Sample response & feedback

Owning a Home Rather Than Renting

Question

View question9 sample responses · Bands 6.0–8.0

In some countries, owning a home rather than renting one is very important for people. Why might this be the case? Do you think this is a positive or negative situation? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Annotated response

15 correction notes

Many people today value owning their own home over renting. In my opinion, this is part of a natural human desire for security and prestige but .

The source of this desire is a need for stability and respect. An individual who does not own their own home must pay rent to a landlord. This hangs over them and necessitates maintaining a job with a steady salary and balancing rent against other living expenses. Once a person owns their own home, they are then able to spend their money more freely and consider different employment without the fear of becoming homeless. Moreover, having a home lends an air of respectability. Only the wealthy a house and most homeowners take pride in the size and condition of their home as a sign of their social standing.

Nonetheless, home ownership is a negative trend as it millions. Most people live in and a house. The pressure to buy one is likely to engender feelings of inadequacy and resentment towards the upper classes. This famously fueled the sub-prime mortgage scandals of the early 2000s in the United States when millions borrowed more than they could afford to buy homes, then defaulted on their payments and lost a lifetime of investment. Had these same people opted to rent, they and could have invested in .

In conclusion, owning a home is innately desirable but in the end causes more harm than good due to the pressure it places on individuals. Many people have learned this lesson and home ownership may begin to decline in the future.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 8.0

The essay answers both questions and develops a clear negative judgement through the pressure associated with buying a home. Security and social status provide relevant explanations, and the vocabulary and complex grammar are generally well controlled. The main limitation is the breadth of several claims: ownership is treated as financial freedom, and the mortgage example needs a clearer explanation of how social expectations encourage unaffordable borrowing.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

TR Task Response

7.5

Both questions are answered, with security and status offered as motivations and a clear negative judgement developed through social pressure and borrowing. The argument would be stronger with qualified claims about owners’ financial freedom and a clearer link between social pressure and the mortgage example.

CC Coherence and Cohesion

7.5

Ideas progress logically across well-organised paragraphs with effective cohesive devices, and referencing is generally clear, with only occasional slightly loose linkage between claims and support.

LR Lexical Resource

8.0

Vocabulary is flexible and precise, with natural idiomatic and less common items used accurately, such as 'hangs over them', 'engender feelings of inadequacy', and 'lends an air of respectability'.

GRA Grammatical Range and Accuracy

8.0

A wide range of structures is used with strong control, including complex conditionals and relative clauses, and errors are rare and non-impeding aside from a minor omission such as 'able buy'.

More responses with feedback

View all 9 responses (6.0–8.0)