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
A home is consideredA home is being considered as a place of comforta paradise on the earth as it could be a place to return to after a hectic daya destination after a hectic day. These days we have multiple housing optionsmultiple options for the home, like an independent house or an apartment. Different people have different views on choosing a type of accommodation. One advantage of living in a house isFirstly, let us look at the advantages and disadvantages of living in a housethe pros and cons of the house. An independent house is always considered a status symbolconsidered as a status symbol. This could be one of the reasons that the majority of the film stars own a house rather than a flat. Another advantage is thatAnother advantage could be; a personalised space is gained by living in a house. You are the owner of the area so you can change it as per your convenience. However, personal space could be quite expensive. It is known that houses are more expensive than an apartment. At times a house might not be a safe place to live. For example, it is not surprising to read news about murder and robbery in the villas these days. Nevertheless, it is a fact that the apartment concept is widely accepted by society, so its benefits cannot be ignored. Though living in an apartment could be noisy sometimes, it is a safe place to live in. For instance, a thief would think twice before entering a placeentering into a place where many people are living. Moreover, a security guard is easily affordable in an apartment than in a housean apartment compared to a house. An apartment could be a good option for people who like to socialise more. For example, a conversation started with a simple hello, turns into an hour-long chata long hour chat. You tend to meet different kinds of people so there are higher chances of finding like-minded peoplealike minded people in apartments. In this global world, people stay away from their their familiesfamilies because of work. However, a party organised by the apartmentapartments secretaries could make people feel like celebrating festivals with families. I believe it isI believe, it is an individual's choice to decide a kind of place to live. However, being a very social person because its advantages outweigh those of a house for my lifestyleI would prefer to live in an apartment.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response offers relevant ideas about both housing types and supports its preference with concrete points about space, cost, safety, and social life. However, the comparison does not directly answer the central advantages-versus-disadvantages question until the end, and the single-paragraph structure obscures progression; the priority is to state a clear comparative judgement in the introduction and organise the discussion into distinct, balanced paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay discusses both houses and apartments and gives a personal preference for apartments. The answer is relevant, but it does not directly compare whether houses have more advantages than disadvantages until the final preference.
Make the thesis explicitly answer the comparison: houses offer space and status, but apartments have stronger overall advantages for safety, cost, and community.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are understandable, but the whole response is one long paragraph, which weakens organisation. Some transitions are present, yet the comparison would be clearer with separate sections.
Use four paragraphs: introduction, house advantages/disadvantages, apartment advantages/disadvantages, and final judgement.
Lexical Resource
There is adequate housing and lifestyle vocabulary, but several phrases are informal, awkward, or imprecise.
Use natural terms such as independent house, apartment complex, personal space, security, maintenance costs, and like-minded people.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex structures, but article errors, preposition errors, and sentence punctuation problems are noticeable.
Edit long sentences into shorter academic sentences and check article use before countable singular nouns.
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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.