Prompt
Two-part – Healthy lifestyle
Many people find it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. What are the main reasons for this, and what could be done to encourage people to be healthier?
Band 9 sample answer
Band 9 sample answer
Sentence-by-sentence analysis
Anatomy of a Band 9 Essay
Read the model answer normally, or switch on the examiner breakdown to see how each sentence contributes to the response.
Analysed against the four IELTS Writing assessment criteria. Each note explains how this specific sentence supports the essay.
Paragraph 1: Introduction — identifies why healthy living is difficult and previews the response
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is difficult for many people, largely because modern environments make unhealthy choices effortless while healthy ones require time, knowledge, and sustained motivation. The most effective responses therefore combine personal support with changes to the systems that shape everyday decisions.
The opening does more than restate the problem: it gives an organising explanation for why people struggle, contrasting the ease of unhealthy choices with the greater demands of healthy behaviour.
This previews the solution strategy clearly. The essay will not treat poor health simply as an individual failure; it will address both personal behaviour and the environment influencing that behaviour.
Paragraph 2: Body 1 — explains the main reasons people struggle to maintain healthy habits
One major reason is convenience and cost. In many cities, ultra-processed food is cheap, heavily promoted, and available on every corner, whereas fresh produce and gym memberships can feel like luxuries for low-income families. A second factor is time pressure. Long commutes, overtime, and irregular shifts push people towards takeaway meals and reduce opportunities for regular exercise and adequate sleep. Finally, misinformation and low health literacy play a role: conflicting diet advice online and misleading “healthy” labels can leave individuals confused, so they either give up or follow fads that are hard to sustain.
The concise topic sentence establishes the first causal category, giving the paragraph a clear starting point before specific food and affordability examples are introduced.
The contrast between food that is “cheap, heavily promoted” and healthy options that “feel like luxuries” precisely shows how price and availability can make unhealthy choices structurally easier.
Explicit sequencing signals a move to a distinct cause rather than allowing the paragraph to become a loose list of health problems.
The sentence develops the time-pressure cause through a clear mechanism: demanding schedules affect diet, exercise and sleep simultaneously.
The colon and result clause allow the writer to move logically from the cause, conflicting information, to its behavioural consequences: disengagement or unsustainable fad-following.
Paragraph 3: Body 2 — proposes systemic and practical measures that answer the identified causes
To encourage healthier living, governments and employers can make the healthy option the default. For example, subsidising fruit and vegetables, restricting junk-food advertising to children, and requiring clearer front-of-pack labelling would reduce financial and informational barriers. Workplaces could support activity by offering flexible hours, cycle-to-work schemes, and short movement breaks, which are especially helpful for sedentary jobs. At the community level, investment in safe parks and affordable sports facilities, alongside school-based cooking and nutrition education, would build habits early and make healthy routines more realistic.
The controlling idea responds directly to the essay’s introduction: instead of demanding greater willpower, policy and workplace design should make healthier decisions easier.
Each measure matches an earlier cause: subsidies address cost, advertising restrictions reduce unhealthy promotion, and clearer labels address confusion and misinformation.
The sentence uses a controlled list followed by a relative clause to show how workplace design can counter the inactivity created by demanding or sedentary work routines.
“At the community level” broadens the response beyond government regulation and workplaces, creating progression from immediate interventions to longer-term habit formation.
Paragraph 4: Conclusion — rejects a willpower-only explanation and synthesises the proposed response
In short, people struggle not only because of weak willpower but because of environments that reward unhealthy behaviour. Practical incentives, accurate information, and supportive infrastructure are key to lasting change.
The conclusion restates the essay’s central causal judgement precisely: individual motivation matters, but the surrounding environment is a major reason unhealthy behaviour persists.
The final three-part synthesis mirrors the solutions developed in the essay: alter incentives, improve knowledge and reshape the environments in which health decisions are made.
Verified word count: 260
Analysis by IELTS Master editorial review. How this analysis is created and reviewed
Useful vocabulary and phrases
make the healthy option the default
Shows an advanced, policy-oriented way to frame solutions.
Workplaces can make the healthy option the default by providing nutritious cafeteria meals.
ultra-processed food
Accurate, high-level terminology common in public-health writing.
Ultra-processed food is often cheaper and more widely available than fresh ingredients.
health literacy
Explains behaviour with a nuanced, academic concept.
Low health literacy can lead people to follow unrealistic diets promoted online.
front-of-pack labelling
Provides concrete, credible policy detail.
Clear front-of-pack labelling helps shoppers compare products quickly.
financial and informational barriers
Pairs problems with solutions in a cohesive way.
Subsidies and better labels can reduce financial and informational barriers.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Explaining only personal ‘lack of willpower’ and ignoring environmental causes such as pricing, marketing, and urban design.
- Listing many reasons or solutions without developing them with explanation and examples.
- Proposing vague solutions (e.g., ‘people should exercise more’) instead of actionable measures (subsidies, labelling, flexible work).
- Writing an overview-like conclusion that introduces new ideas instead of summarising established points.
- Overgeneralising (e.g., ‘everyone is too busy’) without acknowledging variation and keeping claims measured.
Now apply what you have learned
Check your essay for Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
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