How to read the question

• This is an opinion essay in the positive or negative development format, so you must make a clear judgement and keep it consistent from the introduction to the conclusion.
• The development has two linked parts: people moving to cities and the countryside losing population. A strong answer considers the effects on the migrants, on the rural areas left behind and on the cities that receive them.
• You may argue that it is mainly positive or mainly negative while admitting some points on the other side, but a vague both positive and negative answer with no overall judgement will limit your Task Response score.
• Keep the focus on rural-to-urban migration; do not drift into a general essay about city life versus country life or about international immigration.
• In many countries around the world signals a global trend, so examples from different regions, such as rapid urbanisation in China or Africa, are appropriate.
• Support claims with specific reasons, such as access to jobs, schools and hospitals, or problems such as ageing villages, labour shortages on farms and overcrowded cities.

Suggested position

Although this trend creates serious challenges for both rural areas and cities, I believe it is, on balance, a positive development, because it gives millions of people the chance of a better standard of living.

Paragraph plan

1. 1

   Introduction

   Paraphrase the trend of people leaving the countryside for cities and give a clear position: on balance a positive development, despite the challenges.

2. 2

   Body paragraph 1: why the trend is positive

   Explain the benefits for migrants: more and better-paid jobs, money sent home to rural families, and better access to schools and hospitals. Use the fall in poverty during China's urbanisation as an example, and add that services can be provided more efficiently in cities.

3. 3

   Body paragraph 2: the drawbacks and why they can be managed

   Acknowledge the problems: ageing villages, closing local services, labour shortages on farms, and overcrowding, congestion and pollution in cities. Then argue that these are largely planning problems that governments can address with housing, transport and farm mechanisation.

4. 4

   Conclusion

   Restate that, despite the strain on rural areas and cities, the movement to urban centres is positive overall because it improves living standards for millions of people.

Ideas and arguments

• Cities offer a wider range of jobs with higher wages than farming, helping families escape poverty.
• Migrants often send money back to relatives in villages, which supports rural incomes.
• Urban residents have better access to good schools, universities and specialist hospitals.
• Providing transport, housing, water and electricity is cheaper per person when people live close together.
• Rural communities left with mainly older residents may lose schools, shops, clinics and transport links.
• Farms may face labour shortages, which could threaten food production if not replaced by machinery.
• Fast-growing cities can suffer from overcrowding, traffic congestion, pollution and informal settlements with poor living conditions.
• Traditional rural cultures, crafts and community ties may be lost as villages empty.

Band 8+ model answer

286 words · An original model answer written for ieltswrites, not an official answer. It stays in English, as in the exam.

Why this answer scores highly

Task Response

The essay gives a clear overall judgement that the trend is positive, considers effects on migrants, rural communities and cities, and supports each point with relevant explanation and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion

Paragraphs move logically from benefits to drawbacks to a rebuttal, and linking devices such as nevertheless, at the same time and however, together with clear referencing, make the argument easy to follow.

Lexical Resource

Precise topic vocabulary such as depopulated, ageing population, informal settlements and mechanised farming is used naturally, and the question's wording is paraphrased rather than copied.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The answer uses a range of complex structures, including concessive clauses, passive forms, relative clauses and comparatives, with accurate punctuation and no noticeable errors.

Useful vocabulary

rural-to-urban migration

the movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities

urbanisation

the growth of towns and cities as more people live in them

depopulation

a fall in the number of people living in an area

the countryside

land outside towns and cities, with farms and villages

standard of living

the level of wealth, comfort and services that people have

employment opportunities

chances to find work

access to public services

the ability to use schools, hospitals and other services provided by the state

remittances

money sent home by people working away from their families

an ageing population

a population in which the proportion of older people is increasing

labour shortage

a situation where there are not enough workers

overcrowding

having too many people in a place for the space or services available

informal settlements

areas of poor-quality housing built without official permission, often on the edge of cities

infrastructure

basic systems such as roads, transport, water and electricity

mechanised farming

farming that uses machines to do work previously done by people

Common mistakes

• Listing positive and negative points without ever saying whether the development is positive or negative overall.
• Writing a general comparison of city life and country life instead of evaluating the movement of people and the decline of rural populations.
• Discussing only the effects on cities and ignoring what happens to the countryside, which is half of the development described.
• Inventing precise statistics, such as 70% of villages have closed, which weakens credibility.
• Changing position between the introduction and the conclusion.
• Repeating rural people and cities throughout instead of paraphrasing with villagers, migrants, urban centres and the countryside.

Frequently asked questions

Which Cambridge book is this question from?

This question about rural people moving to cities and whether this is a positive or negative development is Writing Task 2 of Test 3 in Cambridge IELTS 18 Academic, published in 2023.

Can I say the development is both positive and negative?

You can discuss both sides, but you must still decide which is stronger overall and say so clearly. An answer that never reaches a judgement does not fully answer the question.

Is this an advantages and disadvantages essay?

Not exactly. It is an opinion essay: you may mention advantages and disadvantages, but the task is to judge whether the development is positive or negative.

How many words should I write for this Task 2?

Write at least 250 words; about 270-310 words is usually enough to develop a clear argument in 40 minutes.