Some people believe that government spends too much money on space research while there are still a lot of problems on the earth. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
Sample Response
In today's scientific world, a great deal of fundinga myriad of wealth is allocated toon scientific innovation and researchscientific inventions and researches. Space exploration is a key area where governments in many countries are spending billions of dollars each year. Although I support space research, I believeopine that governments have to pay attention to the existing problems on Earthon the earth as a higher priority than space explorationwith higher priority than the space exploration. The basis for my view is economiceconomical and personal. Firstly, from an economiceconomical point of view, spaceuniverse exploration employs more than half of the total money allocated for overall scientific research in all fields combined. According to the reportAs per the report published by Thethe Week magazine on 20th September 2015, at least 30 billion dollars were spent on the Apollo moon missionshave been spent on the Apollo moon missions by the United States. In case, this lump sum could be used for infrastructure, education and food in poor countries, the quality of life would definitely improvedefinitely the quality of life would increase with lower crime rates. Thus, it is crystal clear that existing problems in the world require more attentionworld need better focus. Secondly, from a personal point of view, there is nothing we have gained so far from the space programmes. For instance, even after landing on the Moon as well as sending different missions to other planets, we are not successful in finding evidence of lifefinding the existence of life anywhere outside the Earth. However, some of the space missionsmissions abroad are successful in testing soil samples and sending pictures, which are not particularly usefulwhich is not really useful for ordinary peoplefor the layman. Moreover, a lot of scientists have risked their lives during travel into outer spaceduring the travel to outer space. Thus, higher priority needs to be given to existing issues in the world. In conclusion, by analysing how expensive the space research is with limited success to the citizens, there is no doubt that government need to prioritise to solve the existing problems. It is predicted that space exploration continues, but with a lower budget.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response presents a consistent qualified position and supports it with two relevant lines of argument about cost and limited public benefit. Its effectiveness is reduced by sweeping or insufficiently substantiated claims, the complete lack of paragraph breaks, and frequent awkward collocations; the priority is to organise the argument into purposeful paragraphs and develop more measured, credible evidence for each claim.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is maintained and relevant reasons are explained, although several claims are exaggerated, doubtful, or only partially substantiated.
Replace absolute assertions with balanced reasoning that acknowledges concrete benefits of space research before justifying budget priorities.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument follows a recognisable introduction-to-reasons-to-conclusion sequence, but it is presented as one block and relies on mechanical signposting.
Divide the response into clear introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, with each body paragraph centred on one developed reason.
Lexical Resource
There is sufficient range for the topic, but recurrent collocational imprecision makes expressions such as "a myriad of wealth" and "missions abroad" sound unnatural.
Prioritise accurate academic collocations, for example "substantial funding," "space exploration," and "public benefit," over ambitious but unsuitable wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied sentence forms and remains understandable, though errors in articles, agreement, prepositions, and clause construction recur.
Review article and verb patterns in sentences such as "government need to prioritise to solve" and practise forming accurate conditionals.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people believe that government spends too much money on space research while there are still a lot of problems on the earth. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.