All education (primary, secondary and further education) should be free to all people and paid for and managed by the government. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Sample Response
Education makes a person able to earn bread on the butter. It has been suggested that it should be given free of cost at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. I disagree with it as a child can get free education up to 14 years and for senior secondary and tertiary education, if the government manages money, other sectors will be neglected such as medical, employment etc. Moreover, free education will not make people feel proud of how they have obtained a degree.
To commence with, if a major share of the government’s budget is utilised to provide free education to all, a state must cut spending on other areas, such as medical and employment. To elaborate, when a youngster passes his/her senior secondary or graduation, he or she can do a job either by passing any entrance exam for the classical post or a managerial one. Then, young minds are able to bear their expenses, namely fees for further study, grocery and to name but a few. Therefore, if the government provides free education, it will enhance its financial burden, and the government will not be able to provide advanced facilities in the medical sector to the public, and nothing good will be done to reduce the redundancy.
Moreover, if it is free to all, the public will not understand the usefulness of higher education. They will not strive hard to clear the exams. Paying fees will remind them of their duties to study hard and obtain a higher status. That feeling they will get after working hard a lot can be experienced otherwise. For instance, when a student passes a higher level exam such as IAS or PCS. They recall the conditions they experienced and the ways they adapted to run their home and pay university fees. So, these things make them feel proud.
To conclude, making education free to all up to the university level will be impractical for the government. Primarily, individuals will not be able to get good medical treatment due to a lack of funds spent by the government. Also, people will not do hard labour to clear exams, and the underestimation of education is clearly visible. The feeling of pride in oneself cannot be experienced, especially when the masses get a higher destination after sacrificing a lot.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use correct idiom Original: earn bread on the butter Suggested revision: earn a living Why it matters: The original phrase is not an English idiom for supporting oneself financially.
- 2. Use natural phrasing Original: feel proud of how they have obtained a degree Suggested revision: feel proud of earning a degree Why it matters: This wording expresses the sense of achievement more naturally and concisely.
- 3. Use natural transition Original: commence Suggested revision: begin Why it matters: This is a more natural introductory transition in this context.
- 4. Clarify the actor Original: a state must cut spending Suggested revision: the government may have to cut spending Why it matters: This wording keeps the focus on the government and avoids overstating the certainty of the result.
- 5. Use sector nouns Original: medical and employment Suggested revision: healthcare and employment programmes Why it matters: The original words do not form parallel names for areas of public spending.
- 6. Choose precise noun Original: minds Suggested revision: adults Why it matters: The revision identifies the people being discussed more precisely.
- 7. Correct collocation Original: bear Suggested revision: cover Why it matters: English normally uses 'cover' for paying one's expenses.
- 8. Complete the list Original: grocery and to name but a few Suggested revision: groceries, among other costs Why it matters: The original phrase combines a singular noun with an incomplete list expression.
- 9. Clarify the reference Original: if it is free to all Suggested revision: if higher education is free for everyone Why it matters: Naming higher education removes the unclear pronoun reference.
- 10. Correct exam collocation Original: strive hard to clear the exams Suggested revision: work hard to pass their exams Why it matters: Students pass exams rather than clear them in standard international English.
- 11. Use precise wording Original: duties Suggested revision: responsibility Why it matters: Responsibility is the natural noun for an obligation to study.
- 12. Repair sentence fragment Original: For instance, when a student passes Suggested revision: For instance, students may feel proud when they pass Why it matters: The replacement supplies a main clause and turns the fragment into a complete sentence.
Suggested Rewrites
- earn bread on the butter earn a living
- feel proud of how they have obtained a degree feel proud of earning a degree
- commence begin
- a state must cut spending the government may have to cut spending
- medical and employment healthcare and employment programmes
- minds adults
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response maintains a clear disagreement and uses a recognisable introduction, two-reason structure, and conclusion. Its main limitation is that supporting explanations become confusing or only partly relevant, while frequent unnatural collocations and faulty sentence construction reduce precision. The highest-priority improvement is to develop each reason through one realistic, clearly explained causal example and then edit for accurate vocabulary and complete grammatical sentences.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is sustained and two relevant reasons are presented, although parts of their explanation are unclear or insufficiently convincing.
Develop each main reason with a precise causal chain and a directly relevant example instead of introducing loosely connected claims.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is organised into purposeful paragraphs with broadly logical progression, but some internal links are mechanical or obscured by unclear sentences.
Make each body paragraph move cleanly from claim to explanation to example, removing sentences that interrupt that progression.
Lexical Resource
There is enough vocabulary to discuss education and public spending, but frequent inaccurate collocations and word choices weaken clarity and naturalness.
Prioritise accurate common expressions, replacing phrases such as inappropriate references to redundancy, destinations, and medical sectors with context-specific wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response attempts varied sentence forms, but recurring agreement, article, pronoun, punctuation, and clause-construction errors limit control.
Use shorter complete sentences while checking subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, and the boundaries of subordinate clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
All education (primary, secondary and further education) should be free to all people and paid for and managed by the government. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.