Some people who have been in prison become good citizens later, and it is often argued that these are the best people to talk to teenagers about the dangers of committing a crime. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
It is true that ex-prisoners can become productive, law-abiding membersnormal, productive members of society. I completely agree with the idea that inviting former prisonersallowing such people to speak to teenagers about their experiences is the best way to deter them from committing crimesdiscourage them from breaking the law.
In my opinion, teenagers are more likely to heedaccept advice from someone who can speak from experience. Reformed offenders can tell young people howtell young people about how they became involved in crime, the dangers of a criminal lifestyle, and what life in prison is really like. They can also dispel any ideas that teenagers may have about criminals livingleading glamorous lives. While adolescents are often indifferent to the guidance given by older people, I imagine that most teenagers would bemost of them would be particularly interested in hearingextremely keen to hear the stories of an ex-offenderex¬offender. The vivid and perhaps shocking nature of these stories is likely to have a powerful impact.
The alternatives to using reformed criminals to educate teenagers about crime would be much less effective. One option would be for police officers to visit schools and talk to young people. This could be useful by informing teenagers aboutin terms of informing teens about what happens to lawbreakers when they are caught, but young people are often reluctant to take advice from figures of authority. A second option would be for teachersschool teachers to speak to their students about crime, but I doubt that students would see teachers as credible authorities on crimecredible sources of information about this topic. Finally, educational films might be informative, but there would be no opportunity for young people to interact and ask questions.
In conclusion, I fully support the view that people who have turned their lives around after serving a prison sentence could help to deter teenagers from committing crimes.
Why this response received Band 9.0
This response is strongest in its clear, unwavering position and the purposeful comparison of reformed offenders with less persuasive alternatives; the ideas progress smoothly and are expressed with highly precise, controlled language. Its only meaningful limitation is that the case remains largely hypothetical rather than grounded in a specific real-world illustration, so the best refinement would be to add one concise concrete example while preserving the current economy and focus.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response fully answers the question with an explicit position and thoroughly developed reasons for preferring reformed offenders over credible alternatives.
Add one brief concrete example of a successful offender-led intervention to make the already complete case even more vivid.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are sequenced effortlessly across focused paragraphs, with cohesive devices used naturally and without distracting repetition.
Preserve this clear progression while varying the opening of the alternatives paragraph for an even subtler transition.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is wide, precise, and consistently appropriate, including effective phrases such as reformed offenders, criminal lifestyle, and figures of authority.
Maintain this precision while checking source text for typographical encoding artifacts such as the mark within ex-offender.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is handled accurately and flexibly throughout, with punctuation supporting clarity.
Continue using this controlled mix of sentence forms while keeping longer comparative sentences equally concise.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people who have been in prison become good citizens later, and it is often argued that these are the best people to talk to teenagers about the dangers of committing a crime. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.