IELTS Writing Task 2: add the 'topic sentence'

When writing a main body paragraph, I usually recommend that you start with a topic sentence. To see a good example, look at paragraph 3 in this lesson. Here's the topic sentence again:

However, there are various steps that governments could take to tackle these problems.

But did you notice that I missed the topic sentence in paragraph 2 of the essay? Can you suggest a short, simple topic sentence that we could add to the start of this paragraph?

Comments

[Anahita]

Hello Simon,
Thank you so much for all your guides.

Topic sentence:
It is widely accepted that with the increasing rate of migration to urban areas, people are faced with some serious problems.

[Sakamoto]

Here's my try - nothing fancy. 'Life in urban areas presents a number of difficulties.'

I do like to ask you this Simon: for the Writing section (especially Task 2), would you say that finishing all the prompts in Cambridge books (4-10) is enough? What I think is that unlike reading and listening, the questions included in the above-mentioned books are nowhere near enough for practice purposes ... the topics covered in actual tests are simply so varied and comprehensive that some students are dumbfounded when they encounter a question whose topic they haven't seen before. Can you please recommend some ways to go around this?

[Kiran]

There are various disadvantages of living in a big city

[Hessam]

Hi Simon,

Which of these forms s preferred by British people in speaking ? What I understood is they prefer to BOLD "not" when the speak.
-------------------

I've not seen...
I haven't seen
--------
Why don't you tell...
Why do you not tell ...
--------

[islee]

On the one hand, people facing different situation living in a city.

[karenie]

Can anyone correct this writing? I am so paranoid that the ielts checker gave on this somewhat likely writing I did last February 18, 2016 in Australia. The ielts checker gave 6 which I think is too low. So, I did a remark which will come few weeks from now. I want you guys and especially Simon to correct. Whatever the outcome of your correction I openly accept it and move on. I just want contentment of this writing. Please correct me and give harsh criticism on this writing if you could so that I will improve. This is my second take of ielts. The last one was hard but I manage to get 7, unfortunately for this one I got 6 which I think a fair question for me. So where is my mistake... Please correct me. Thank you.

New technology has some impacts for some children.
Does advantages of new technology outweighs the disadvantages?

It is undoubtedly true that modern technology has some benefits to some youngsters. However, some people believe that modern technology has some negative effects on some youngsters. Apropos of this statement, I believe that modern technology has more benefits than otherwise.
First of all, modern technology like computer and television has many benefits on some young ones. For instance, computer helps some young ones to connect with some friends anywhere in the world. The television helps some youngsters to hear fresh news and information.
However, some people think that modern technology has more negative effects than positive effects to some youngsters. For example, some youngsters are most likely able to access restricted sites by using computer online. More and more young ones become obese because of watching television for long hours while eating. Some young ones prefer to stay in their homes instead of going outdoors. However, this is just a drop in the bucket from the many benefits of modern technology to some young ones. I say so because modern technology like computer and television is helpful for some young ones in their search for knowledge. This all boils down to the fact that modern technology is more beneficial than otherwise.
In summary, I believe that modern technology like computer and television is helpful to some youngsters because of its ability to help them in meeting some friends online and hearing some news and information. Also, it helps them in their quest for knowledge.

[Bikram]

Improving city infrastructure can enhance the lifestyle for every individual.

[Zeki Özalp]

@karenie

You have some grammatical mistakes but these are very bid and I think that is not affect your score markedly.

You also covered topic but sometimes some exam topics are confusable so you have to answer also you should use different vision while you write answer. For example, examiners could expect, you should gave prominence of special thing. maybe examiners are expecting more and more explanations or examples like that.

In my opinion, this evaluation is flactuating according to examiners. For this reason, In my estimation, your writing score should have been at least 6.5 but I dont know whats the main problem. Maybe others explain your problem.

[auau]

Urban life often entails some difficulties for the inhabitants.

[jimmy]

Life in cities has its drawbacks

[Duy Dat Hoang]

@karennie

you used youngsters, and have negative effects too many times

Apropos of this statement, This all boils down to the fact,I say so because, and this is just a drop in the bucket from ( personally, I won't use these phrase)

postive effects on (not to)

please read this http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2013/03/ielts-vocabulary-band-7-or-higher.html

and use this
http://www.ozdic.com/
to improve your vocabulary

for example, I will write 'help them broaden/improve their knowledge' rather than 'quest for knowledge'

[Dan]

@ Sakamoto

The Cambridge IELTS series contains past papers (authentic test material) so this is the closes we can get in a real IELTS exam. Again these are practice books and you can't "LEARN" any methods, techniques and skills.
The best way is to have a method (which is basically here in this website) and to use these books for application purposes.

I think, if you know how to deal with exam (being familiar with it), the content/topics really wont matter much.

[Jamie]

There are certainly several problems for city dwellers to face. One of the main problems is that he cost of living in big cities which is much higher than in rural areas. ......

[Shahnoz]

Although city life is most commonly seen to be full of advantages, at the same time it has a number of distinct disadvantages.

[Hannah]

The problems that urban inhabitants may face with are high cost of living, many kinds of social problems as well as poor air quality.

[ems]

People dwelling in cities are facing different kind of issues every day,however,there are various steps that government could tackle these problems.

[Keddie Z.]

Various measures can be adopted to settle these problems and help these people achieve a better life.

[Keddie Z.]

@karennie I made some change in your essay. Hope it can help you find some problems. The essay modified by me follows your thinking, but usually I like to write it in four paragraphs. Most importantly, do as what Simon told in the website.

It is undoubtedly true that modern technology brings some benefits to the young. However, some people argue that it has negative effects on teenagers. From my perspective, I think modern technology exerts more positive effects, compared with its negative consequences / it can be seen as positive.

There are various reasons why it brings benefits to individuals. First of all, modern technology like computers and televisions brings many benefits to the young. For instance, computer helps them to connect with friends from anywhere in the world in a much convenient way. And the television helps them to access news and information in real time.

However, some people argue that modern technology has more negative effects than positive effects on teenagers. Some teenagers can have access to negative information through Internet. For instance, some young people can access restricted sites by using computer online, which can lead to negative thoughts in their minds. Furthermore, such technology can make the young spend more time on computers or televisions, rather than working out, so more and more young people become obese because of watching television for long hours while eating. And some young ones prefer to stay in their homes instead of going outdoors.

However, these disadvantages are just a drop in the bucket from the many benefits of modern technology to the young, because modern technologies like computer and television are helpful for the young to search for information and knowledge. Therefore, the advantages from modern technologies outweigh their drawbacks.

In summary, even though it has some harmful effects on the young, I believe that modern technology like computer and television is helpful to them because it can help them in various ways like searching for information and connecting friends.

[Keddie Z.]

It's my opinions. There may be some bad ideas. Hope it you can help you.

[Jackie]

On the one hand, the denizen need to face the challenge life in urban sprawl.

[Yijia]

City dwellers are confronted with a number of problems.

[Muhammad]

Hi Simon!
Here is my suggested topic sentence:

There are several problems that could face people who choose to live in a city.

[Jay]

1. City life has several disadvantages.
2. There are sereveral drawbacks of living in a city.
3. People face many problems while living in a city.

[FAREEHA TANVEER]

my TOPIC SENTENCE:

The fantasy of high standard city life is infact faced with reality of many daily challenges.

[Ning]

There are many problems associate with city life.

[Junaid]

People living in cities experience many problems.

[Sun]

There are many enviromental problems and real challenge in big cities.

[Sun]

Various environmental problems or various problems ?

[Nancy]

Nowadays many historic buildings receive lack of preservation treatment, with some buildings being damaged or even destroyed. Why is this happening? What can be done to change this situation?Please post the answer above topic

[trantoan]

my answer.
City life has several drawbacks.

[Michelle]

@Karennie
After going through your essay,I would like to bring to your attention the following issues.
1. You fail to justify the benefits. In other words, your essay focuses too much on Tech, leaving a pale position of children in the essay. This could greatly reduce your score in Task Achievement.
2. You fail to give prominence to the advantages from some clear perspectives and fail to give a longer paragraph for benefits,which mitigates the the cohesion and coherence in the Essay

[junaid]

topic sentence for second paragraph.

overcrowd places underscore a number of socio-economic as well as environmental related problems

[Daisy]

Generally，difficulties of living in city lie in sevral aspects.

[angie]

Generally, different problems are present in settling in megacities.

[Duc Tran]

As the living environment changes, there are certainly some problems that the migrants have to deal with.

[Jo]

City life is not a bed of roses all the time.

[L.A Ng]

Life in large metropolis might be quite challenging due to economic, social and environmental issues.

[Ahmed]

The problems haunting the city dwellers range from financial difficulties to health problems.

[nina]

There are some problems with living in major cities.

[Steve Lim]

However, there are various steps that government could take to tackle these problems residents could experience in a city life.