Students should pay the full cost of their own university studies, rather than have free higher education provided by the state. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Sample Response
Education is a possession which makes a person stand tall and high. It adds to the overall physical personality of the person and makes him stand apart and outshines others who don’t possess it. Education is an eternal rock which never withers, not even during the wild waves of evil. It is only education which makes people bow in front of the educated and is part of the moral fabricone of the moral fabrics of any country which binds the whole society into one nation. It is due to this high value placed on educationhigh pedestal which the education occupies that higher education must be provided by the State, albeit to those citizenssubjects of the state who are economically weak. There are, however, two schools of thought. One view isOne school of thought is of the view that the cost of higher educationstudies should be borne by the students themselves. However, in such a scenario, all those meritorious students who are unable to continue their education because they lack moneyfor want of money Delete(read economic resources) would be left with no option but to be labelled asget themselves tagged as ‘drop outs’ by societyby the society, due to no fault of theirs. ‘No student should be left deprived of education’ must be one of the objectives Delete(read fundamental duty) of every Nation/State. On the other hand, a student who strives for an educationthrives for education must be wholeheartedly supported by the Nation/State. No stone must be left unturned to make available the most precious of the stones, i.e. the education, to the student. It is so because education is something which is dearer than the fine opals, more precious than emeralds! There’ve been quite a lot of instancesquite a lot instances in the recent past, and even now, in which the entire costwherein the entire cost of a student's higher educationhigher studies of a student is sponsored by the State. The recent example supporting this iswhich supports this is the educational sponsorship which was provided by the government of ABCthe state government of ABC (a country) to the son of a widowwidower who earns her livelihood by washing dishescleaning utensils at a roadside restaurant. It can thus be candidly concluded that education does elevate the horizon and encourages the mankind to labour at present for accruing enjoyment at a later stage in life. Consequently, the state must take responsibility, to a certain extent and for a certain set of individuals based on economic criteria to provide them with free higher education opportunities. This, in return, would only help the State/Nation to become independent and economically stable.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The response’s clearest strength is its definite, qualified position that state funding should protect capable students who lack financial means, reinforced by a relevant sponsorship example. Its main limitation is that extensive rhetorical praise of education replaces sustained analysis of who should pay and creates a repetitive, unstructured argument. The highest-priority improvement is to develop two focused policy reasons in separate paragraphs using direct, precise language and controlled sentence structures.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear qualified disagreement is expressed and supported through the access needs of economically disadvantaged students, but the policy analysis remains narrow.
Explain another direct consequence of full student funding or state support and relate each paragraph explicitly to the extent of agreement.
Coherence and Cohesion
The position and supporting example are discernible, but the single-paragraph presentation and repeated metaphors weaken progression and focus.
Organise the response into an introduction, two distinct policy arguments, and a concise conclusion without repeated rhetorical digressions.
Lexical Resource
The response attempts a broad and ambitious vocabulary, but frequent unnatural collocations, ornate metaphors, and imprecise choices reduce clarity.
Prefer direct academic terms for access, affordability, and public funding instead of expressions such as “wild waves of evil” or “elevate the horizon.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Varied structures are attempted and the main meaning remains accessible, though recurring agreement, article, relative-clause, and sentence-boundary problems are noticeable.
Use shorter controlled sentences and proofread articles, agreement, and relative clauses before adding stylistic complexity.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Students should pay the full cost of their own university studies, rather than have free higher education provided by the state. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.