We all work or will work in our jobs with many different kinds of people. In your opinion, what are some important characteristics of a co-worker (someone you work closely with)? Use reasons and specific examples to explain why these characteristics are important.
Sample Response
A large number of people spend most of their time at work. Our life is divided into three equal parts: 8 hours - sleep, 8 hours - work, 8 hours - family time. So, in the most cases, one's co-worker plays an important role in one's life. From my opinion, the essential characteristics of a co-worker are the following. First of all, a person who works closely with me must like his job. I think it is very important for a person to feel satisfaction with his job. My husband is a software developer. He is fond of his job and people enjoy working with him because they see how many energy he puts into his job. Second of all, my co-worker must be persistent and never give up. I like when people who came across a problem try to solve it, find a good decision instead of looking for another person to hand it over. Another important aspect of this is that a good worker should always ask himself "What can be improved?" and suggests new solutions. In addition, he must be a good team player. In the modern world good communication skills and the ability to work in a team are among the common position requirements. Personally, I think it is great to help each other, share new ideas, develop new solutions, etc. It helps to create a team spirit and improve labor productivity. Finally, my co-worker must be punctual. He or she should finish the job on time I think that It is unacceptable to make the rest of a team wait while a person finishes his or her job. Also, my "ideal co-worker" should always be ready to offer his or her help and be supportive. To summarize, I think if a co-worker possesses all of these qualities mentioned above he can make work with him really enjoyable and productive.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use plural noun Original: life Suggested revision: lives Why it matters: The statement refers to people's lives collectively, so the plural form is required.
- 2. Use natural phrasing Original: 8 hours - sleep, 8 hours - work, 8 hours - family time Suggested revision: eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for family time Why it matters: Using 'for' expresses how the time is allocated more naturally.
- 3. Remove article Original: in the most cases Suggested revision: in most cases Why it matters: The fixed quantifier phrase 'most cases' does not take 'the'.
- 4. Correct opinion phrase Original: From Suggested revision: In Why it matters: 'In my opinion' is the standard expression for introducing a personal view.
- 5. Use precise verb Original: must like his job Suggested revision: must enjoy their job Why it matters: 'Enjoy their job' expresses positive engagement more naturally and uses an inclusive pronoun.
- 6. Improve collocation Original: feel satisfaction with his job Suggested revision: feel satisfied with their job Why it matters: 'Feel satisfied with' is the natural adjective-and-preposition combination here.
- 7. Use uncountable quantifier Original: many Suggested revision: much Why it matters: 'Energy' is uncountable in this context and therefore takes 'much'.
- 8. Use formal transition Original: Second of all Suggested revision: Secondly Why it matters: 'Secondly' provides a more concise and formal sequence marker.
- 9. Add object pronoun Original: I like when Suggested revision: I like it when Why it matters: The construction requires the anticipatory object 'it' before the time clause.
- 10. Match present tense Original: came Suggested revision: come Why it matters: The general statement requires the present tense rather than the past tense.
- 11. Correct word choice Original: decision Suggested revision: solution Why it matters: A problem has a solution, whereas a decision is made or reached.
- 12. Complete phrasal verb Original: looking for another person to hand it over Suggested revision: looking for someone else to hand it over to Why it matters: The recipient of 'hand something over' must be introduced by 'to'.
Suggested Rewrites
- life lives
- 8 hours - sleep, 8 hours - work, 8 hours - family time eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for family time
- in the most cases in most cases
- From In
- must like his job must enjoy their job
- feel satisfaction with his job feel satisfied with their job
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response addresses the question directly and offers a clear range of relevant qualities, with the example about enthusiasm at work providing useful support. Development is uneven, however, and the single-block presentation plus recurring collocation and sentence-control errors reduce precision and readability. The highest priority is to organize each main quality into a focused paragraph and develop it with a specific, clearly explained workplace example.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response presents a clear set of relevant coworker qualities and supports several of them with reasons or an example.
Develop the later qualities as fully as the first one by adding a specific workplace situation and explaining its impact.
Coherence and Cohesion
The sequence of qualities is easy to follow, but the transitions are formulaic and the response is presented as one long paragraph.
Group related qualities into distinct body paragraphs and use referencing and logical links within each paragraph.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficient for the topic and includes some useful workplace language, though several word choices and collocations are inaccurate.
Replace awkward combinations with natural expressions such as job satisfaction, much energy, and reach a good solution.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates the ideas clearly, although agreement, article, punctuation, and clause-control errors recur.
Proofread complex sentences for subject-verb agreement and sentence boundaries, especially where several ideas are joined together.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
We all work or will work in our jobs with many different kinds of people. In your opinion, what are some important characteristics of a co-worker (someone you work closely with)? Use reasons and specific examples to explain why these characteristics are important.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.