Nowadays, some employers think that formal academic qualifications are more important than life experience or personal qualities when they look for new employees. Why is it the case? Is it a positive or negative development?
Sample Response
These days, formal academic qualifications are valued more highly than life experiencemore highly appreciated than life experience or personal qualities when it comes to the recruitment process. There are many reasons for this, and in my opinion, this is a positive development.
The main reason for this tendency is that academic degrees are considered a means of measuringa tool to measure the level of knowledge that students possessthe level of knowledge that students are capable of. To be more specific, to achieve a good degree in most universities, students need to pass many examinations that test their knowledgeexaminations focusing on testing their knowledge and take part in practical training courses. These factors ensure that students have acquiredgained sufficient in-depth knowledge in a field relevant to the company's needsin the field that the company is looking for. That is why recruiters place higher value on employees with formal academic qualificationsemployers holding formal academic qualifications. Whereas, in terms of people having life experience or personal qualities, these people are likely to lack a suitable amount of academic knowledge in their field, and therefore, they need to be trained for a long time by employers. This makes employers reluctant to hire themThis results in the reluctance of employers to hire them for vacant positions.
This trend, therefore, can have positive effectswill bring about some positive effects on society as a whole. Students will be motivated to pursue tertiary education to improve their career prospectsfor the sake of their better career prospects. By attending university, students can gain insights into their chosen field and have a chance to compete with others. As for society, thanks to this trend, there will be more and more people entering university, which will help create a society with more well-informed, educated citizenscontribute to a society of more well-informed and educated citizens.
In conclusion, employers prefer people with better qualifications because qualifications are to prove that their holders are sufficiently trained at university. I think that there are many positives for both students and society when employers place emphasis on formal academic qualifications instead of life experience or personal qualities.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response’s main strength is its clear position and logical explanation of why employers value qualifications, followed by relevant benefits for students and society. The main weakness is that development relies on broad claims and occasionally imprecise wording, especially when comparing qualified applicants with experienced candidates. The highest-priority improvement is to test these claims with a specific workplace example and express the comparison more accurately.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both questions are answered directly with a clear positive position and relevant development, though some claims are generalized.
Support the explanation with a concrete recruitment example and acknowledge why qualifications may be a more reliable measure in that context.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a clear introduction, reason, effect, and conclusion sequence, with generally effective paragraphing and cohesion.
Integrate contrastive points into complete sentences instead of using an isolated linker such as “Whereas” at the start of a sentence.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary shows good range for education and recruitment, but several collocations and references are imprecise.
Correct choices such as “employers holding qualifications” and refine vague phrases like “a suitable amount of academic knowledge.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures with generally good control, although a few fragments and awkward constructions remain.
Check subordinate clauses and sentence openings so that contrast and purpose structures are grammatically complete and concise.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Nowadays, some employers think that formal academic qualifications are more important than life experience or personal qualities when they look for new employees. Why is it the case? Is it a positive or negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.