Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Face-to-face communication is better than other types of communications, such as letters, emails, or telephone calls. Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.
Sample Response
Humankind, through the ages, has undergone many changes from the time when people communicated only face-to-face to nowadays when a person uses many means of communicationhas in use many types of communication means. Some people still prefer to use face-to-face communication despite many other sometimes more convenient ones such as the telephone, mail, email and faxsuch as phone, mail, e-mail and fax. I think to continue this essay it is essential to clarify what kind of conversation we are talking about. For example, if people are negotiating it is very important to communicate face to facehave a face-to-face communication. It is very important to see during a negotiation how one's opponent is moving, is he nervous or relaxed, what he is doing, etc. Scientists say that body languagethe body language and facial expressionsgestures can reveal much about a personcan say many things about a person, their strengths and weaknesseshis strong and weak sides, theirhis traits, manners and even habits. To know what kind of personman one is dealing with is an essential aspect ofin negotiation. Many managers prefer to have face-to-face conversations with prospective employeesthe future employees. So, in this case, they see how a person behaves. On the other handFrom the other side, if I need to notify my bank that I am going to close an account I do not want to spend time driving therespend my time driving there, waiting to be servedwaiting for my turn and talking with a representative. It is easier for me just to call or e-mail them. It saves my time and my bank's too. To summarise, infrom my opinion all important issues are better discussedall important issues better be discussed in face-to-face conversationsconversation. It will eliminate future misunderstandingsmany further misunderstandings and benefit both sidesbring only benefits to both sides.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response presents a clear, sensible distinction between situations where face-to-face contact is valuable and those where remote communication is more efficient, and its negotiation example gives the position useful support. Its main limitation is that the discussion remains fairly narrow and sometimes relies on repetitive or awkward phrasing. The highest priority is to develop a second substantial reason with a specific example while tightening sentence structure and collocation.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear qualified position is maintained and supported with relevant examples of negotiation, recruitment, and banking.
Develop another distinct reason in greater depth and ensure the conclusion reflects the essay's qualified position precisely.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically from contexts favouring direct contact to one favouring remote communication, although repetition and the single-block presentation weaken organisation.
Use purposeful paragraphs and reduce repeated sentence openings so each stage of the argument has a clearer function.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a sufficiently varied vocabulary for communication and negotiation, but several collocations and expressions are awkward.
Replace unnatural phrases with precise combinations such as 'means of communication,' 'prospective employees,' and 'in my opinion.'
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the argument clearly, despite recurring article, preposition, punctuation, and word-order errors.
Review article use and clause boundaries, especially in questions and long sentences, to improve grammatical control.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Face-to-face communication is better than other types of communications, such as letters, emails, or telephone calls. Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.