It is often said that education is more important these days than it ever had been. Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not?
Sample Response
The human, through the ages, has undergone many changes from the time when he depicted mammoth herds on the walls of a cave to nowadays when he works on a computer with a large amount of information. From my everyday experience and observation, I can state several factors that support the viewfactors, which defend the statement that the ability to read and write is very important today. In the pastAt old times people did not depend so heavily on informationdepend on information that much. They did not have to fill out many application forms, write a lot, read newspaper reports about the economyread news from a newspaper about an economic situation, etc. Now the situation has changed. Knowledge and the ability to analyse information are more important thanimportant now than man's physical strength. First of all, it is essential for a person to be literate in the Information Agein Informational Age. Every day one needs to withdraw money from cash machines, to pay a bill, to write out a check, to fill in some formsfill some forms, to read instructions, ads, job requirements and applications. It is almost impossible to survive in modern society without these basic abilities. Almost every job requires these important skills. Imagine that one does not have them and one has a family to care forabout. So, one's first step is to find a job. One can do it either through newspapers or by asking for help fromasking help from one's friends. One can not read, so one chooses the second way. The second step is to succeed in a job interviewpass a job interview and fill out some forms. Moreover, one has to sign a job contract - an important document that sets out all one's rights and conditionsconcludes all one's rights and terms. So, basically, it is almost impossible to get a job for an illiterate personget a job for a literate person in the modern world, especially in developed countries. SecondSecond of all, the number of jobs that do not require the ability to read and write is dramaticallywrite, is dramatically decreasing. Almost every employer wants employeeswants to have an employee with basic communication and computer skills. In fact, more jobs on the labour market are for literate peoplepersons. A lot of routineprimitive jobs are done by machines nowadays. So, it is a very good chance for illiterate people to be constantly on unemployment lists. In conclusion, I think that every country must have strong programs against illiteracy.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response clearly argues that literacy is more important today and supports this view with numerous practical examples involving daily transactions and employment. Its main weakness is presentation: the entire essay forms one paragraph, while several points repeat the same idea and one sentence reverses the intended meaning. The highest-priority improvement is to structure the argument into focused paragraphs and edit examples for precision.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly answers both questions, maintains a clear view, and develops relevant reasons through practical examples.
Reduce repetition and end with a conclusion that explicitly restates why literacy matters more now than in the past.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence of ideas is broadly understandable, but the absence of paragraphing and repetitive progression weaken organisation.
Separate the introduction, daily-life argument, employment argument, and conclusion into distinct, logically focused paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, though several awkward or inaccurate expressions reduce precision.
Use more natural collocations and correct misleading choices such as literate where illiterate is intended.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of simple and complex structures is used with generally clear meaning, although errors and awkward constructions recur.
Edit article use, prepositions, punctuation, and clause phrasing, especially in longer sentences.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
It is often said that education is more important these days than it ever had been. Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.