Some countries achieve international success by building specialized facilities to train top athletes instead of providing sports facilities that everyone can use. Do you think it is a positive or negative development?
Sample Response
In recent years, some countries have gained international recognition by constructing specialized training facilities exclusively for top athletes rather than providing sports facilities accessible to everyone. This essay will argue that this trend is ultimately harmful, as it prioritizes elite achievement over broader societal benefits.
Investing resources in specialized sports facilities may come at the cost of neglecting the development of sports infrastructure that benefits the general population. While these facilities may help develop elite athletesproduce elite athletes, they may not promote sports participation amongfor the broader population. Public sports centers, parks, and community programs that encourage physical activity are essential for fosteringbuilding a culture of fitness that extends beyond elite competition, benefiting the entire population. Limited access to public sports facilitiesThe lack of access to such facilities could harm public health, particularly for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds who may not have the means to affordaccess private sports facilities. Therefore, governments must invest in a diverse range of sports infrastructure that is accessible to everyone and promotes physical activity and healthy living.
Furthermore, investing heavily in elite sports facilities can widen the gap between the rich and poor, as only those with access to these specialized facilities can benefit from them. This creates an uneven playing field, where wealthier individuals have greater opportunities for successsuccess and prosperity than those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This perpetuates existing societal inequalities, in which opportunities for success are skewedwhere the opportunities for success are skewed towards a privileged few. As a result, society may become more divided, with only a smalltiny elite able to benefit from the resources invested in specialized sports facilities. To prevent this, governments should prioritize community-based programs that promote sports participation and physical activity for all. This can help to bridge the gap between the rich and poor and foster a more inclusive and equitable society.
In conclusion, by neglecting the development of sports infrastructure accessible to everyone, fostering an environment of extreme competition, and contributing to societal inequalities, the focus on elite sports could ultimately do more harm than good.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response presents a clear, consistent negative position and develops two relevant consequences with strong logical progression and polished language. Its main limitation is that the inequality argument assumes access is largely determined by wealth, which is not fully established and slightly weakens the precision of the reasoning. Strengthen the essay by supporting that causal link with a concrete mechanism or example tied directly to elite-facility selection.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The negative position is fully maintained, and both main arguments are relevant, extended, and clearly connected to the question.
Make the wealth-based inequality argument more convincing by explaining exactly how access to elite facilities would favour affluent athletes.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through well-focused paragraphs, with cohesive devices used smoothly and unobtrusively.
Reduce repeated references to sports facilities and the broader population by using tighter referencing across adjacent sentences.
Lexical Resource
A wide and precise academic vocabulary supports nuanced discussion, with only occasional repetition and slightly broad phrasing.
Refine broad combinations such as success and prosperity so each lexical choice expresses the precise consequence being argued.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately and naturally, with only rare minor imperfections.
Continue refining long multi-clause sentences so every modifier and causal relationship remains maximally precise.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some countries achieve international success by building specialized facilities to train top athletes instead of providing sports facilities that everyone can use. Do you think it is a positive or negative development?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.