they are older. In one respect it may be positive for society because if people are choosing to work for longer, a country will have a productive workforce. On the negative side though, in the long termin the long-term falling fertility rates will mean an aging population with a lack of young people to work and take care of the elderly.
In conclusion, there are several reasons whythat people are having children later in life, and this can have a number of impacts, both positive and negative. Given the fact that society continues to change, this trend is likely to continue well into the future.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response gives a balanced, well-developed account of both the causes of delayed parenthood and its effects on families and society, supported by precise and relevant consequences. Its main limitation is that a few explanations, particularly the relationship between childcare costs and delayed childbirth, could be made more nuanced. The highest-priority improvement is to clarify these causal links while retaining the essay’s concise structure.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
All parts of the task are addressed directly through developed reasons and a balanced range of family and societal impacts.
Qualify the claim that delayed childbirth is unavoidable and explain the childcare-cost mechanism more precisely.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information is logically organised, progression is clear, and cohesion supports the argument without distracting from it.
Consider separating the family and societal impacts more explicitly within the third paragraph to sharpen internal progression.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise vocabulary handles employment, pregnancy, fertility, and demographic consequences effectively.
Replace slightly loose phrases such as all the other opportunities with more exact wording about lifestyle and career choices.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide variety of complex structures is used with strong control and only minor, non-impeding lapses.
Polish small points of idiom and punctuation, including with regard to families and the placement of parenthetical commas.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many men and women are making the decision to have children later in life. Why is this trend occurring? What are the impacts of this development on both family and society?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.