Why Working From Home Has Grown, and Whether the Trend Will Last
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 283 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
In recent years, working from home has become much more common in many countries. Why has working from home become more common? Do you think this trend will continue in the future? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Answer BOTH questions in the prompt — many candidates lose marks by ignoring the second one
- 02Devote roughly one body paragraph to causes and one to your prediction about the future
- 03State your overall position on the future in the introduction, not just the conclusion
- 04Use a mix of causes — events (the pandemic), technology, and worker preferences score higher than one cause repeated
- 05Hedge your prediction sensibly with 'likely', 'probably', or 'I believe' rather than absolute claims
- 06End with a conclusion that explicitly addresses both halves of the question
Model answer
283 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
In the last few years, working from home has shifted from a rare privilege to a standard feature of professional life in many industries. This essay considers why this change has occurred and examines whether the trend is likely to last.
Several factors lie behind the rise of remote work. The most obvious is the global pandemic, which forced employers in 2020 to send their staff home almost overnight and proved that many office tasks could be performed perfectly well from a kitchen table. A second cause is technological: reliable home broadband, cloud-based collaboration tools, and video-conferencing platforms have made it straightforward to attend meetings, share documents, and manage projects without ever entering a physical office. Workers themselves have also become powerful advocates for the change, valuing the time and money saved on commuting and the flexibility to balance work with family responsibilities.
Looking ahead, I believe the trend will continue to grow, although in a modified form rather than as a wholesale replacement of the office. On one hand, employers have already realised that they can save substantial sums on rent and utilities by reducing their office footprint, and many candidates now refuse to accept jobs that require five days a week of attendance. On the other hand, fully remote working has clear drawbacks: junior staff struggle to learn through observation, team cohesion weakens, and certain industries simply cannot operate from a laptop. A hybrid model — two or three days at home and the rest in the office — therefore seems the most likely long-term outcome.
In conclusion, technology and the pandemic together normalised working from home, and although the office will not vanish, hybrid arrangements are very likely to remain the default.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
8 fewer than the median answer for this task type
9 words at the shortest, 38 at the longest
1 fewer than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 25.7 words and vary by 7.7 words either side of that, running from 9 words to 38. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 5 of the 11 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 3 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
on the other hand, although
therefore
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 85 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 75 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 5 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Response
Fully answer both parts of the question: the reasons for the trend AND a clear personal prediction about its future, supported by reasons.
Coherence & Cohesion
Use a four-paragraph structure that clearly separates causes and future prediction, with strong linking between ideas.
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for the world of work, technology, and prediction, including hedging language.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures including future forms ('will', 'is likely to'), conditionals, and concessive clauses.
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