Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Most experiences in our lives that seemed difficult at the time become valuable lessons for the future.
Sample Response
From my everyday experience and observation, I have to agree with the statement that our present experiences become valuable lessons for the future. Someone said that today's problems will be the best experience in the future. Below I will give some examples to support my position. First of all, I want to say that obstacles make people stronger. By overcoming difficulties people gain priceless and essential knowledge and experience. If one has to struggle with a disease he becomes stronger maybe not in a physical way but in a mental way. A person becomes more patient, more self-confident and more attentive. These qualities will help him to win his disease. Success has nothing to do with luck. People have to work hard in order to reach their goals. They face challenges and failures and often they lose. However, people do not give up. They use their previous experience and knowledge to try again and again. I think that difficulties teach us very valuable lessons. Only a man who understands this fact and knows how to use it in the future can succeed. Failures bring us wisdom and new experience. Finally, between a prudent and imprudent person, the main difference is their experiences and wit. A person learns a lot from the experiences he/ she went through the life. So experiences and previous mistakes help a person to become a successful one. To err is human but an intelligent person always learns from these mistakes and avoid these mistakes in future. Personally, I always try to analyse my mistakes and make conclusions. If I am not succeeded I know that next time I will avoid these mistakes and do my best.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Specify the experiences Original: present Suggested revision: difficult Why it matters: Difficult identifies the experiences under discussion more precisely than present.
- 2. Improve collocation Original: the best experience in the future Suggested revision: valuable experience for the future Why it matters: Valuable experience for the future expresses the intended lesson more naturally.
- 3. Use direct signposting Original: Below I will give some examples Suggested revision: I will give some examples Why it matters: Below is unnecessary because the examples immediately follow in the same continuous text.
- 4. Streamline the transition Original: First of all, I want to say that Suggested revision: First, Why it matters: A concise transition introduces the first point without unnecessary metadiscourse.
- 5. Add introductory comma Original: By overcoming difficulties people Suggested revision: By overcoming difficulties, people Why it matters: A comma should separate the introductory phrase from the main clause.
- 6. Remove redundant emphasis Original: priceless and essential knowledge and experience Suggested revision: invaluable knowledge and experience Why it matters: One precise adjective avoids piling up overlapping evaluative terms.
- 7. Separate the clauses Original: with a disease he becomes Suggested revision: with a disease, he becomes Why it matters: A comma is needed after the dependent if-clause.
- 8. Use concise phrasing Original: maybe not in a physical way but in a mental way Suggested revision: perhaps not physically, but mentally Why it matters: The adverbs express the contrast more concisely and naturally.
- 9. Correct collocation Original: win his disease Suggested revision: overcome his illness Why it matters: English uses overcome, rather than win, with an illness.
- 10. Clarify the outcome Original: lose Suggested revision: fail Why it matters: Fail describes an unsuccessful attempt, whereas lose normally requires a contest or object.
- 11. Use inclusive wording Original: man Suggested revision: person Why it matters: Person preserves the general meaning without restricting it to men.
- 12. Clarify the reference Original: use it in the future Suggested revision: apply this lesson in the future Why it matters: This lesson provides a clearer referent than the vague pronoun it.
Suggested Rewrites
- present difficult
- the best experience in the future valuable experience for the future
- Below I will give some examples I will give some examples
- First of all, I want to say that First,
- By overcoming difficulties people By overcoming difficulties, people
- priceless and essential knowledge and experience invaluable knowledge and experience
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response states a consistent position and offers several relevant observations about resilience, failure, and learning, so the central message remains clear throughout. Its main limitations are repetitive development, weak paragraphing, and recurring grammatical or collocational errors. The highest-priority improvement is to organize the argument into distinct paragraphs, each developing one specific example, and then proofread verb forms and agreement.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly supports its position with relevant ideas about illness, failure, and mistakes, but these points are often asserted or repeated rather than fully developed.
Select two distinct experiences and explain in detail how each difficulty produces a specific lesson for later life.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence is broadly understandable and uses basic signposting, but the single-block presentation and abrupt topic shifts weaken progression.
Divide the response into an introduction, focused body paragraphs, and a concise conclusion, with one controlling idea per paragraph.
Lexical Resource
There is an adequate range of vocabulary for discussing resilience and learning, though several word choices and collocations are unnatural.
Use precise idiomatic phrases such as recover from an illness, draw conclusions, and succeed instead of literal or inaccurate combinations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses some varied sentence forms, but recurring agreement, article, pronoun, and verb-form errors reduce control.
Proofread each sentence for subject-verb agreement and correct verb forms, especially after singular subjects and conditional clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Most experiences in our lives that seemed difficult at the time become valuable lessons for the future.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.