Some people think that politicians have the greatest influence on the world. Other people, however, believe that scientists have the greatest influence. Discuss both of these views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
Undeniably, bothUndeniably both politicians and scientists exert a powerful influence in our world. While politicians tend to lead a country by establishing better laws and treaties and governing the country, scientists tend to reshape the world by developing medicines, theories, and technologies to advance humanityto advance the human race. However, when it comes to the most significant influence of these two groups, I believe that politicians have the greatest influence on our world.
The proponentsOn the other hand, the proponents who support the superiority of scientists and inventors in shaping our world believe that scientists have played a powerful rolehave been a forceful role in driving global progressto drive the world to progress and provide technical means for politicians to defend their countriestechnical support for politicians to defend a country, which is one of the most important symbols to represent national strength. Technologies developed by scientists have been applied in military applications, space exploration, and life-saving medicine,in the military, exploring outer space, developing life-saving medicines etc, achievements that political power alone cannot producewhich cannot be achieved only by the power of politicians.
By contrast, the supportersOn the other hand, the supporters of politicians' greater influencepoliticians' superior contribution say that no country would run properly without the workinfluence of politicians who govern a country, enact policies, and representenact policies and represent a country’s image and status on the international stage. Scientists may developinvent a theory, but politicians ultimately decidethe politicians ultimately decide to putmake that theory into practice and improve people's living conditionsimprove the condition of the people. Only when national leadersthe top heads come to an agreement willagreement, will there be a possibility offor a better world. For instance, scientists have invented nuclear power but it is ultimately the decision of politicians whether to use it to destroy human civilisation or use it in favour of generating power for our development.
In conclusion, scientists and political leaders have both important roles to play in shaping the world. But when it comes to the most significant influence of these two groups, politicians undeniably play the most vital role as they have the power to decide what to do with the work of the scientists.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response addresses both perspectives, states a consistent opinion, and supports the political-influence argument with a relevant nuclear-power example. Its main limitation is uneven precision: the case for scientists is less clearly developed, repeated transition wording weakens cohesion, and several collocations are awkward. The highest priority is to sharpen the scientific argument and recast long sentences in more natural, controlled English.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views are addressed and the writer’s preference is clear, although the scientific perspective is less precisely explained than the political one.
Develop the scientists’ influence through a clearer causal example before directly comparing it with political decision-making.
Coherence and Cohesion
The four-paragraph structure supports clear progression, but both body paragraphs begin with the same contrasting transition.
Use distinct topic sentences that identify each perspective directly and clarify the relationship between successive claims.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a good range of topic vocabulary, but awkward collocations and imprecise expressions recur.
Replace phrases such as ‘have been a forceful role’ and ‘make that theory into practice’ with natural academic collocations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied complex structures convey the argument, though recurring problems with articles, parallelism, and clause control reduce accuracy.
Break overloaded sentences into controlled clauses and check agreement, articles, and parallel forms during revision.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that politicians have the greatest influence on the world. Other people, however, believe that scientists have the greatest influence. Discuss both of these views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.