How to prepare for IELTS - Writing
This
task tests your ability to do one or more of the following:
v present
and justify opinions
v argue
a case
v evaluate
and challenge ideas, evidence and argument
The
Question
You
are given a discussion topic. The question will either present you with
an opinion or an argument. You have to discuss the question with two or
three main points and supporting detail for each point.
Length
& Timing
You
have to write at least 250 words.
You
are advised to spend 40 minutes on this task.
Marking
Your
performance in Task 2 will be assessed on the criteria below:
Task
Response
Being
able to present a clear position with a logical, well-supported argument.
Being
able to support your argument with personal experience and reasons.
Being
able to focus on the topic and not include anything irrelevant.
Coherence
and Cohesion
Being
able to write fluently enough to make your message clear to the reader.
Being
able to write cohesive sentences and paragraphs.
Lexical
Resource
Being
able to use a wide range of vocabulary naturally.
Being
able to spell accurately and using the appropriate word formation.
Grammatical
Range and Accuracy
Using
the appropriate grammatical structures accurately
Using
a variety of sentence structures.
This
task carries more weight in marking than Task 1. If, for
Task
2 Questions
Look
at the example below.
You
should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write
about the following topic:
A
great many countries around the world are losing their cultural identity
because of the Internet. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this
statement?
Give
reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge
or experience.
You
should write at least 250 words.
•
Study the question carefully. The instructions will always start with
the sentence ‘Write about the following topic…’ and include the sentence
beginning ‘Give reasons for your answer…’
•
Underline key points in the question.
•
Make sure you read all parts of the question, so you include everything
required.
•
Quickly brainstorm the topic. Think about your point of view.
Think
about any personal experience you can add.
•
Write a plan. Decide which points are your main points or topic sentences.
•
Decide what supporting details you have for each main point. You should
have at least two main points.
•
Make sure you organize your points logically.
•
You will need an introductory statement, body and conclusion.
The
structure for your essay will depend on the type of question. There are two
types of argumentative structures. For example:
Type
1 – Two-sided Argument
Some
people think that children get a better education if they study away from home
at a boarding school. Others believe it is better for them to stay with their families
and attend day school. Discuss both these points of view and give your opinion.
You
could use the argument structure - type 1.
INTRODUCTION
v Opening
– general statement introducing the topic.
v Background
information.
v Scope
and thesis statement.
REMEMBER
Your
scope tells your reader the main points you will make. Your thesis statement
tells the reader your opinion.
BODY
PARAGRAPH 1 (Point of View 1)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
BODY
PARAGRAPH 2 (Point of View 2)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
CONCLUSION
v Restatement
of your opinion
v Summary
of your main points.
Type
2 – One-sided Argument
Children
are spending more time at their computers today than playing with their friends.
To
what extent do you agree or disagree?
You
could use the argument structure - type 2.
A
– Agree B – Disagree C – Neutral
REMEMBER
Your
scope tells your reader the main points you will make. Your thesis statement
tells the reader your opinion.
INTRODUCTION
v Opening
– general statement introducing the topic.
v Background
information.
v Scope
and thesis statement of agreement.
BODY
PARAGRAPH 1 (Reason 1 & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
BODY
PARAGRAPH 2 (Reason 2 & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
CONCLUSION
v Restatement
of your opinion.
v Summary
of your main points.
INTRODUCTION
v Opening
– general statement introducing the topic.
v Background
information.
v Scope
and thesis statement of disagreement.
BODY PARAGRAPH 1
(Reason 1 & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
BODY
PARAGRAPH 2 (Reason 2 & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
CONCLUSION
v Restatement
of your opinion.
v Summary
of your main points.
INTRODUCTION
v Opening
– general statement introducing the topic.
v Background
information.
v Scope
and thesis statement of neutrality.
BODY
PARAGRAPH 1 (Reason for agreement & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
v Supporting
sentence 3
BODY
PARAGRAPH 2
(Reason
for disagreement & justification)
v Topic
sentence/main point
v Supporting
sentence 1
v Supporting
sentence 2
CONCLUSION
v Restatement
of your opinion.
v Summary
of your main points
•
Remember to link ideas within/between sentences and paragraphs.
•
You will receive a higher mark if your use a range of structures and vocabulary.
•
Don’t copy from the question as this will not be assessed. Use your own
words.
•
Don’t take more than 40 minutes over this task.
•
Leave at least 5 minutes to check through what you have written.
•
You will lose marks if your essay is less than the required number
of words.
News editors decide what to broadcast on television and what to
print in newspapers. What factors do you think influence these decisions? Do we
become used to bad news? Would it be better if more good news was reported?
It has often been said that “Good news is bad news” because it
does not sell newspapers. A radio station that once decided to present only
good news soon found that it had gone out of business for lack of listeners.
Bad news on the other hand is so common that in order to cope with it, we often
simply ignore it. We have become immune to bad news and the newspapers and
radio stations are aware of this.
While newspapers and TV stations may aim to report world events
accurately, be they natural or human disasters, political events or the horrors
of war, it is also true that their main objective is to sell newspapers and
attract listeners and viewers to their stations. For this reason TV and radio
stations attempt to reflect the flavour of their station by providing news
broadcasts tailor made to suit their listeners’ preferences. Programmes specializing
in pop music or TV soap operas focus more on local news, home issues and up-to-date
traffic reports. The more serious stations and newspapers like to provide “so
called” objective news reports with editorial comment aimed at analyzing the
situation.
If it is true, then, that
newspapers and TV stations are tailoring their news to their readers’ and
viewers’ requirements how can they possibly be reporting real world events in
an honest and objective light? Many radio and TV stations do; in fact, report
items of good news but they no longer call this news. They refer to these as
human interest stories and package them in programmes specializing, for
instance, in consumer affairs or local issues. Good news now comes to us in the
form of documentaries the fight against children’s cancer or AIDS, or the latest
developments in the fight to save the planet from environmental pollution
We
are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses, hospitals,
crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in
the future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more
auspicious of their benefits?
Computers
are a relatively new invention. The first computers were built fifty years ago and
it is only in the last thirty or so years that their influence has affected our
everyday life. Personal computers were introduced as recently as the early eighties.
In this short time they have made a tremendous impact on our lives. We are now
so dependent on computers that it is hard to imagine what things would be like
today without them. You have only got to go into a bank when their main computer
is broken to appreciate the chaos that would occur if computers were suddenly
removed worldwide.
In
the future computers will be used to create bigger and even more sophisticated computers.
The prospects for this are quite alarming. They will be so complex that no
individual could hope to understand how they work. They will bring a lot of benefits
but they will also increase the potential for unimaginable chaos. They will, for
example, be able to fly planes and they will be able to co ordinate the movements
of several planes in the vicinity of an airport. Providing all the computers
are working correctly nothing can go wrong. If one small program fails-disaster.
There
is a certain inevitability that technology will progress and become increasingly
complex. We should, however, ensure that we are still in a position where we
are able to control technology. It will be all too easy to suddenly discover
that technology is controlling us. By then it might be too late I believe that
it is very important to be suspicious of the benefits that computers will bring
and to make sure that we never become totally dependent on a completely technological
world.
"Fatherhood
ought to be emphasized as much as motherhood. The idea that women are
solely
responsible for deciding whether or not to have babies leads on to the idea
that they
are
also responsible for bringing the children up."
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
I believe that
child-rearing should be the responsibility of both parents and that, whilst the
roles within that partnership may be different, they are nevertheless equal in importance.
In some societies, it has been made easier over the years for single parents to
raise children on their own. However, this does not mean that the traditional
family, with both parents providing emotional support and role-models for their
children, is not the most satisfactory way of bringing up children.
Of crucial
importance, in my opinion, is how we define 'responsible for bringing the
children up'. At its simplest, it could mean giving the financial support
necessary to provide a home, food and clothes and making sure the child is safe
and receives an adequate education. This would be the basic definition.
There is, however,
another possible way of defining that part of the quotation. That would say it
is not just the fathers responsibility to provide the basics for his children; while
his wife involves herself in the everyday activity of bringing them up. Rather,
he should share those daily duties, spend as much time as his job allows with
his children, play with them, read to them, help directly with their education,
participate very fully in their lives and encourage them to share his.
It is this second,
fuller, concept of 'fatherhood' that I am in favour of, although I also realize
how difficult it is to achieve sometimes. The economic and employment situation
in many countries means that jobs are getting more, not less, stressful, requiring
long hours and perhaps long journeys to work as well. Therefore it may remain
for many a desirable ideal rather than an achievable reality. ,
"Prevention
is better than cure."
Out
of a country's health budget, a large proportion should be diverted from
treatment to
spending
on health education and preventative measures.
To
what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Of course it goes
without saying that prevention is better than cure. That is why, in recent
years, there has been a growing body of opinion in favour of putting more resources
into health education and preventive measures. The argument is that ignorance
of, for example, basic hygiene or the dangers of an unhealthy diet or lifestyle
needs to be combated by special nationwide publicity campaigns, as well as longer-term
health education.
Obviously, there is a
strong human argument for catching any medical condition as early as possible.
There is also an economic argument for doing so. Statistics demonstrate the
cost-effectiveness of treating a condition in the early stages, rather than
delaying until more expensive and prolonged treatment is necessary. Then there are
social or economic costs, perhaps in terms of loss of earnings for the family concerned
or unemployed benefit paid by the state.
So far so good, but
the difficulties start when we try to define what the 'proportion' of the
budget "should be, particularly if the funds will be 'diverted from
treatment'. Decisions on exactly how much of the total health budget should be
spent in this way 'are not a matter for the non-specialist, but should be made
on the basis of an accepted health service model.
This is the point at which real
problems occur - the formulation of the model. How do we accurately measure
which health education campaigns are effective in both medical and financial
terms? How do we agree about the medical efficacy of various screening programmes,
for example, when the medical establishment itself does not agree? A very
rigorous process of evaluation is called for, so that we can make informed
decisions.
Without
capital punishment (the death penalty) our lives are less secure and crimes of violence
increase. Capital punishment is essential to control violence in society.
To what extent do you agree or disagree
with this opinion?
Before talking about the essential role of death penalty, you have to
think about the meaning, and the purpose, of any kind of punishment. If you
consider that the purpose is to prevent the guilty from being nasty again, you
can be seduced by an argumentation in favour of the suppression of capital
punishment. But you have to think about another aspect of the problem: a
punishment is also useful to impress people, to make them fear the law.
In fact, let's take the example of a young misfit, which has grown in a
violent atmosphere, influenced by older delinquents, e t c . . . He lives in
the streets; he's got no aim but to survive. This is the kind of person who could
possibly kill someone for money, or even for f u n . . . Why would he fear
prison? Life would be easier for him there. In addition, in many cases, when
you behave normally, you can benefit from penalty reductions. This young
misfit needs to be impressed; he needs to know that the law is a frontier. When
you cross it, you can lose your life. That is why capital punishment
helps keeping a distance between robbery and murder. If you abolish it, you
suppress the difference between these two types of crime, which are completely
different.
But there is also a limit to define: even if death penalty is
unavoidable, it would be a crime to apply it to inadequate cases. If there are no
premeditation or past facts which can justify such a punishment, it is far
too strict to apply death penalty. That is why the lawmakers have to establish
precisely the context in which capital punishment can be pronounced.
That is the price to pay to limit violence without using excessive violence...
The
position of women in society has changed markedly in the last twenty years.
Many of
the
problems young people now experience, such as juvenile delinquency, arise from
the
fact
that many married women now work and are not at home to care for their
children.
To what extent do you agree or disagree
with this opinion?
It is certainly true
that the position of women in society has undergone a dramatic change in the
past twenty years but I do not feel that this is a direct cause of the indisputable
increase in juvenile-related problems during this period.
It is now accepted
that young women should find work on leaving school; indeed to rely totally on
their parents' financial support is no longer an option in many families. Likewise,
once they get married, the majority of women continue working since the financial
pressures of setting up a house and establishing a reasonable standard of living
often require two incomes.
Twenty years ago it
was common for women to give up work once they had children and devote their
time to caring for their children. This is no longer the general rule and the
provision of professionally-run child care facilities and day nurseries have removed
much of the responsibility for child rearing that used to fall to mothers.
However, these facilities come at a cost and often require two salaries coming
into a family to be afforded.
I do not believe that
the increase in the number of working mothers has resulted in children being
brought up less well than previously. Indeed it could be argued that by giving
mothers the opportunity to work and earn extra money children can be better provided
for than previously. There is more money for luxuries and holidays and a more
secure family life is possible. Of course there are limits as to the amount of
time that ideally should be spent away from home and the ideal scenario would
be for one of the parents (often the wife) to have a part-time job and thus be
available for their children before and after school. It is important to
establish the correct balance between family life and working life.
Some governments
say how many children a family can hare in their country. They may control the
number of children someone has through taxes.
It is sometimes necessary
and right for a government to control the population in this way.
Do you agree or
disagree?
It is certainly very
understandable that some governments should start looking at ways of limiting
their populations to a sustainable figure. In the past, populations were partly
regulated by frequent war and widespread disease, but in recent years the
effects of those factors have been diminished. Countries can be faced with a population
that is growing much faster than she nation's food resources or employment
opportunities and whose members can be condemned to poverty by the need to feed
extra mouths. They identify population control as a' means to raising living
standards.
But how should it be
achieved? Clearly, this whole area is a very delicate personal and cultural
issue. Many people feel that this is not a matter for the state. They feel this
is one area of life where they have the right to make decisions for themselves.
For that reason, it would seem that the best approach would be to work by persuasion
rather than compulsion. This could be done by a process of education that
points out the way a smaller family can mean an improved quality of life for
the family members, as well as less strain on the country's perhaps very
limited, resources.
This is the preferred
way. Of course if this does not succeed within a reasonable time scale, it may
be necessary to consider other measures such as tax incentives or child-benefit
payments for small families only. These are midway between persuasion and compulsion.
So yes, it is sometimes necessary, but governments should try very hard to persuade
first. They should also remember that this is a very delicate area indeed, and
that social engineering can create as many problems as it solves
When a country develops its
technology, the traditional skills and ways of life die out. It is pointless to
try and keep them alive. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this
opinion?
Overall, I disagree
with the opinion expressed; I would like to begin by pointing out that
‘traditional skills
and ways of life’ are not automatically of one country, but of a culture or
community.
In many ways, the
history of civilization is the history of technology: from the discovery of
fire to the invention of the wheel to the development of the Internet we have
been moving on from previous ways of doing things. Some technologies, such as
weapons of mass destruction, are of negative impact. Others, such as medical
advances, positively help people to live better or longer, and so very much
help traditional ways of life. Surely, few people would seek to preserve such
traditions as living in cavesl.
Interestingly,
technology can positively contribute to the keeping alive of traditional skills
and ways of life. For example, the populations of some islands are too small to
have normal schools. Rather than breaking up families by sending children to
the mainland, education authorities have been able to use the Internet to
deliver schooling online. In addition, the Internet, and modern refrigeration
techniques, are being used to keep alive the traditional skills of producing
salmon; it can now be ordered from, and delivered to, anywhere in the world.
In conclusion,
without suggesting that all technology is necessarily good, I think it is by no
means ‘pointless’, in any way, to try to keep traditions alive with technology.
We should not ignore technology, because it can be our friend and support our
way of life.
In many countries children
are engaged in some kind of paid work. Some people regard this as completely
wrong, while others consider it as valuable work experience, important for
learning and taking responsibility.
What are your opinions on
this?
The issue of children
doing paid work is a complex and sensitive one. It is difficult to say who has
the right to judge whether children working is ‘wrong’ or ‘valuable’. Opinions
will also differ as to ‘learning’ benefits: no doubt teachers and factory
owners, for example, would have varying concerns.
An important
consideration is the kind of work undertaken. Young children doing arduous and
repetitive tasks on a factory production line, for example, are less likely to be
‘learning’ than older children helping in an old people’s home. There are
health and
Safety issues to be
considered as well. It is an unfortunate fact that many employers may prefer to
use the services of children simply to save money by paying them less than
adults and it is this type of exploitation that should be discouraged.
However, in many
countries children work because their families need the additional income, no
matter how small. This was certainly the case in the past in many industrialized
countries, and it is very difficult to judge that it is wrong for children
today to contribute to the family income in this way.
Nevertheless, in
better economic circumstances, few parents would choose to send their children
out to full-time paid work. If learning responsibilities and work experience
are considered to be
important, then children can acquire these by having light, part time jobs or
even doing tasks such as helping their parents around the family home, which
are unpaid, but undoubtedly of value in children’s development.
Some people believe that
children’s leisure activities must be educational; otherwise they are a
complete waste of time.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer
and include any relevant examples from your experience.
Today, education has
become a priority for many parents seeking to secure a good future for their children
in this rapidly changing world. They believe that if their children apply
themselves and work hard at school, then they will increase their opportunities
for going to higher education and eventually getting a good job. Of course they
are right, and as access to the best education and best jobs is becoming more
competitive, then it is true that children have to make the best of their study
time when they are young.
However, the parents
who do not allow their children sufficient free time for leisure activities
outside school hours are misguided. Such activities are far from being a waste
of time for the children simply because they are not academic. It is important
to remember that children need to develop skills other than intellectual ones,
and the best
way to do this is
through activities such as sports, games and playing with other kids. If they
cannot play make-believe games, how can they develop their imagination? How can
they learn physical co-ordination or learn important social lessons about
winning and losing if they do not practice any sports? Many children form
strong, personal relationships with the friends they play with, and without the
opportunity to do this, they
could grow up
emotionally immature or unformed.
Finally, I think it is
also important to remember that children need to relax as well as work. If
everything they do must have some educational or academic relevance, then they
will soon get tired of studying altogether, which is the last thing parents
would want.
6 A company in which every employee is made to feel important will run more smoothly and experience greater success than a company that values some employees above others. Discuss.
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