Many people try to achieve a work-life balance but fail. Why is this happening? What can be done to help people overcome this problem?
Sample Response
Many people strive for a work-life balance but often fail to achieve itstrive to achieve a work-life balance, but often find themselves failing despite their best efforts. This is not surprising, as balancing work and life commitments can be extremely difficult due to both having their unique stressors.
One of the major reasons why so many people struggle to achieve harmony between their personal and professional lives is that it is now easierthat now it is easier than ever for people to stay connected outside of regular work hours. This has led to an expectation that employees should always be available, and they risk being seen as unreliable or uncommitted if they are not. A further consequenceA knock-on effect of longer working hours is that little time is left for leisure activities such as socialising or engaging in hobbies or sports, which help reduce stress levels and improve overall well-being. This type of pressure and lack of free time can lead to feelings of burnout, with no respite from life’s pressures, resulting in chronic fatigue and diminished motivation over time.
Helping those struggling to find a suitable work-life balance requires joint efforts fromwill require joint efforts of managers and employees. Workers, for instance, need to recognise the importance of taking regular breaks throughout the day and getting enough sleep each night, while employers should offer greater flexibility by allowingconsider being more flexible when it comes to allowing staff to work remotely and offering paid vacation days. This will give employees both mental and physical spacespace, both mentally and physically, enabling them to better manage their commitments without overextending themselves.
In conclusion, achieving a work-life balanceachieving a successful work-life balance is something that many cannot quite reach due to external pressures from employers and a lack of downtime. However, these issues can be overcome, if we create realistic boundaries between our professional lives and personal goals, and make conscious decisions about how we want to spend our time.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response directly addresses both causes and solutions, developing its central explanation with clear logical links and confident, precise language. Its main limitation is that the proposed remedies could be connected more explicitly to the always-available work culture identified earlier, and a few phrases are slightly awkward. Strengthen the solution paragraph by explaining exactly how each measure changes expectations and protects personal time.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both questions are answered directly, with the cause developed through its consequences and a relevant set of shared solutions proposed.
Explain more explicitly how each proposed measure counters the expectation of constant availability identified as the main cause.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is organised into purposeful paragraphs and moves smoothly from cause to effects, solutions, and conclusion.
Make the transition from the diagnosed workplace pressure to the solution paragraph even tighter by explicitly signalling that connection.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, precise, and natural, with effective expressions for workplace pressure, exhaustion, and personal well-being.
Refine the few less natural phrases, particularly the wording about both commitments having unique stressors and giving employees physical space.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of sentence structures is used accurately and flexibly, with only occasional minor awkwardness or punctuation slips.
Polish the few remaining details, including unnecessary commas and awkward participial constructions, while preserving the current syntactic variety.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many people try to achieve a work-life balance but fail. Why is this happening? What can be done to help people overcome this problem?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.