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Lesson
Writing Task 2: Fully developed ideas (problem and solution)
The difference between Band 7 and Band 8 is often depth, not vocabulary. Learn to develop one idea fully instead of listing three, then write a problem–solution essay about housing.
List vs development
The Band 8 descriptor asks for ideas that are "relevant, extended and supported". A common Band 6–7 habit is to list several points without explaining any of them.
Listing (Band 6): Housing is expensive because of population growth, speculation, low wages and lack of land. The government should build more houses, control prices and increase wages.
Developing (Band 8): One central cause is that new housing has not kept pace with the number of people moving to cities for work. When thousands of graduates compete each year for a limited stock of flats near the business district, landlords can raise rents knowing that the flats will still be filled.
The second version explains how the cause works, and that is what makes it persuasive.
Two developed causes beat four listed ones
Choose the two strongest causes and solutions, and match each solution to a cause. That link shows the examiner a logical argument, not a list.
Be specific
Replace general words with precise ones: a problem → a shortfall; give money → subsidise; many people → first-time buyers on average salaries.
Practise freely
Questions 1–3
Choose the best answer.
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Which sentence develops a cause most effectively?
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Which solution is most clearly linked to a cause?
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Which is the most precise wording?
Questions 4–8
Replace the general word in brackets with a more precise word from the box.
shortfallsubsidisepriced outstemscurb
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There is a significant (problem) in the number of affordable homes.
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Many young families have been (made unable to buy) of the city centre.
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The crisis largely (comes) from a lack of new construction.
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The government could (give money to help) rents for key workers such as nurses.
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A tax on empty properties could (reduce) speculation.
Your turn: write the essay
In many cities, young people cannot afford to buy or rent a home. What are the causes of this problem, and what solutions can you suggest?
Write at least 250 words. Develop two causes and two matching solutions rather than listing many.
Check your answer
Model answer
In many of the world's major cities, a growing number of young adults are unable to afford a home of their own, whether to buy or to rent. In my view, this situation stems mainly from a shortage of housing near places of work and from the treatment of homes as investments, and each of these causes calls for a different response.
The first cause is that housing construction has not kept pace with urban employment. Economic opportunities are increasingly concentrated in a handful of large cities, so each year thousands of graduates arrive to compete for a limited stock of flats near business districts. Landlords in this position can raise rents steadily, knowing that their properties will still be filled. The most direct solution is therefore to increase supply where demand is highest. Governments could release unused public land, such as former industrial sites close to city centres, on condition that a significant proportion of the new homes are offered at below-market rents.
The second cause is speculation. When investors buy flats purely to resell them later at a profit, sometimes leaving them empty in the meantime, they remove homes from the market and push prices beyond what local workers can pay. A tax on properties left vacant for long periods would curb this practice, while higher taxes on the purchase of second homes would make housing a less attractive investment than productive businesses.
In conclusion, the affordability crisis is largely the result of too few homes in the right places and of housing being treated as a financial asset. Building on well-located public land and discouraging speculation through taxation would address these causes directly, rather than simply treating their symptoms.
More writing practice
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64 academic collocations for Writing Task 2
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