Model answer
Written by 8020 teachers. Do not memorise it — take the structure and the way ideas are developed, then speak about your own life.
Around the time I finished university, my plan for the next couple of years was fairly fixed in my head — I'd already been accepted onto a master's programme in another country, found a flatshare, even started learning a bit of the language in the evenings. Then, about six weeks before I was due to fly out, my father had a health scare, nothing catastrophic in the end, but serious enough that he was in hospital for a while and my mother genuinely needed another adult around the house. It changed because staying suddenly felt non-negotiable in a way the master's degree, as much as I wanted it, just didn't. I deferred my place for a year, which the university was reasonably understanding about, and instead took a job locally that let me work fairly flexible hours so I could actually be present at home. It wasn't the plan at all — I remember being frustrated about it for the first month or so, in a way I'm slightly embarrassed about now given what was actually going on with my dad. But once things settled down, I ended up finding that job more useful than I expected; it gave me a kind of practical experience the master's wouldn't have, and when I finally did go the following year, I went in with a bit more perspective than I think I'd have had straight out of university. So, changed as it was, I don't really think of it as a lost year anymore.