Watching TV is bad for children. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons with specific examples to support your answer.
Sample Response
Television is a remarkableThe television is a remarkable technological advancement which has become a part of our daily lives. Children, as well as adults,Children, as well as, adults watch TV for various reasons. It has various effects on children, especiallyeffects on children especially because their young mindsas a result of their young minds which can easily be influenced by what they see. Watching television has its pros and cons, buthas its pros and cons but I believe its advantages outweigh its disadvantages for the following reasonsfor reasons which I am going to mention below. Firstly, TV has become an important educational toola very important educational tool for children. For example, educational programmes such as Sesame Street, Barney and friends etc. program have been an integral part of my childhood and helped me in numerous ways to improve my English vocabulary, understanding of some simple arithmetic and a lot of other things of educational importance. Secondly, televisionSecondly, the television helps children learn morehelps children to know more about the world around them. For instance, certain programmes coverprogrammes are aired about geography, history, animals and many other important topicsa lot of other important things. This helps childrenThis helps the child to understand the differencesto know about the differences between continents, the weather variations across countries and other important globalworldly affairs. It was through television that I first learnedknew about time differences across the globe and theirits correlation with latitude. In addition, TV helps strengthen family bondshelps to improve bonding within the family. This happens when the whole family sit in the living room to enjoy a nice family programme such as family movies or current affairs programme such as ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’. In conclusion, the television remains an important part of childhoodan important tool in a person’s childhood. Nonetheless, parents have to ensure children watch the right programmes and do no spend an awful lot of time watching TV at the detriment of other important things the child needs to do.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response presents a clear, consistent view and supports it with relevant educational and family examples, with the personal learning example particularly effective. Its main limitation is that the benefits are developed more fully than the possible harms, while the single-block structure weakens readability. Prioritise a more explicit explanation of why controlled viewing outweighs the risks, and divide the ideas into purposeful paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is maintained and supported by several relevant, generally developed reasons and examples.
Develop the parental-control qualification into a direct explanation of why the benefits still outweigh the acknowledged risks.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through clearly signposted reasons, but the entire response is presented as one paragraph.
Use separate introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs so each main idea has a clear structural role.
Lexical Resource
A varied vocabulary conveys the ideas precisely overall, despite occasional awkward collocations and repetition.
Refine combinations such as 'worldly affairs' and reduce repeated general phrases like 'important things'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of simple and complex structures is evident, though several agreement, punctuation, and form errors remain.
Proofread especially for subject-verb agreement and small form errors such as 'the family sit' and 'do no spend'.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Watching TV is bad for children. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons with specific examples to support your answer.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.