The world is consuming natural resources faster than they can be renewed. Therefore, it is important that products are made to last. Governments should discourage people from constantly buying more up to date or fashionable products. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Sample Response
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Over the last 30 years, the West30 years the West has witnessed the East strive for a larger ‘share of global prosperitypiece of the economic pie’, aiming for living standards similar to those in the EU and USsimilar living standards to the EU and US. This has increased pressure on natural resources and prompted callssuggestions for governments to limit consumption. This idea is severely flawed because it reduces product safety and building products to last would harm the poor.
Firstly, the suggestion that governments should discourage consumers from purchasing ‘up to date products’ would eliminate the opportunity to improve producttheir safety. This is because, as technology improves,This is because as technology improves, new discoveries can be used to improve their safetyincrease their utility.
Take for example the car industry, here technology such as ABS brakes, air-bags, seat belts have all been derived from a constant flow of improvements. Therefore, ifTherefore if the authorities were permitted to limit purchases, car companies would be reluctant to invest in new features, and safety would never improve.
Secondly, it is true we are consuming more, through ever increasing populations, nevertheless, the argument that ‘products should be made to last’ is redundant. If products were made more durableproducts were built stronger they would be more expensive. This would harm the less wealthy consumer; furthermore,consumer, furthermore with modern technology these products can often be recycled at a later date anyway.
Glass, plastic, paper, batteries, and even mobile phones are now collected to be repurposedre-purposed, reused and recycled. Therefore, durableTherefore durable products are unnecessary and would harm lower-income groupslower income demographics.
To conclude, itTo conclude it is clear that if the governmentthe public sector were allowed to discourage consumption it would hinder product developmentharm product improvements and ultimately consumer safety. Meddling with product durability would most likely harm the poor. Therefore I am strongly opposed to both proposalsboth of these notions.
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Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents a firm position and develops two relevant objections with clear explanations and examples, supported by a strong range of vocabulary. Its effectiveness is reduced by the unrelated promotional sentences at the beginning and end, several overgeneralised claims, and recurring punctuation problems. The highest priority is to remove all non-task material and develop the resource-consumption argument with more precise, balanced reasoning.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear opposing position is maintained and both proposals are addressed through relevant, generally developed arguments.
Remove the unrelated promotional material and support the claims about safety, durability, and recycling with more nuanced reasoning.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through two main arguments, although intrusive opening and closing lines and some repetitive transitions weaken cohesion.
Begin directly with the essay and use clearer sentence boundaries instead of repeated connectors and comma-linked clauses.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and often precise, with effective use of terms related to economics, technology, and consumption.
Refine awkward or imprecise combinations such as products being built stronger and lower income demographics.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A good range of complex structures is used, but comma splices and faulty clause punctuation recur across the response.
Separate independent clauses correctly and check punctuation around examples, conditionals, and linking adverbs.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
The world is consuming natural resources faster than they can be renewed. Therefore, it is important that products are made to last. Governments should discourage people from constantly buying more up to date or fashionable products. To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.