The major cities in the world are growing fast, as well as their problems.

Practice this IELTS Writing Task 2 question on IELTSX. The major cities in the world are growing fast, as well as their problems.

Major Cities Growing Fast Young People Problems Solutions - IELTS Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

What are the problems that young people living in cities are facing with? Give solutions to these problems.

Write at least 250 words.

A student's answer to this task, and the feedback on it

Written by an IELTSX user under exam conditions and published unedited and anonymously. Band 6.5 ยท 443 words.

Since the main urban centers around the world are getting larger, they are facing more challenges. The young inhabitants of these metropolises have to cope with several difficulties such as high costs of living, intense competition for jobs and mental health struggles. However, I believe that drastic actions taken by governments and social institutions including financial support, offering vacancies and youth engagement can help them to overcome these problems.

One of the obstacles nowadays young residents of the urban areas are coming across is increased cost of living. The issue, includes house prices, food and clothing, puts a challenge to most of the young people. Affordability of the young people is not as high as other classes of the city, because most of them are students or work for lower salaries. For instance, half of the youth population of Tashkent, the biggest urbanised area of the country, are students and most of them are struggling with high cost of living.

Other issues youngsters have to handle in big cities are competition for jobs and mental health problems. Specifically, the number of vacancies offered in developing countries does not match with the number of candidates who are in need of work. Mental problems are also part of their daily life. Loneliness, anxiety and unpredictable future lead to deep depression which is the biggest trigger for mental disorder. Plus, social media platforms are fueling depression among them by promoting the curated, 'perfect' lives of influencers.

There are several effective ways to deal with those problems mentioned above. First of all, government and social institutions have to work collaboratively to tackle those issues and help young residents overcome challenges. The city authorities should subsidize young settlers when they buy accommodation. This will cover the most part of their expenses and help them to focus on the work or studies. For instance, in Moscow the government covers the part of the payment if young families buy a house.

Secondly, business owners should offer more vacancies for young people. If government creates a good environment for business people they may care more about young people with offering part-time and flexible jobs.

In addition, mental health of young population is important, because they are the future of the vibrant city. To settle this issues, it should be organised activities or events such as sport events, holiday celebrations which can truly attract young people. When they feel the importance of being part of the society, somehow mental problems start to alleviate.

In general, today young residents of large cities are encountering with financial, physiological challenges. Governments and social institutions should help them to overcome these problems, including financially and mentally.

Examiner feedback

This is a solid Band 6.5 performance. The essay is well-structured and directly addresses the prompt with relevant examples. To reach Band 7.0, the candidate needs to reduce grammatical slips regarding prepositions and sentence construction while refining word choices to sound more natural in an academic context.

Task Response - 7

- The candidate addresses all parts of the task by identifying specific problems (cost of living, unemployment, mental health) and proposing corresponding solutions. - The position is clear throughout the essay, maintaining a focus on the challenges faced by the younger generation. - Main ideas are extended with specific examples, such as the references to Tashkent and Moscow, though some arguments (like the link between events and mental health) could be more logically nuanced.

Coherence & Cohesion - 7

- Information is organized logically with a clear progression from the introduction of problems to the proposal of solutions. - Each paragraph has a clear central topic, and the use of cohesive devices (e.g., 'One of the obstacles', 'Specifically', 'In addition') is generally effective. - There is a slight mechanical feel to some transitions, but they successfully guide the reader through the argument.

Lexical Resource - 6

- The range of vocabulary is adequate and includes some sophisticated items like 'metropolises', 'subsidize', and 'alleviate'. - Errors in word choice and collocation occur, such as 'young settlers' (usually refers to pioneers rather than city dwellers) and 'offering vacancies' (instead of 'creating job opportunities'). - Phrases like 'affordability of the young people' are slightly awkward but do not impede communication.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy - 6

- The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures often contain errors. - Notable grammatical errors include 'encountering with' (encounter is transitive), 'it should be organised activities' (subject-filler error), and punctuation issues such as the comma in 'The issue, includes...'. - While errors are present, they rarely reduce the overall clarity of the message.

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