WRITING TASK 2

Discussion – you are asked to examine and discuss both sides of an argument. You may also
be asked to give your opinion, but this is not always the case.

Advantages / disadvantages – this is similar to a discussion question, but you are specifically
asked to outline the advantages and disadvantages of a position. Sometimes you are asked
‘do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?’ This means you must express an opinion.

Opinion – these come in slightly different forms. Sometimes they simply ask if you agree or
disagree with a statement, sometimes they ask you to what extent – or how much – you
agree or disagree, and sometimes they simply ask you directly to state what your opinion is
about the topic.

Problem / solution – here you have to explain the possible reasons for a problem situation
and suggest some possible solutions.

Direct question – these questions normally have two distinct parts. They ask why something
happens or some situation exists, then they ask what can be done about it.

Analysing the question

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This step looks at the importance of carefully analysing the question, identifying exactly
what you are being asked to do, what you are not being asked to do, and what that means
for how you approach the task.

As you saw in Step 2.3, there are several different types of essays in IELTS. Each one
demands a slightly different approach before you start writing, and will result in a different
style of essay.

Remember, every IELTS question has at least three separate parts:

• the initial statement outlining the topic

• a specific task instruction or question, such as discuss both these views, give your
opinion, describe the reasons for a problem and offer solutions etc.
• an instruction to give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples
from your own knowledge or experience.

In order to get a good score for Task Response, it is essential that your essay includes each
of these things. If you fail to include everything you are asked for then this will affect your
band score. Analysing the question before you begin can save you problems later when it
comes to planning and writing your essay and can ensure you achieve a better result.
So what do you need to do? Look at this example:

Learning English at school is often seen as more important than learning local languages. If
these are not taught, many are at risk of dying out.
In your opinion, is it important for everyone to learn English? Should we try to ensure the
survival of local languages and, if so, how?

Let’s first look at the key words in the initial statement. It’s a good idea to circle or underline
the key words as you read:

Learning English at school is often seen as more important than learning local languages. If

these are not taught, many are at risk of dying out.

The first thing to notice here is that the question is asking about two things – learning
English and learning and preserving local languages. This is clearly spelt out in the
instructions that follow, but it’s important to keep in mind from the start. When you are
writing your introduction and when you are planning what to say in the body of your essay,
you need to make sure that you include discussion of both English and local languages, and
don’t focus all your attention on one or the other.

The second key point here is that some people think learning English is more important. You
are not only being asked if you think learning English is a good idea or not. The question is
asking about the relative importance given to each.

The third key phrase is about many local languages dying out. What does this mean? Is it
true? It is unlikely that it is referring to major languages like Mandarin Chinese, Spanish,
Hindi etc. with hundreds of millions or even billions of speakers. So, in your essay you
should consider what types of local language may be at risk and why.

Next, let’s look at the questions:

In your opinion, is it important for everyone to learn English? Should we try to ensure the

survival of local languages and, if so, how?

As you can see, there are a number of parts to the question and to score well for Task
Response, you must answer all of them. That means you have to:

• State your opinion about whether or not you feel everyone should learn English
• State your opinion about preserving local languages (and as mentioned above, make
it clear what you mean by local languages)
• If your opinion is that local languages should be protected, how can this be
achieved? You need to propose at least one or two solutions.
Finally, let’s look at the part of the question that is the same in every IELTS Task 2 question,
the sentence telling you to ‘give reasons for your answer, and include examples from your
own knowledge or experience’. We will look at giving reasons in more detail in the next
steps, but it’s a good idea to think about examples from your own knowledge or experience
right at the start. It may only be one sentence in the final essay, but it can make a
difference.

Now look at this Task 2 question:

Rising university fees and limited employment prospects for graduates have led some people
to say that universities should not teach arts subjects, like philosophy and history, and only
offer practical degree courses that maximise chances of employment. To what extent do you
agree or disagree?

Assessment criteria: Task response

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In this step we take a more detailed look at what is required to score well for Task Response
in Task 2.

The assessment criteria of Task Response specifically looks at:

• whether your answer addresses all the parts of the task and how fully it addresses
them
• whether you develop ideas rather than simply stating them, and how fully you
develop and support them

A common reason for test takers not getting the result they need is simply not answering
the question fully and completely. Look at the difference between Band 5 and Band 7:

Band 5 - ‘addresses the task only partially’

Band 7 - ‘addresses all parts of the task’

If you don’t address all parts of the task, no matter whether you do some parts very well or
not, then your band score will be lower for Task Response. It’s as simple as that. That is why
analysing the question, as you did in the previous step, is so important. It’s also why
planning your essay before you start writing is essential. Your plan not only helps you to
organise your thoughts and ideas, it also acts as a kind of checklist to make sure that you
don’t needlessly drop points by forgetting to include any of the key parts of the task.

The other important aspect of Task Response is developing your ideas fully. A good plan will
help you to clearly see which ideas need to be developed further, and to check whether you
have thought of enough to say about each one. Again, look at the difference between Band
5 and Band 7:

Band 5 - ‘presents some main ideas but these are limited and not sufficiently developed;
there may be irrelevant detail’
Band 7 - ‘presents, extends and supports main ideas, but there may be a tendency to over-
generalise and/or supporting ideas may lack focus’

If you include a list of ideas and points but don’t go deeper and develop these ideas, or
don’t provide enough supporting evidence or examples, you will get a lower band score.
And too many ideas can be just as bad as too few. If you include irrelevant points this will
also affect your score. So it’s important to be selective, focus on the ideas you have the
most to say about and then develop them fully.

Ask yourself the question

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Listen to Sally talk about how you can start thinking of ideas and deciding on what to
include in your answer.

With some questions, such as questions asking for advantages and disadvantages, or a
solution to a problem, it’s possible to move straight on to brainstorming ideas for your plan.
But for others, where you are asked to give your opinion, it’s a good idea to take a little time
first to decide exactly what your opinion is and why. Remember, the band descriptor for
Band 7 says, ‘presents a clear position throughout the response’, so it’s important to decide
what your position is before you even start planning.

Remember that opinion questions can take different forms, and you may also be asked for
an opinion in discussion questions. The way the question is asked can affect how you phrase
your answer. Think about the following examples:

• What is your opinion / view?

• Do you agree or disagree?
• To what extent do you agree or disagree?
• In your opinion is it important or not?
• Is this a positive development or not?
• Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

All opinion questions involve agreeing, disagreeing or partially agreeing with the topic, but
you should let the question guide you on how you phrase that opinion. Let’s look at some
examples.
In Step 2.4, you analysed this question:

In your opinion, is it important for everyone to learn English? Should we try to ensure the
survival of local languages and, if so, how?

The first part of that question is something that most people will have an opinion on, so it
should be quite easy for you to decide how you feel about it. Possible answers could
include:

• Yes everyone should learn English. (Why?)

• Yes everyone should learn at least some English. (Why?)
• Yes it’s important for some people but not for everyone. (Why only some people?)
• No it’s not important for everyone to learn English. (Why not?)

The second part of the question asks if you feel we should protect local languages. Possible
answers could include:

• Yes we should always protect all local languages. (Why?)

• We should protect some local languages. (Why?)
• We should not protect local languages. (Why not?)

By answering these questions right at the start, the next steps of generating ideas, evidence
and examples will be much easier.

Having enough to say

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We’ve looked at how to analyse the question, and how to decide on your position before
you start planning exactly what to say. In this step we’ll look at the next stage - generating
enough ideas to write a strong essay.

Look again at the band descriptors for Bands 5, 6 and 7.

Band 5 - ‘presents some main ideas but these are limited and not sufficiently developed’
Band 6 - ‘presents relevant main ideas but some may be inadequately developed’
Band 7 - ‘presents, extends and supports main ideas’

In plain English, that means that you have to include enough ideas to respond to the topic
and you can’t simply list them, you need to give supporting evidence or arguments for each
one. If you don’t, the best you will get for Task Response is Band 5. To get Band 7, you need
to provide solid points that fully address the question, go into these ideas in some detail
(‘extend main ideas’), and give supporting reasons, examples and/or evidence for any
statement that you make. So how can you be sure you have enough to say? Let’s continue
with the question about learning English and protecting local languages.

In Step 2.6 we asked you to decide on your answer to that question and give reasons. Let’s
assume that you answered yes in answer to the first part of the question, ‘In your opinion, is
it important for everyone to learn English?’ In order to provide reasons, you must have
asked yourself the question, ‘why?’ That’s the first step to building a paragraph – but it’s
only the first step. In order to construct a strong argument you need to support that initial
‘yes’ with reasons, evidence and, if possible, examples. That means asking more questions -
interrogating your initial idea. In this way you develop your argument and make it easier to
move to the next stage - planning and writing the essay itself.

For example:

Is it important for everyone to learn English?

Yes. They should be able to if they want to.

Why?
Because English is a world language – the most widely spoken language in the world.

What does that mean?

English is the language used around the world for communication, education, knowledge
transfer, business etc.

Why does that matter?

Because English provides opportunities, allows people to access knowledge (Where? How?),
makes them more employable in their own country and opens up better-paying
opportunities internationally. Not knowing English can exclude people from opportunities
(example?)

You can see that simply by asking yourself these questions you have given yourself a solid
framework for a paragraph. You have gone from a one word answer, ‘yes’, to a number of
solid reasons. You can add examples to that from your own knowledge or experience, and
you can link from this to the next part of the question about local languages in another
paragraph. If you had stopped at ‘because English is a world language’ and then moved onto
another reason, you would not have had enough to say. That is a common reason for test-
takers not getting the result they want.

We have gone through this step by step to make it clear, but in reality the whole process
would take very little time in your head, and not much longer to note down for your plan. In
the next step, we’ll look at how to shape these ideas into a final plan.

The importance of planning

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In this step we look at how to organise your ideas into a clear plan consisting of an
introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.

You have now analysed a question, brainstormed some ideas to respond to each key point,
chosen the ones you want use, and explored these ideas further to develop arguments,
evidence and examples to support each one. These are the foundations of a good plan. The
final stage is to organise that information into a logical structure so that you can start
writing the final essay.

In Step 2.3 we looked at the different question types you might meet in your IELTS test.
These included:

• Discussion
• Advantages / disadvantages
• Opinion
• Problem / solution
• Direct question

How many paragraphs?

Although the purpose and content of each paragraph will vary depending on the question
type, IELTS essays are typically 4-5 paragraphs long, consisting of an introduction, two to
three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Look at these examples:

Advantages/disadvantages

Solar energy is becoming more and more popular as a source of household energy in many
countries around the world.
Why is this?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy?

• Introduction: paraphrase and outline the topic, including the question of ‘why?’,
then explain what the essay is going to do (consider both sides).
• Body paragraph 1: Describe the advantages, including evidence and examples.
• Body paragraph 2: Describe the disadvantages, including evidence and examples.
• Conclusion: summarise main points and comment on them.

Opinion question
It is important to ensure that children with a wide range of abilities and from a variety of
social backgrounds mix with each other at school.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?

• Introduction: paraphrase and outline the topic, then state your opinion.
• Body paragraph 1 – give reasons why you agree/disagree, including supporting
arguments, evidence and examples.
• Body paragraph 2 – give further reasons why you agree/disagree including
supporting arguments, evidence and examples.
• Conclusion: restate your position and summarise main reasons from previous two
paragraphs.

Some opinion questions, like the example we looked at in Steps 2.4, 2.6 and 2.7, have two
parts.

Two part opinion question

Learning English at school is often seen as more important than learning local languages. If
these are not taught, many are at risk of dying out.
In your opinion, is it important for everyone to learn English? Should we try to ensure the
survival of local languages and, if so, how?

• Introduction: paraphrase and outline the topic.

• Body paragraph 1 – give reasons why English is important, including evidence and
examples.
• Body paragraph 2 – give reasons why local languages should also be
protected/should not be protected. If yes, include one or two examples of how to
achieve this.
• Conclusion: restate your opinion on both questions and summarise the main reasons
and, if relevant, suggestions.

Remember in Step 2.2 we talked about all the things you have to do in forty minutes? Lots
of test takers worry about this and feel that planning is somehow a waste and means they
won’t have enough time to write the essay. In reality, nothing could be further from the
truth. No doubt there are a few very experienced writers who can sit down, look at an essay
question and write a great answer straight away. But that’s certainly not true for most of us.
Remember, your essay is being very carefully assessed in relation to the marking criteria. If
you want to make sure that you meet all the requirements you simply cannot afford not to
plan.

Planning is not just essential to make sure you include everything you need, it also means
you will actually take less time to write the final essay. If your plan is very clear and includes
all your ideas, evidence and examples, then writing the essay itself just means joining these
ideas together into sentences and paragraphs. When you are writing you will not be wasting
time thinking what to say, changing your mind or realising you have forgotten something
important and need to go back and make changes. You will be able to focus on the other
assessment criteria – coherence and cohesion, lexical resource and grammar. And that is
what will enable you to get a higher band score.

In the next step, you are going to practise creating a plan for an essay on one of the
questions we have looked at. Before that though, think about the last time you wrote an
essay like this. Did you make a plan? How long did you spend on it? How detailed was it? If
you did make a more detailed plan, did it help you? If you didn’t, do you think it would have
made your essay better?

Practice: making a plan

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Practise making a plan with your own ideas, opinions, evidence and examples.

In Step 2.6, we looked at the following opinion question, and asked you to think of and
share your own ideas to answer each part of it.

Learning English at school is often seen as more important than learning local languages. If
these are not taught, many are at risk of dying out.
In your opinion, is it important for everyone to learn English? Should we try to ensure the
survival of local languages and, if so, how?

Between your own ideas and all the ones shared by other learners, you should have plenty
to say on this topic by now! In this step you are going to use those ideas to create a
complete plan, from introduction to conclusion, including supporting arguments and any
examples from your own knowledge or experience. Remember, you don’t need lots of
points to discuss, just a few that you can explore and expand on fully. You are not going to
write the essay now - we will look at building good paragraphs and writing strong
introductions and conclusions later in the course - but you are going to decide
exactly how you would answer.

To make your plan:

• Analyse the question.

• Decide on your personal response. If it’s an opinion question, do you agree, disagree
or a little of both? If it’s a problem / solution essay, what solution would you
propose?
• Think of ideas that you might include in your essay.
 • Choose the ideas you think are best or that you think you would have most to say
about. Remember, the examiner is not interested in a long list of ideas. They are
interested in how well you express and explore a few. And if you include irrelvant
points that do not answer the question it will negatively affect your score.
• Explore these ideas further by asking why, how, who, what and where questions and
thinking of evidence and examples to support them.
• Organise your points into paragraphs with a logical structure. Look for connections
and examples so you can group related ideas together in the same paragraph.

That’s it! If you follow these steps you should have a clear plan with all your key ideas
arranged in paragraphs, each with supporting arguments, evidence and / or examples. Use
the following structure:

• Introduction
• Body paragraph 1
• Body paragraph 2
• Conclusion

• The next assessment criteria to consider is Coherence and cohesion. What do these
terms mean and how do they relate to the planning and writing of your essays?

• Coherence refers to how clearly organised and presented your arguments are. It

relates to the way that you organise and sequence information and use paragraphs
to help the reader follow your points from your introduction through to your
conclusion. We’ll look at this in the next step.

• Cohesion refers to how you link ideas together, whether in the same sentence,
between sentences or across paragraphs. This involves the use of what are
called ‘cohesive devices’. These include linking words, reference words such as ‘this’,
‘that’, ‘the former’ etc. and substitutions, where you use synonyms to link back to
earlier information. We’ll look at cohesive devices in Step 2.12.

What makes a good paragraph?

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In Step 2.9 we looked at how to plan your essay and organise it into four or five
paragraphs. But what makes a good paragraph?

A paragraph is simply a group of sentences that explore one main idea. All paragraphs start
from that main idea. The sentences that follow do not exist in isolation. Each part has to link
together logically, build on the information that came before and move the reader along in
the direction you want to take them. We’ll look at how you do that in this and the following
steps.

Topic sentences

Every paragraph needs a topic sentence. This is usually a short sentence at the beginning of
the paragraph that states the main idea of the paragraph. This is followed by sentences that
develop that idea. Look at the following IELTS question:

Levels of depression and antisocial behaviour in children have increased dramatically in

modern societies. This situation has led many people to believe that childhood itself is in
crisis. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?

Here is an extract from an essay on this topic:

… I believe there are three main areas of concern.

The first is the pressure to conform. (1) In other words, children are under pressure to be
like each other and to be like the role models that they see in the media. (2) The result is
that children feel like outcasts among their peers from a very young age unless they can
follow the latest trends. (3) Not being able to conform with the group can lead to conflict
with parents and even depression.

As you can see, the topic sentence is a simple statement - children are under pressure to
conform.

Supporting sentences

Now look at what the other sentences in the paragraph do.

• This sentence explains the topic sentence and gives examples of where the pressure
comes from. Expression like In other words …, What I mean by this is …, What this
means is …, This means … are good ways to start this kind of sentence.
• This sentence gives an example of a possible consequence. The result is … or As a
result … can be used for this. We’ll look at more examples in the next step.
• Finally, this sentence adds some more serious possible consequences. It finishes the
paragraph off neatly by repeating the word conform from the topic sentence.

Here is another example from the same essay. Read it and try to write a topic sentence that
sums up the main idea, and follows on from the topic sentence in the previous paragraph:

____________ (1) What I mean by this is that children are being tested on their learning
more frequently and at a younger age. (2) Constant testing makes children anxious about
school and children who are not suited to academic study feel inadequate when they take
exams and then fail. (3) Instead of helping children’s minds grow, the education system has
become the cause of many mental health problems in the young today.

Finally, notice how similar the structure is to the first paragraph. In general, it is a good idea
to practise structuring paragraphs that start with a topic sentence, then have three or four
sentences that give examples, provide evidence, give explanations and reasons or describe
consequences or results. As with any skill, the more you consciously practise this in your
own writing, the easier it will become. We will practise this more in Step 2.14.

Cohesive devices
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A look at what is meant by cohesive devices in the IELTS assessment criteria, why they’re
important, how to use them and what to avoid.

A good essay takes the reader on a journey and leads them from your introduction, through
each of your arguments, to your conclusion. Like any journey though, it can be easy to get
lost along the way. And that’s where cohesive devices come in. They are like signposts that
link sentences and paragraphs together or signal to the reader what is coming next. These
include:

Linking words

FUNCTION Linking words and phrases

Adding similar ideas in addition, furthermore, moreover

in contrast, on the other hand, on the

Contrasting ideas
contrary, although, however

Giving examples or evidence for example, for instance

Explaining results as a result, for this reason, consequently

Sequencing firstly, secondly, next, to begin with, finally

 Providing explanations owing to, because of, due to

Drawing conclusions in conclusion, to sum up

in my opinion, from my point of view, to my

Introducing your opinion
mind, it seems to me that …

There are many more linking words and you can find a complete guide and more practice
activities on Step 2.17. You can also test yourself in the next step.

One important point to remember though, is not to overuse linking words. Sometimes
people get carried away and add them to almost every sentence. It’s not just that this is
unnecessary, it actually makes your writing worse. It is unnatural and repetitive and shows a
lack of flexibility and control in your use of other devices and complex structures. In fact,
overuse of linking words will result in a lower band score. Look at the descriptors for Band 5
and Band 7:

Band 5 - makes inadequate, inaccurate or over-use of cohesive devices

Band 7 - uses a range of cohesive devices appropriately although there may be some
under-/over-use

So as you can see, overuse of linking words can be just as bad as not using them enough,
and can result in a lower band score.

Referencing and substitution

Cohesion does not only come from linking devices. Look at this band descriptor for Band 5:

Band 5 - may be repetitive because of lack of referencing and substitution

Referencing means using words like this, that, these, those, they, them, the former, the

latter and so on, to refer back to things you have mentioned earlier. Look at these examples:

It is now much easier to move to other countries to find work, and this leads to better
employment prospects for individuals.
This refers back to the fact that it is easier to move to other countries. Without it the
sentence would read:

It is now much easier to move to other countries to find work, and the fact that it is much
easier to move to other countries leads to better employment prospects for individuals.

As you can see, the second sentence is clumsy and repetitive.

Substitution just means saying the same thing in a different way. It helps cohesion because
you are again referring back to something you said earlier, but without repeating yourself.
You can often substitute one expression for a group of several similar things you have just
mentioned. Look at this example:

I suggest that every student should have instruction in philosophy, history or other arts
subjects because learning critical thinking skills, and developing a wide background
knowledge, will benefit them enormously in later life. In addition to this general training,
we need specialist graduates.

Plan to paragraph
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Before you try writing your first complete essay, this step will give you a chance to review
and apply the lessons we’ve looked at so far on paragraphing and linking devices.

Read the model essay below. One paragraph has been removed and replaced with notes
from the plan. Can you write a paragraph based on these notes that fits with the rest of the
essay, includes all the key points and supporting evidence or examples and uses appropriate
linking words?

Write about the following topic:

Most people accept that we now live in a globalised world but not everyone agrees that
this is beneficial. To what extent is globalisation a positive or negative development?

Globalisation is here to stay, driven by advances in information technology and resulting in

scientific, technological and economic progress and increased international trade and
investment. It has had wide-ranging positive and negative effects on employment and
economic development, scientific research, language and culture, and the environment.

One positive result of globalisation is the global distribution of labour. It is now much easier
to move to other countries to find work, and this leads to better employment prospects for
individuals and to more diverse workplaces. In addition, capital and industrial resources
have migrated to developing countries, thus providing local jobs and boosting local
economies. It has also resulted in greater contact between different cultures, as travel has
become relatively safer and less expensive than it used to be. Ease of communication has
encouraged an unprecedented level of global scientific research and cooperation, and a
subsequent explosion of knowledge and information.
———————————————————————————–

Negatives:

Global economy – problems affect everyone – global financial crisis started in USA – like
virus.

Culture and language – becoming all the same English vs. other languages

Growth in developing countries – pollution – global warming.

———————————————————————————–

In conclusion, globalisation is a double-edged sword that has created jobs and promoted
international cooperation but has led to cultural losses, more environmental damage,
increased health risks and exposure to economic crises. However, our world will continue to
shrink as technology expands, and we need to accept globalisation as a fact of life in the
21st century.

Over to you
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In this step you will try writing your first complete essay, from brainstorming to plan to
final draft.

So far we have looked at the assessment criteria of task response and coherence and
cohesion. In this task those are the key areas to focus on - making sure that you answer the
question fully, clearly and effectively, and that you plan and organise your answer
appropriately.

Next week, we will look at how to improve your score for lexical resource and grammar. We
will also look at how to write strong introductions and conclusions in your essays. But first,
see how you get on answering the following essay question.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task

It is important that children with a wide range of abilities and from a variety of social
backgrounds mix with each other at school.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge
or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Print out the question paper and answer sheet. Give yourself 40 minutes from start to finish,
and either write by hand or on computer, depending on whether you plan to take the
paper-based or computer-based test.

Once you have finished, read through your essay and ask yourself the following seven
questions:

1. Did you analyse the question carefully and underline key words to make sure you knew
exactly what you had to do?
2. Did you start by deciding what your opinion was on the question?
3. Did you brainstorm points to support your opinion?
4. Did you ask yourself questions to develop each point?
5. Did you include a personal example from your own knowldege or experience?
6. Did you make a plan of what to include in each paragraph?
7. Did you follow your plan in the finished essay and include all the required information?

Teacher tips - Task Two

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As we reach the end of the week, watch this video for some tips and advice for Task 2
from some experienced IELTS teachers.

Here’s a summary of some dos and don’ts related to these teachers’ comments as well as
other key points we’ve seen this week in relation to Task 2.

Do:

• be aware of the different types of essays and be sure about what you’re supposed to
do. Be ready to give your opinion if that is what’s required, for example
• have a plan for planning! Follow a series of steps – always starting with
understanding the question and arranging your ideas
• ask questions of your initial ideas to get plenty of content for your essay
• finish by checking your essay to make any important final changes and
improvements.
Don’t:

• ignore what the question asks you to do. If it asks you to consider both sides of an
argument, then you should include pros and cons in your answer
• try to be too complex. Make sure your language and plan is appropriate, and avoid
trying to do too much in the time you have.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/conjunctions-and-linking-
words

Anopinion essay about fas

 Some people think that some types of criminals should not go to prison. Instead they should
do unpaid work in the community. To what extent do you agree?

Owing to the great variety of crimes that can be punishable by prison, some people argue
that not all criminals are the same and it would therefore be more appropriate to give
certain criminals community service instead. I agree that in some cases, prison may not be
the best solution and community service would probably have more benefits.

One justification given for prisons is to keep society safe by removing criminals from the
outside world. So the first thing to consider is if someone who has broken the law is a
danger to other people. In the case of violent crime, there is an argument to keep the
perpetrator away from society. However, burglary or possession of drugs, for example, does
not involve violence against other people so the criminal does not present a direct danger to
anyone in the community. Keeping these types of criminals in prison is expensive for the
taxpayer and does not appear to be an effective punishment as they often commit the same
crime again when they come out of prison.

Personally, I also believe punishments should reform people so they do not reoffend. A
further reason not to put these people in prison is that they may mix with more dangerous
and violent criminals, potentially committing a worse crime when they are released. By
keeping them in the community, helping others, they not only learn new skills, but they
could also develop more empathy and care towards others. If this occurs, society can only
benefit.

Critics of this more rehabilitative approach to crime believe that justice should be harsh in
order to deter people from committing similar crimes and that community service could be
less likely to have that effect. However, there is very little evidence to suggest that long
prison sentences deter criminals.

In conclusion, putting criminals who are not a danger to society in prison is expensive and, in
my opinion, ineffective, both as a deterrent and as a form of rehabilitation. Community
service for non-violent crimes benefits both society and the offender. That said, it would be
useful to have more data to work out whether community service or prison is more likely to
stop someone reoffending. I strongly believe that decisions on how best to deal with
criminals should be based on evidence of what actually works.

Tips

• Introduce your essay by restating the question in your own words.

• If the essay asks you to what extent do you agree?, make your opinion clear throughout. You
can either agree, partially agree or disagree with the statement, explaining and justifying
your opinion.

• The structure should be:

• Introduction
• The first reason why you agree/disagree
• The second reason why you agree/disagree
• The third reason why you agree/disagree (if you have one)
• Conclusion
• Use phrases to organise and link your ideas, e.g. Owing to … , One justification for … , The
first thing to consider is … , A further reason … , In conclusion ... .

• If you do not have solid evidence for your ideas, use modal verbs such
as might, may or could (e.g. they could develop more empathy and care) or other tentative
phrases (e.g. it does not appear to be an effective punishment).

• Conclude by restating your opinion and summarising your two or three main arguments.

nformation will soon be so easy to find on the internet that people will not need to
remember anything. Do you agree?

Nowadays all the information we could ever need is available online and some people say
that means the end of having to learn anything.

It is true that these days everything you want to know is a few clicks away as long as you
have internet access. However, not everyone has working internet all the time, for example
in certain buildings or remote locations, so we do need to be able to remember information.
Moreover, it takes time to look up everything you need to know online, whereas
remembering something is immediate. The human memory is a much more efficient system.

Another problem is the quality of the information online. How do we know if it is accurate
or reliable? We need to think about other facts we know and remember how to compare
information from different websites. Knowing (and remembering) how to find certain
information will be more important than knowing the information itself.

Finally, the internet is a good tool but it is not a useful replacement for our brains. If we did
not remember anything, we would all spend even more time on our phones and computers
than we already do, which is not good for society.
 In conclusion, the internet offers us many things but it is still important to use our
knowledge and memories. We need our memories to function without the internet and we
also need to know how to use the internet properly.

Tips

• Read the question carefully. Respond to all ideas in it or all parts of it.

• Plan your ideas first and then choose the best ones.

• Introduce your essay by restating the question in your own words.

• Show understanding of both sides of the argument.

• Use linking words to connect your ideas.

• Draw your conclusion from the main ideas in your essay. Don't introduce new ideas at the
end.

Task 2 sample answer and examiner's comments

380 comments

Read this student’s response to the Task 2 in the previous step. Then read the examiner’s
comments on what this student has done well and how they could improve. Think about
how the examiner’s comments relate to the assessment criteria we saw in Step 1.6.

Writing task

Examiner’s comments

Task 2

On the whole, this response answers the question well. The main ideas are relevant, but
some ideas could be further expanded and/or supported with examples. Sometimes the
writer’s view is not clear.

In the introduction the topic is presented in the writer’s own words. Three advantages of
studying abroad are presented and the writer goes on to develop each one with a
supporting sentence. The first idea is rather general as it could equally apply to studying in
the student’s home country, but the second is directly related to the topic. This idea could
be developed by highlighting the advantage of having communication skills in more than
one language. The third advantage could also be developed as the writer does not explain
why the experience could be ‘a good point’ in someone’s curriculum vitae. The writer then
looks at the disadvantages. The lack of family support is relevant and is well developed, but
the reference to the language barrier is less clear. In the previous paragraph studying in a
foreign language is presented as an advantage, but here it is presented as a possible
disadvantage. However, the idea about talking to lecturers and tutors is a good supporting
point. The writer’s position is clearly presented in the final paragraph and an appropriate
essay format is used.

The writing is easy to follow as it is well organised. Each paragraph has a clear purpose:
introduction, advantages, disadvantages and conclusion. The ideas are well linked within
each paragraph, with effective use of linking words to present contrasting ideas [on the one
hand; on the other hand], to sequence [firstly; secondly; thirdly; in conclusion] and to
rephrase [In other words]. Occasionally linking between ideas is less clear. In the sentence
[In the job market, where the competition is very high, it could be a good point for the first
employment.] the reader is not sure what [it] refers to. Similarly, in the sentence [For these
reasons it is important that the student abroad must receive much support from their
lecturers and tutors, as this will allow them to speak in a friendly way on a regular basis, and
to give the opportunity to ask about something if they do not understand it.] it is not clear
who [them] refers to.

The writer’s range of vocabulary is good and ideas are expressed clearly. S/he shows an
understanding of how words fit together [self-sufficient; family support; a sense of isolation;
a demanding process], although there are some errors [job’s opportunities; drawbacks
occour; determine a sense of isolation]. The range is also demonstrated in the writer’s
ability to use words and phrases with similar meanings [some disadvantages; one critical
problem; Another obstacles]. Some spelling errors occur [occour/occur;
indipendent/independent; frustation/frustration], but these are not frequent and are minor
mistakes.

The writer uses a variety of complex sentences and produces these accurately, for the most
part. There are a few errors: missing articles [to learn second language / to learn a second
language; protected environment of the family / the protected environment of the family],
faulty prepositions [out of (the) protected environment / away from the protected
environment], but in general the writer has good control over grammar and punctuation.