IELTS – Task 2

1. IELTS – Task 2 SWQ Practice

2. Some Topic-Specific Vocabulary • Rural/ Urban/ metropolitan/ suburb • Modern/backward • Traffic congestion/ gridlock/commute/ mass transit/ subway/ public transport • Employment/unemployment • Skyscrapers/downtown/shopping malls/ • Pollution/Environmental Issues/ recycle • Housing/living conditions/ overcrowded • Population/ inhabitants • Education • Crime • Welfare (system/benefits/rights) • National Insurance/ Health Insurance/Health benefits/Health care/Health System • Developed countries/developing countries/under developed countries • Livable/ Unlivable • Congested • Social conditions • Rich/affluent/haves • Poor/have nots • Neighborhood • migrate • http://quizlet.com/15418168/city-life-vocabulary-practice-flash-cards/

3. Phrases for Introduction • It is a well-known fact that .... • It is undeniable that ... • We cannot deny that.... • There is no denying that.... • Many people believe that .... • It is often claimed that ... • By way of introduction, I would like to point out that.... • There are several ways of looking at the problem of ... • One of the most important issues in society today is .... •          - Cities- promising lands which attract lots of people move to urban areas •    I will point out some reasons and suggest some solutions to deal with it

4. Body - Paragraph 1: Give some reasons                        1st reason: the countryside has not provided enough jobs for inhabitants and they have got low - income.                         2nd reason: lack of high educational institutes                    --> On the other hand, urban areas offer jobs with high salary, good education - Paragraph 2: Give some solutions                       1st solution: Government should develop economy in the countryside so that it can provide more jobs with higher salary for local people.                        2nd solution: Invest more money in education

5. Phrases for Conclusion • To sum up/ To summarise/ To conclude, • In conclusion/ In summary/ In short, • This bring us to the conclusion that .... • On balance, it seems likely to conclude that..... • To put it in a nutshell, I pen down saying that.....

6. Reasons for Urbanization • People move to cities in search of job opportunities • Cities offer greater employment possibilities and a higher standard of living • People migrate to cities from the countryside • Traditional activities like farming need fewer workers nowadays

7. Negatives of City Life • The cost of living is higher than in rural areas • Some people d not manage to find work • Housing is usually much more expensive • Homelessness and poverty are common on cities • There is a gap between rich and poor • Life in cities can be extremely stressful • There are problems like traffic congestion and crime • Cities lack a sense of community • People do not even know their neighbor • Cities are sometimes described as “concrete jungles”.

8. More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a better life, but city life can be extremely difficult. Explain some of the difficulties of living in a city. How can governments make urban life better for everyone? Here are some problems associated with living in cities- • Life in cities has its drawbacks. • The cost of living is higher than in rural areas. • Housing is usually much more expensive. • Homelessness and poverty are common in cities. • There is a gap between the rich and poor. • Life in cities can be extremely stressful. • There are problems like traffic congestion and crime. • Cities lack a sense of community. • People do not even know their neighbors. • Cities are sometimes described as “concrete jungles”.

9. Solutions 1- encourage residents in rural areas to continue living there by improving the infrastructure ,sanitation, and transportation in that places.
2- provide different kinds of jobs in these areas to prevent moving to cities for seeking work.
3- more plans to organize the cities lives.

10. SAMPLE 2 - The migration of people to cities is one of the biggest problems facing the world's cities today. Discuss the main causes. What solutions could be used to tackle this situation. It is undeniable that since the industrial revolution, people from the countryside have been attracted to the cities . With the increasing number of people migrating, it has affected the world's cities and led to many problems. In this essay, I will discuss the causes and solutions. There are main causes of people moving to cities from the rural areas. One is that there are more job potential in the cities than in the countryside. It is a fact that there are more business establishments and good positions for the workforce. Moreover, medical services in the urban areas are more efficient and have a higher number of hospital staff members compared to the local health centers in rural areas. These services are also more accessible to residents in the urban areas when they get sick than to those in the rural areas. Lastly, there is no doubt that technology works better in big cities. Wifi or the usage of the Internet works faster in big cities than in small towns. However, in spite of the problems, there are a number of solutions to solve this migration problem that has resulted in negative effects to the world's cities. Perhaps one of the main solutions is to improve the quality of life in the countryside by offering better incentives and jobs from the goverments. Doing that helps attract more people to live in the rural areas. Besides that, offering a good health service to prolong life and encouraging people to retire in the countryside should also be considered. In order to do that, the media should be used to promote a healthy and stress free life in the countryside. To conclude, it is true that migration to larger cities are affected by urbanization. However, some of the solutions have been discussed in this essay. If people are satisfied living in the countryside by providing them their needs then I think migration will not be a big problem.

11. The birth rate in most developed countries is predicted to begin to fall over the next 50 years. By 2030 it is estimated that over one third of the population in most developed countries will be aged 65 and over:What effects will these predictions have on developed countries if they prove true? What can be done now to deal with this situation?Give reason for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.Write at least 250 words.

12. Nowadays, most people worry about over-population and living in crowded cities. However, it is predicted that we will have the opposite problem by the year 2030 when one third of the population will be aged 65 or over and birth rates are predicted to decline. What effect will this have on our society? By 2030, the percentage of the population aged 65 or older will have risen significantly, to more than 30%. This means that fewer people will be working, and therefore fewer people will be paying income tax. In the future it may be necessary for governments to increase the official retirement age to 70 or even older. When today’s 30-year-olds are in their sixties it is unlikely that they will enjoy the relaxed lifestyle that today’s older generation can expect when they give up work. Government will therefore need to make sure that this older generation is healthy and fit enough to continue working. However I believe the biggest impact will be on the younger generation. In 2030 the younger generation will need to work much harder to support the large number of older people. If this trend continues then it is possible that our entire culture will change. For example, most marketing companies today try to target the younger generation with their products and advertisements. If the majority of the population is older then this will change and companies will begin to target the older generation instead. So, what can be done now to prevent these problems? Firstly, I believe that governments of developed countries should find ways to encourage people to have larger families and increase the birth rate. Secondly, I believe that they should encourage migration from developing countries so that the problems of Over-crowding can be solved. (292 words)

13. A rise in the standard of living in a country often only seems to benefits cities rather than rural areasWhat problems might this difference causes ? How might these problems be reduced ?

14. The rapid economic growth in many countries has led to a widening gap between cities and rural areas. This also causes a corresponding increase in the number of problems that need to be tackled, as now will be discussed.To begin with, the imbalance between the standard of living in cities and that of countryside poses a variety of repercussions. Firstly, it is clear that when the quality of life of city dwellers is improved, many people in rural areas tend to move to the cities to seek a better life with higher level of amenity. Consequently, the cities are not adequate space to cover a great number of people to live in, which results in the deterioration in the standard of living, for example, the services of health care are affected due to the annually overloaded hospitals. Furthermore, this problematic issue lays strain on the environment. Because of the proliferation of population in the cities, an enormous amount of waste are dumped into the environment everyday that leads to the heavy pollution. Last but not least, that the standard of living in cities outpaces that in the countryside gives rise to the discontent and social unrest. It inevitably widens the gap between the rich and the poor in society. For example, the underprivileged in remote regions are deprived of access to basic entertainment like theater or farmers in rural areas have to make ends meet everyday, however, rare still stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty.Nevertheless, many initiatives are efficiently taken to ameliorate the problem. A right policy and an investment program should be implemented in rural areas to foster the local economy and manufacturing. For instance, if the Government creates more jobs for rural residents after their harvest time or provide subsidy for farmer to plant crops and raise livestock, the matter will be fixed. Another measure can be upgrading infrastructure in the countryside such as electricity system, amusement centers, schools, medical clinics. As a result, it definitely bridge the gap in the standard of living between the urban and the rural areas.In conclusion, there are a wide range of options available to handle the problems described above to stimulate the development of the whole country. I hold a firm belief that the Government will have a proper approach to take the standard of living in both regions to the equilibrium.

15. More Examples • http://www.ielts4arab.com/page/8 • http://ieltswriting2012.blogspot.ae/2012/11/task-2-migration-of-people-to-cities-is.html • http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/task-2-ielts-writing-sample-youth-crime-reasons-and-solutions.html