Some people like to do only what they already do well. Other people prefer to try new things and take risks. Which one do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
Sample Response
Some people prefer to take on challenges, explore new opportunities and embrace risks. Others, on the contrary, prefer to remain in their comfort zoneszone and avoid taking any risksengage in no risky thing at all. Both groupsBoth groups of people have their reasons. Personally, I believe that taking on challenges and doing new things brings about more possibilities, improves the world and helps us enjoy our liveslife to the fullest.
History teaches that many successful people are risk-takerssuccessful people are always risk-takers. They succeed and change the world because they are not afraid of failure and try novel approachesdo novel things. This is why people have to step outside their comfort zonewalk out of their comfort zone and try new things. Their willingness to tryAnd their mentality to try new things makes them more accepting of failuretolerant of failure and helps them reach new heightsreach a new height. For instance, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, and Thomas Alva Edison, to name just a few, were highly curious and worked hard to find new answers when they could easily have been satisfiedcould have been easily satisfied with one or two of their early inventions and achievementswork. Their work, risk-tolerance and dedication made them famous and helped change the world.
In contrast, peopleOn the contrary, people who take no risks at all and always do the same things, be it in their profession, hobby, or daily habits and choices, are less likely to failless susceptible to failure because they have little to lose. In a sense, they are happy because they are not constantly struggling against difficultiesconstantly trying to fight against all odds. For instance, people who have alwayspeople, who have always been in the same profession, scarcely change their place of residencescarcely changed their living place and never trytried investing money in new ventures, often enjoy a relaxed lifestyle. Their mantra is that expect less, and regret less.
Personally, I think that trying and experiencing new things and embracing challenges help us constantly evaluate ourselves on the one hand and open up new possibilitiespotentials on the other hand. It also helps us set new goals and reach them. Life is too short to stay in one place, eat the same food and do the same thing over and over again. People need changechanges and challenges because they make our lives more meaningful, exciting and beautiful.
To conclude, I believe that people's aspiration for learning new things, inventing something new and solving problems have developed our civilisation, and that is why we should not be afraid to fail and take on new challenges and risks.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The essay gives a clear preference for taking risks and supports it with reasons about innovation, resilience, self-development, and a specific group of historical examples. Its main limitation is overgeneralisation and occasional awkward language, particularly claims that successful people are always risk-takers and that cautious people share one lifestyle. Prioritise qualifying these claims and developing one precise personal or real-world example that directly demonstrates the stated benefits.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear preference is maintained and supported by several relevant reasons and examples, though some claims about successful and cautious people are overly absolute.
Qualify the generalisations and develop one historical or personal example with a clear risk, outcome, and link to the preference.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is well paragraphed and moves logically through the preferred view, the alternative, further justification, and a clear conclusion.
Avoid repeating the position with ‘Personally’ and vary or remove mechanical contrast phrases such as ‘On the contrary’.
Lexical Resource
The essay shows a good range of language for risk, achievement, and personal growth, with occasional awkward collocations and imprecise phrasing.
Replace ‘no risky thing’, ‘reach a new height’, ‘changed their living place’, and ‘open up new potentials’ with natural precise alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A varied mix of complex and simple sentences is generally controlled, but agreement, tense parallelism, relative-clause punctuation, and complement errors recur.
Revise structures such as ‘their mantra is to expect less’, maintain parallel tenses in examples, and check agreement with collective or abstract subjects.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people like to do only what they already do well. Other people prefer to try new things and take risks. Which one do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.