It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?
Sample Response
People are learning and practicing through their entire life. I believe that life experience and practice are the basic reasons of the humankind’s evolution. However, in my opinion, knowledge gained from books plays a very important role in the modern life.
The most obviously important advantage of books is that they hold all knowledge gained by previous generations. People write books about their discoveries and inventions, which are gained through practice and experience. This knowledge is accumulated in books that are passed from generation to generation. So, basically, people get all knowledge about the previous achievements from books, analyze it and than, according to their experience and new data, write new books. In this case, books are the holders of humankind’s experience.
For example, at old times people thought that the Earth was flat. It was concluded from observations and studdying. However, the next generations, using the experience of their ancestors, proved that the Earth was round.
Personally, I think that books are very important because they are able to give people the basic and fundamental knowledge. Books store history, the important events and discoveries. Without them it is difficult and sometimes impossible to move forward, make new discoveries and inventions.
To summarize, I think a person should take basic knowledge from books because it will help him to make his own inventions, conclusions and discoveries. Only using both books and one’s experience one can move forward.
Not everything that is learned is contained in books
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use simple present Original: are learning and practicing Suggested revision: learn and gain practical experience Why it matters: The simple present expresses this general truth more naturally.
- 2. Fix number agreement Original: through their entire life Suggested revision: throughout their lives Why it matters: The plural possessive requires the plural noun “lives.”
- 3. Improve collocation Original: basic reasons of Suggested revision: fundamental drivers of Why it matters: “Drivers of” expresses causes more naturally than “reasons of.”
- 4. Remove article Original: the humankind’s evolution Suggested revision: humankind’s evolution Why it matters: The uncountable collective noun “humankind” does not take “the” here.
- 5. Remove article Original: the modern life Suggested revision: modern life Why it matters: “Life” is used generally here and does not require the definite article.
- 6. Avoid awkward intensifier Original: most obviously important Suggested revision: most obvious Why it matters: The original combination is redundant and unnatural.
- 7. Improve phrasing Original: all knowledge about the previous achievements Suggested revision: knowledge of previous achievements Why it matters: This removes an unjustified absolute and uses the natural preposition “of.”
- 8. Correct then Original: than Suggested revision: then Why it matters: “Then” refers to sequence, whereas “than” is used in comparisons.
- 9. Improve collocation Original: according to their experience Suggested revision: based on their experience Why it matters: “Based on” is the natural phrase for using experience as a foundation.
- 10. Choose precise noun Original: holders Suggested revision: repositories Why it matters: “Repositories” more accurately describes books as stores of accumulated experience.
- 11. Fix time phrase Original: at old times Suggested revision: in earlier times Why it matters: “In earlier times” is the idiomatic expression.
- 12. Remove article Original: the next generations Suggested revision: later generations Why it matters: The general reference to subsequent generations does not require “the.”
Suggested Rewrites
- are learning and practicing learn and gain practical experience
- through their entire life throughout their lives
- basic reasons of fundamental drivers of
- the humankind’s evolution humankind’s evolution
- the modern life modern life
- most obviously important most obvious
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response presents a broadly clear explanation of how books preserve accumulated human knowledge, and its central message remains easy to follow. However, the comparison with learning through experience is limited, the final preference is only partly explicit, and recurring language errors reduce precision. The highest priority is to develop the experiential side directly and then make a consistent, well-supported judgement about which source matters more.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response addresses books in some detail but gives limited direct comparison with experience and an insufficiently decisive answer to which source is more important.
Develop a separate, supported argument about experiential learning and use it to justify one clear comparative judgement.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is organised into relevant paragraphs with broadly clear progression, although ideas about books, experience, and invention are repeated rather than advanced.
Give each body paragraph a distinct comparative purpose and use linking to show how the two sources differ or complement each other.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is adequate for the topic and includes some less common items, but spelling and collocational errors repeatedly weaken precision.
Improve control of common academic collocations and proofread forms such as 'then', 'studying', and 'in earlier times'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mixture of simple and complex structures communicates the main ideas, but article, preposition, agreement, and sentence-structure errors recur.
Prioritise accurate article use and revise awkward structures so comparisons and conclusions are expressed in complete, controlled sentences.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.