Samples / Task 2 essay / Advantages and disadvantages / Band 7

An Aging Population: Problems and Benefits for Modern Society

A band 6.5 essay discussing whether an increasing proportion of older people causes more problems than benefits for society.

The question

In many countries the proportion of older people is steadily increasing. Does this trend cause more problems than benefits for society?

In many countries around the world, the proportion of older people is increasing very fast. This trend is a major topic of discussion nowadays. Some people believe that this situation brings more benefits, while others think it creates too many problems. In my opinion, I believe that having more older people causes more problems than benefits for society because of the economic pressure it creates. To begin with, there are several problems that come with an aging population. First, the goverment has to spend a lot of money on healthcare. Older people usually have more health issues, so hospitals and medical services become very busy and expensive. Second, the pension system is under a lot of pressure. If there are more retired people, the younger generation must pay more taxes to support them. For example, in countries like Japan, the young workers are struggling to pay for the pensions of the elderly. This trend of aging populations cause many financial challenges because many older people depend of the government for their daily life. On the other hand, we cannot deny that there are some benefits. Older people have a lot of experience and they can give good advices to the younger generation. Furthermore, many retired grandparents help their families by looking after children, which allows parents to go to work. This is a great support for the family structure. Also, older people often do volunteer work in the society, which is very helpfully because they have free time. In conclusion, although older people can support their families and do volunteer work, the financial problems they cause are too big. Goverments must find new ways to manage the costs of healthcare and pensions. Therefore, I believe that this trend brings more problems than benefits for society in the long run.

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This answer was written by a language model to a real exam question, then scored by Bandly against the four public band descriptors. The band is a software estimate. No examiner has marked it, and the band a real examiner would award may differ. Scored with google/gemini-3.5-flash on 2026-09-08.

Estimated overall

Mean of the four criteria, rounded the way the exam rounds it.

Task Response 8

You are at Band 8 for Task Response because you clearly answer the question and give well‑developed, relevant support, but you focus almost entirely on economic issues and do not fully explore non‑financial problems or benefits.

Coherence and Cohesion 6

The response demonstrates a clear overall progression but the use of referencing is not always clear or appropriate, which limits it to Band 6.

Lexical Resource 6

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, but occasional inaccuracies in word choice and word formation prevent you from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy 7

You demonstrate a good control of grammar and punctuation, using a variety of complex structures, but a few errors prevent a higher score.

What would take this higher

To improve your coherence and cohesion score, you need to ensure that your referencing is always clear and less repetitive. For instance, instead of repeating 'older people' and 'younger generation' multiple times in the second and third paragraphs, you should use precise pronouns like 'they' or 'these individuals' to link your ideas more smoothly. Refining these cohesive links will make the progression of your arguments much easier to follow and help elevate this area to the next band level.

Find out what this essay would score

Paste your own answer and Bandly returns an estimated band for each of the four criteria, with the sentences that pulled the score down. Under a cent an essay, about six seconds.

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