CD IELTS Prep
All band comparisons

Task 2 · Problem and solution · Housing

When ordinary workers cannot afford the city

A housing affordability essay in which the band 9 answer refuses the easy villain and traces the shortage back to who is allowed to build what, and where.

The question

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

In many large cities, ordinary working people can no longer afford to live near the places where they work. Why has this happened, and what can be done about it?

A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

The 6.5 blames the rich, the 7.5 blames supply and demand in general, and the 9 identifies the specific rules that prevent supply from responding — then admits what fixing them would cost.

The three answers

Band 6.5

279 words (the task asks for at least 250)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

Nowadays, the price of the houses in the big cities is increasing dramatically and many normal workers can not afford to live near their workplace. This is a serious problem in many countries and in this essay I will explain the reasons and the solutions of this problem.

The first reason of this problem is that many rich people and foreign investors are buying the properties in the city centre only for the investment. They do not live in these houses, so the houses are empty and the price is going up. Secondly, the salary of the normal workers is not increasing as fast as the price of the houses. For example a teacher or a nurse is earning almost the same money like ten years ago3, but the rent is double now. Moreover, everybody wants to live in the big city because there are more opportunities of the job there, so there is a big competition.

There are some solutions for this problem. Firstly, the government should build more houses for the poor people and give them with a cheap rent1. Secondly, the government should also make a law to stop the foreign people to buy the property5. In addition, the companies can allow the employees to work from the home2, so they do not need to live in the expensive city. If the government take these steps, the situation will be much better.

In conclusion, the reasons of this problem are the investors, the low salary and the big demand4, and the government should build more houses and control the market. I believe that with the correct policies, the normal people can live in the city again.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Task response

    “the government should build more houses for the poor people and give them with a cheap rent”

    The largest solution in the essay, given one clause. No mention of land, cost, or why this is not already happening — the proposal is a wish rather than a plan.

  2. 2. Task response

    “the companies can allow the employees to work from the home”

    A solution to a problem the essay never diagnosed. Nothing in the causes paragraph concerned commuting, so this idea has nothing to attach to.

  3. 3. Lexical resource

    “a teacher or a nurse is earning almost the same money like ten years ago”

    'Like' for 'as' in a comparison, and 'the same money' where 'the same salary' is meant. The example itself is well chosen, which makes the wording more conspicuous.

  4. 4. Coherence and cohesion

    “In conclusion, the reasons of this problem are the investors, the low salary and the big demand”

    Identical content in an identical order to the body paragraph. The final paragraph adds no new thought.

  5. 5. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “make a law to stop the foreign people to buy the property”

    'Stop someone from buying' — the infinitive is wrong here, and the definite articles before generic nouns compound the awkwardness.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

Compare another question