Should museums and art galleries be free of charge for the general public, or should a charge, even a voluntary charge, be levied for admittance? Discuss this issue, and give your opinion.
Sample Response
One complex issuevery complex issue in contemporary societytoday’s world is the funding of museums and art galleries. There is an argument that they should be free to the general public and publicly fundedfunded by governments, but there is also a case for saying that they should charge an entrance fee like other attractions. In this essay, I am will examinegoing to examine both sides of this issue.
Those who argue that museums should be free typically make one of two arguments. The first argument is that institutions like museums are a public service and therefore there should be free access to the general publicthe man in the street. If, for example,If for example there werewas a charge only the wealthy could afford to enjoy artworks of art. The second argument is that if they charged an entrance feedid levy a charge, fewer people would go to museums. This decline would be concerningThis would be serious as they are educational institutions and standards would fall.
In contrast, there is only one major argument on the other side of the debate. This is that both museums and art galleries need to charge an entrance fee if they are to survive in the modern world. Governments do not have sufficient funds to subsidise all such institutions and there are other priorities for public money. Therefore these galleries and museums need to charge their customers not only to survive but to update their exhibitions and make new purchases. By way of illustration, the Tate Modern in London could not have been founded without revenue from admissions.
My personal position is that there is no clear answer to this question as there are such strong arguments on both sides. Perhaps it is possible for some museums and galleries to charge fees and for others not to.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The essay presents a balanced, logically organised discussion with confident, precise language and a suitably qualified position. Its main limitation is that the final opinion is only briefly stated, while some support—particularly the claim about educational standards and the Tate Modern example—is asserted rather than convincingly explained; the priority is to develop the preferred mixed-fee approach and support it with accurate, specific reasoning.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both sides are addressed with a clear, qualified conclusion, though some supporting claims and the writer's preferred compromise remain insufficiently developed.
Explain how the proposed mixed-fee system would work and substantiate each major claim with accurate, relevant support.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress clearly through well-focused paragraphs, and cohesive devices guide the comparison naturally.
Strengthen the link between the two-sided discussion and the compromise in the conclusion so that the final position feels fully prepared.
Lexical Resource
A broad and generally precise vocabulary supports the argument, with only occasional imprecise phrasing such as the claim that educational standards would fall.
Choose more exact wording for causal claims and avoid expressions whose meaning is broader or less defensible than the intended point.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately, with only minor punctuation and phrasing lapses that do not impede communication.
Refine comma placement around introductory phrases and conditional clauses to make already strong sentences fully controlled.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Should museums and art galleries be free of charge for the general public, or should a charge, even a voluntary charge, be levied for admittance? Discuss this issue, and give your opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.