Some people think it is very important to get a university education. Others feel we should encourage more young people to take up a trade such as plumbing, painting or building to ensure a good balance of skills in our society. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.
Sample Response
While some opine that university education is a must, others emphasiseothers, however, emphasise the need for vocational training and practical skills more. No doubt practical skillsskills on practical works like plumbing, painting, repair work and automobile maintenancepainting, repairing, automobiles etc. are essential for young peoplethe young generation to start a career early, but university education offers something more and creates a better-prepared future generationcreates a better future generation. This essay will discuss both aspects and point out my opinion. To begin with, university education is of paramount importancehas a paramount importance in shaping someone's ability, perspective and knowledge. That is why a person is thought to be prepared to start a career or open a business only when he completes his tertiary education. Many organisations, for instance, seek employees who have university degrees, and researchuniversity degrees and research indicates that university graduates are more adept at learning new things in the corporate world, taking on challengestaking challenges, leading a team and introducingbringing innovations. Thus taking up trade education or courses instead of beinggetting admitted to a college or university would build up a generation thatwho would be skilled in particular fieldssome particular fields, no doubt, but not ready to lead the country by contributing more efficientlycontributing in a more efficient manner in their respective job or business fields. In many countries, such as India, plumbers, electricians or painters havea plumber, electrician or a painter have no scope to advance their careersenhance their career in prestigious corporations or ever become a white collar employee. Furthermore, society does not considerthe society does not consider them as skilled employees since they do not have the necessary education to excel. Thus taking up university education in those countries is the only option to gather knowledge and secure a good career. With regardregards to the trade courses to have a skilled workforce in a country, I believe that only a few developed countries should encourage their young population to start their career in such fields where they can have decent jobs. For instance, Finland already has this educational setup and they are quite successful. Furthermore, skilled people will never be unemployed and thus willwould contribute to the national economy at an early age. To conclude, though having trade related courses and vocational education to start a career early and to maintain a social skill balance isus a good option, I believe that university education is far more beneficial. It should be ensured by the government that deserving students get university education though there is no harm in including some trade-related training courses in university to make them more skilled.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response offers a clear preference for university education and supports it with relevant employment and social arguments, while also acknowledging the value of vocational skills. The main weakness is structural: the entire discussion appears as one dense paragraph, and the trade-education case receives less balanced development. Prioritise dividing the argument into purposeful paragraphs and expanding the vocational perspective with a well-explained benefit before weighing the two views.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both views and a clear opinion are presented, but the vocational view is less fully and impartially developed than the case for university education.
Give the trade-education perspective a distinct, well-supported argument before comparing it with the preferred university route.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument follows a generally logical sequence and uses clear signposting, but presenting everything in one paragraph weakens organisation and readability.
Separate the introduction, each viewpoint, and the conclusion into distinct paragraphs with one controlling idea in each.
Lexical Resource
A broad range of education and employment vocabulary is used, though several awkward collocations and imprecise expressions limit flexibility.
Refine collocations such as practical skills, take on challenges, career progression, and balance of skills in society.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures with generally clear meaning, but agreement, article, pronoun, and word-form errors recur.
Check agreement and reference carefully in longer sentences, particularly where singular workers, plural occupations, and countries are discussed.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think it is very important to get a university education. Others feel we should encourage more young people to take up a trade such as plumbing, painting or building to ensure a good balance of skills in our society. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.