Onterra TutorBand 8 model answers: Cities and migration
Every IELTS Speaking Part 3 question on cities and migration, with a band 8 model answer for each one and notes on why it scores. Part 3 answers run 4 to 6 sentences, because Part 3 rewards a developed opinion.
Why do young people move from villages to cities?
Mostly for opportunity, I'd say, both economic and otherwise. Cities concentrate jobs, universities and services in a way a village simply can't match. Even someone who genuinely loves their hometown can feel that draw eventually. The practical pull towards where the work and the training actually are can be very hard to resist.
What problems does rapid urban growth create?
Quite a few, and they tend to compound each other. Housing becomes scarcer and more expensive. Transport systems get pushed beyond what they were designed for. Public services like schools and hospitals struggle to expand as fast as the population does, so quality of life can actually fall even as the city grows richer overall.
Should governments encourage people to stay in rural areas?
I don't think governments can simply order people to stay, that rarely works and tends to breed resentment. But they can make staying genuinely attractive rather than just discouraging leaving. Investing in rural broadband, healthcare and decent transport links narrows the practical gap. The decision to move becomes a real choice rather than the only option.
How might cities need to change in the next twenty years?
I think they'll have to become more vertical and more mixed-use out of necessity. Housing, work and green space will need to sit closer together rather than spread across huge distances. Climate pressures will probably force some of that shift too. Sprawling car-dependent layouts are becoming harder to justify both economically and environmentally.
Why these answers earn band 8
- "The practical pull towards where the work and the training actually are can be very hard to resist" develops the opening claim with a specific mechanism rather than just restating it, which is what Fluency and Coherence expects at band 8.
- "they tend to compound each other" is precise, abstract vocabulary under Lexical Resource that captures a relationship between problems rather than just listing them.
- "that rarely works and tends to breed resentment" is a confident, idiomatic judgement rather than a hedge-free textbook sentence, showing natural register.
- "Housing, work and green space will need to sit closer together rather than spread across huge distances" uses a modal and a contrast structure in one breath, scored under Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
- The answer to the last question makes a prediction and gives a reason for it (climate pressure), rather than just describing what a future city might look like, which is the forward reasoning Part 3 specifically tests.
Timing
30 to 45 seconds per answer. The "should governments encourage" question rewards a conditional, reasoned answer over a simple yes or no.
Phrases worth learning
| concentrate jobs, universities and services | to explain why cities attract people, in one precise phrase |
| they tend to compound each other | to describe several problems making each other worse |
| breed resentment | to describe a negative reaction caused by a restrictive policy |
| narrows the practical gap | to describe a policy that makes two options more genuinely comparable |
| out of necessity | to explain a change that is forced rather than chosen |
These are general, defensible claims about urbanisation, not statistics from a specific country. In the exam, reason from general knowledge and logic rather than inventing precise figures you cannot support.