Reading a building from above, and the children who never move out
A Task 1 floor plan of a community library and a Task 2 positive-or-negative-development essay on the boomerang generation, written, self-assessed, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ models, with the moves that earn the marks.
How to use this. Write both tasks in the boxes below, Task 1 in twenty minutes, Task 2 in forty, as in the real test. When you have finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria, then compare it with the Band 7.5+ models and the notes on exactly what lifts a response up a band. You can download a copy of everything to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes one marked Task 2.
Describe the layout.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
The diagram below shows the floor plan of Riverdale Community Library, a recently refurbished single-storey public library serving a town of approximately 30,000 residents.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features of the layout, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write the essay.
Recommended 40 minutes · at least 250 words · carries twice the marks
In many countries, an increasing number of young adults continue to live with their parents well into their late twenties and thirties, often delaying or rejecting the move into independent housing. This pattern, sometimes called the "boomerang generation" in English-speaking media, is becoming more visible across very different cultures and economies.
Is this a positive or a negative development?
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses. Then read the model answers and the notes on exactly what moves a response up a band.
Task Response
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The Band 7.5+ models, and what earns the marks
What the task wants. A floor plan, so this is spatial description, not a process. The biggest trap is listing the rooms one by one with no organising idea, so the reader cannot picture the building. A Band 7.5 opens with an overview that names the organising logic (here, the entrance and reception divide the library into a quieter and a more active half), then describes the space systematically, by zone or compass direction, using accurate prepositions of place.
The target · Band 7.5+ · modelThe plan shows the ground-floor layout of Riverdale Community Library, a recently refurbished single-storey building. Overall, the entrance and reception at the southern centre divide the library into two broad zones: a quieter half, given over to reading, and a more active half housing computers and study facilities. Visitors enter from the south and arrive immediately at the reception desk. To the west and north, the walls are devoted to the book collection, with fiction lining the western side and non-fiction running along the northern wall. The south-western corner is occupied by the children's area, set well apart from the busier facilities. The eastern half of the building contains the more active functions. A bank of computer terminals sits in the centre, while three small, enclosed study rooms run down the eastern edge. The café occupies the north-eastern corner, diagonally opposite the children's area, so that the two liveliest spaces are kept as far apart as possible. The layout therefore separates quiet reading from social and digital activity in a clear and deliberate way.
Why it scores. An overview that names the organising principle (the quiet/active split) before any room is listed; systematic coverage that moves through the building by zone; precise prepositions of place (along the northern wall, in the south-western corner, diagonally opposite); and a closing synthesis that interprets the layout rather than merely restating it.
Where weaker responses lose marks. A room-by-room list with no overview, so the reader cannot picture the building; vague location language (there is a café somewhere on the right); and missing the relationships the task rewards, such as the children's area and the café being placed at opposite corners.
What the task wants. A positive-or-negative-development question demands a single, clear verdict, defended from start to finish. You may, and usually should, acknowledge the other side, but a response that merely surveys both without committing is penalised under Task Response. Causes and effects can be brought in as evidence, but the essay must be organised around your evaluation, not around describing the trend.
The target · Band 7.5+ · model paragraphsIntroduction. In a growing number of countries, young adults are remaining in the family home far longer than previous generations did, a pattern the media has labelled the "boomerang generation". While this trend reflects some genuine difficulties, I believe that, on balance, it is a largely negative development, both for the individuals concerned and for society.
Acknowledging the other side. It would be unfair to dismiss the trend entirely. Living at home allows young people to save money in the face of rising rents and house prices, and in many cultures the multigenerational household is a long-standing and valued arrangement that strengthens family bonds. Pooled resources can also support ageing parents and ease the cost of childcare.
The negative case. Nevertheless, the drawbacks are significant. Prolonged dependence can delay the milestones through which young adults build independence: managing their own finances, running a household, and sometimes finding the confidence to form relationships and start families. At a national level, when a whole generation postpones setting up home, the housing market, consumer spending and even birth rates are affected. More worryingly, the trend is often a symptom rather than a choice, the result of insecure work and unaffordable housing rather than a positive preference.
Conclusion. In conclusion, although remaining at home offers short-term financial relief and, in some cultures, real benefits, I consider the trend negative overall, chiefly because it tends to reflect economic conditions that trap young adults rather than opportunities they have chosen. The more useful response is to tackle the underlying causes, affordable housing and secure employment, so that living independently becomes a realistic option once again.
Why it scores. A clear verdict stated in the introduction and held to the end; the opposing case given a fair hearing and then outweighed, which strengthens rather than dilutes the position; reasons developed at both the individual and the national level; and accurate topic lexis (multigenerational household, the housing market, insecure work) used naturally.
Where weaker responses lose marks. Surveying both sides with no decision, which caps Task Response however fluent the writing; stating a verdict in the introduction but never defending it; and the recurring Task 2 ceiling, comma splices joining two full sentences with only a comma, which holds an otherwise strong essay at 6.5 on accuracy.
These are model answers I wrote for this paper, shown with the criterion marks they would earn and the reasons. The first lesson includes one of your own Task 2s, marked the same way against the four criteria and returned annotated, line by line.
Take your work with you.
Download your two answers alongside the target models, so you can revise them later or bring them to a lesson.
Earlier, online: Paper 10, a butterfly life-cycle diagram and an effects-and-evaluation essay · Paper 09, a hydroelectric-dam diagram and a causes-and-solutions essay · Paper 05, a map comparison and a two-part essay · Paper 01.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A paper tells you the question. It can’t tell you why your answer sits at 6.5.
Write your response to the Task 2 above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.