Many today feel that most urgent problems can only be solved by international cooperation. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
There are those who claim that we can only solve pressing global issues today if countries work in concert. In my opinion, international cooperation holds some promise but it is difficult to align the priorities of self-interested nations.
Proponents argue that global issues require active participation from all countries. The best, most recent example of this is climate change. Threats to the environment are becoming more dire annually and this affects every nation on Earth equally. Therefore, the best solutions involve signing international accords. These agreements force nations to abide by certain regulations and meet benchmarks in order to form a cohesive, global policy that can mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change. If many governments are unwilling to commit, it is unlikely that individual nations will then have the desire to make drastic changes and very little might be done to curb an imminent global catastrophe.
However, the accords mentioned above have been notorious failures as each nation has its own individual priorities. Many developed nations that already have well-developed green industries and eco-friendly policies in place are happy to sign agreements that benefit both the Earth and their own financial interests. Other nations, chiefly in the Middle East where their economies are reliant on fossil fuel production and in developing countries where the economic consequences would be dire, are less enthusiastic. Many poorer countries can also justly argue that they contributed little to the current climate problems in the past so it is unfair to hinder their development now. This applies for issues outside climate change as nations will always be in conflict and international cooperation is therefore an impractical solution to important problems.
In conclusion, though the entire planet working in tandem would be an ideal approach, it will typically fail due to competing interests. It is more important that countries act on their own or with like-minded nations and not push for global reforms.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use measured wording Original: The best, most recent example Suggested revision: The clearest recent example Why it matters: Clearest states the example's relevance without the unnecessarily absolute superlative best.
- 2. Use natural phrasing Original: becoming more dire annually Suggested revision: becoming more severe each year Why it matters: More severe each year is a more natural formal description of a worsening threat.
- 3. Fix pronoun agreement Original: this affects every nation on Earth equally Suggested revision: these affect every nation on Earth equally Why it matters: The pronoun should agree with the plural antecedent threats.
- 4. Avoid repeated superlative Original: the best solutions involve Suggested revision: effective solutions involve Why it matters: Effective is more precise and avoids repeating best from the preceding sentence.
- 5. Remove unnecessary comma Original: a cohesive, global policy Suggested revision: a cohesive global policy Why it matters: The cumulative adjectives jointly describe the policy and do not require a comma.
- 6. Make progression concise Original: individual nations will then have the desire Suggested revision: individual nations will be willing Why it matters: The revision removes the unnecessary sequencing adverb and wordy verb phrase.
- 7. Use consistent modality Original: might Suggested revision: may Why it matters: May aligns more directly with the present hypothetical condition introduced by if.
- 8. Use measured phrasing Original: have been notorious failures Suggested revision: have often failed Why it matters: The revision states the claimed record directly without the emotive and absolute wording notorious failures.
- 9. Remove redundancy Original: its own individual priorities Suggested revision: its own priorities Why it matters: Own and individual express the same distinction, so one is redundant.
- 10. Repair parallel structure Original: chiefly in the Middle East where their economies are reliant on fossil fuel production and in developing countries where the economic consequences would be dire Suggested revision: chiefly those in the Middle East whose economies rely on fossil fuel production and those in developing regions where the economic consequences would be dire Why it matters: The revision gives the two groups parallel structures and a clear plural antecedent for whose.
- 11. Clarify time reference Original: contributed little to the current climate problems in the past Suggested revision: historically contributed little to current climate problems Why it matters: Historically expresses past contribution more concisely and avoids the awkward combination current and in the past.
- 12. Correct preposition Original: This applies for issues outside climate change Suggested revision: This applies to issues beyond climate change Why it matters: Apply takes the preposition to when identifying situations governed by the same reasoning.
Suggested Rewrites
- The best, most recent example The clearest recent example
- becoming more dire annually becoming more severe each year
- this affects every nation on Earth equally these affect every nation on Earth equally
- the best solutions involve effective solutions involve
- a cohesive, global policy a cohesive global policy
- individual nations will then have the desire individual nations will be willing
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response advances a clear, nuanced position and develops a coherent climate-change example with confident control of language. Its main limitation is the narrow evidence base: conclusions about most urgent problems are extended from one issue with little support for the broader claim. The highest-priority improvement is to test the argument against another major international problem, showing more convincingly why cooperation succeeds or fails across contexts.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay answers the extent question with a consistent position and well-developed reasoning, but relies almost entirely on climate change to support a broad conclusion.
Add a contrasting urgent issue and explain how it supports or qualifies the claim that international cooperation is usually impractical.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses clearly from the case for cooperation to its practical limitations, with well-managed paragraphing and referencing.
Make the final generalisation beyond climate change more gradual by adding a short bridge from the example to the wider claim.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible, precise, and suitably academic, though there is minor repetition and an occasional awkward collocation.
Replace repeated wording such as well-developed and refine phrases such as applies for issues to maintain consistently natural precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide variety of complex structures is handled with strong control, and only minor local weaknesses are evident.
Review agreement and reference in long sentences, particularly where plural nations are followed by singular place-based relative clauses.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Many today feel that most urgent problems can only be solved by international cooperation. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.