Ambition is an important characteristic of people in today’s society. How important you think it is for people who want to succeed in life? Is it a positive or negative characteristic for success?

Same questionCompare 4 different answers (Band 7–7.5)

Sample Response

1

Nowadays, ambition is regarded as a valuable personal quality in modern society. For ordinary people who want to achievewant get real success in lifeduring their life, I think ambition is very important. In my view, its advantages outweigh the disadvantages, although people without self‑control may suffer a lot from too much ambition. Firstly, ambition gives people motivation to improve themselves. Many people tend to seek comfortMost people are lazy and prefer comfortable lives. Ambitious people are not satisfied with an ordinary lifeordinary life. They want better achievements, so they work harder and keep learning new skills. This helps them make progress and become more competitive in both study and work. Besides, ambition helps people keep working hard after failures. Success always comes with difficulties and mistakes. People without ambition will give up easily when they encounter difficultiesmeet problems. However, ambitious people have clear goals. They can face failures bravely and perseverecontinue to try again. Even if they experience several bad results, they will not give up their targets, which greatly increases their chances of success in the long run. On the other hand, excessive ambition causes pressure and wrong choices. If people are too ambitious, they only focus on quickfast success. They may care too much about results and feel stressed and anxious every day. Some people even break rules or hurt others to achieve their goals. Finally, they may lose friends and a good reputationgood reputation, which preventsstops their long‑term success. When people only think about winning, they ignore other important things in their daily life. In conclusion, ambition plays a key role in helpingplays a key part for people chasing success. It is a positive characteristic in general. People should control their desire properly, or it will bring negative consequencesbad result to their future life.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The essay presents a well-structured response that directly addresses both prompt questions with clear supporting arguments and a consistent position. Cohesion and paragraphing are logical throughout, allowing ideas to flow smoothly. To reach higher scores, focus on refining grammatical accuracy in small structures and expanding your range of sophisticated vocabulary.

Band score breakdown

IELTS Writing Criteria Scores

TR

Task Response

7.0
Scoring rule

All parts of the task are fully addressed with a clear stance on the importance and overall positive impact of ambition.

Next step

Provide deeper, more specific real-world examples to further develop and substantiate the main supporting points.

CC

Coherence and Cohesion

7.0
Scoring rule

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs with a smooth progression of ideas and appropriate linking words.

Next step

Incorporate a wider variety of cohesive devices and transitional phrases to avoid overusing basic linking words like 'firstly' and 'besides'.

LR

Lexical Resource

7.0
Scoring rule

Vocabulary is well-chosen and effectively used to convey complex ideas related to ambition and success.

Next step

Use less common, idiomatic collocations while paying close attention to correct preposition choices and singular or plural noun forms.

GRA

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

7.0
Scoring rule

A good variety of simple and complex sentence structures is used with good general control, though minor errors are present.

Next step

Proofread carefully to eliminate small grammatical slips such as missing infinitive markers and missing plural endings on countable nouns.

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IELTS Writing Task 2

Ambition is an important characteristic of people in today’s society. How important you think it is for people who want to succeed in life? Is it a positive or negative characteristic for success?

Your response

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40:00

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