Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with a teacher. Others think that it is always better to have a teacher. Which one do you prefer? Use specific reasons to develop your essay.
Same question Compare 2 different answersSample Response
People are learning through their entire life. Our first teachers in most cases are our parents. They teach us to walk, speak, behave ourselves, etc. They with great patience pass down their knowledge and experience to their children. There is no doubt that we need our parents to learn essential things. Parents giving their knowledge prepare children to join the "real world". So, at this point, we need teachers to learn some basic things.
When children go to a school or college they have there many teachers who help them study more difficult and complicated things. Personally, I think that young people need teachers because in most cases they basically do not understand yet the importance of learning some "uninteresting things" such as logic, literature, grammatical, etc. So, teachers keep children on track and sometimes make them learn. I think, at adolescence and young need teachers because they help them develop and improve themselves in order to succeed in life.
However, I believe that when a person is no longer a child and he has a job and lives an independent life he can choose how he is going to study. As for me, my choice between studying by myself or with somebody's help depends on a teacher. If a teacher has very interesting lectures and gives many examples from different resources I will attend his or her classes with great pleasure. However, if a teacher has dry and boring lectures and does not try to make them interesting I will get some books and study this subject by myself. It saves me time and probably some money if I take books in a library.
So, basically, some teachers can give their students so much in a short period of time that it is worth to spend one's time attending lectures. At the same time, from my point of view, other teachers can not give me the knowledge I need at my pace.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Fix number and phrase Original: through their entire life Suggested revision: throughout their entire lives Why it matters: “Throughout” is the correct preposition, and plural “lives” agrees with “people”.
- 2. Position phrase clearly Original: Our first teachers in most cases Suggested revision: In most cases, our first teachers Why it matters: Moving the qualifying phrase to the front makes its scope immediately clear.
- 3. Fix word order Original: They with great patience pass down Suggested revision: With great patience, they pass down Why it matters: The adverbial phrase needs clearer placement and a separating comma.
- 4. Use precise noun Original: things Suggested revision: skills Why it matters: “Skills” more precisely describes walking, speaking, and behaving.
- 5. Clarify participle phrase Original: Parents giving their knowledge prepare children Suggested revision: By sharing their knowledge, parents prepare children Why it matters: The introductory “by” phrase correctly shows how parents prepare children.
- 6. Use precise transition Original: So, at this point Suggested revision: At this stage Why it matters: This transition refers more clearly to the early stage of learning.
- 7. Place adverb correctly Original: do not understand yet Suggested revision: do not yet understand Why it matters: “Yet” normally appears before the main verb in this construction.
- 8. Use academic wording Original: "uninteresting things" Suggested revision: subjects they find uninteresting Why it matters: The revision identifies the educational content precisely and removes unnecessary quotation marks.
- 9. Use noun form Original: grammatical Suggested revision: grammar Why it matters: The list requires a noun rather than the adjective “grammatical”.
- 10. Strengthen connection Original: So Suggested revision: Therefore Why it matters: “Therefore” makes the cause-and-result relationship more explicit.
- 11. Use definite article Original: a Suggested revision: the Why it matters: The choice depends on the qualities of the particular teacher being considered.
- 12. Use concise adjective Original: very interesting lectures Suggested revision: engaging lectures Why it matters: “Engaging” expresses the intended quality more precisely and concisely.
Suggested Rewrites
- through their entire life throughout their entire lives
- Our first teachers in most cases In most cases, our first teachers
- They with great patience pass down With great patience, they pass down
- things skills
- Parents giving their knowledge prepare children By sharing their knowledge, parents prepare children
- So, at this point At this stage
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its coherent, nuanced position: teachers are valuable during childhood, while adults can choose according to teaching quality and personal needs. The main limitation is that some supporting points are general and the final preference could be stated more decisively. The priority is to sharpen the thesis and conclusion, then support the conditional preference with one fully developed, specific example.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response answers the choice question with a qualified preference and gives relevant reasons for teacher-led and independent learning.
State the conditional preference explicitly in the introduction and illustrate it with a more specific real or hypothetical example.
Coherence and Cohesion
The age-based progression is logical, paragraphs have clear purposes, and contrasting ideas are easy to follow.
Strengthen the conclusion by synthesizing the age and teacher-quality conditions instead of ending with two loosely contrasted statements.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficient and sometimes flexible, though several imprecise forms and unnatural combinations reduce control.
Use more accurate academic terms and collocations, replacing choices such as “grammatical,” “dry lectures,” and “take books in a library.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The writer attempts varied sentence structures, but recurrent problems with word order, articles, prepositions, and clause punctuation remain noticeable.
Focus on accurate complex-sentence boundaries and natural word order, especially in sentences containing conditions or introductory phrases.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that they can learn better by themselves than with a teacher. Others think that it is always better to have a teacher. Which one do you prefer? Use specific reasons to develop your essay.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.