All education (primary, secondary and further education) should be free to all people and paid and managed by the government. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Sample Response
In recent years, there has been much debate over whetherdebate around the question of whether all education should be state-funded and managed by the government. While some argue that this would be an effective way to promote equal access to education, I disagree with this proposalstatement for several reasons.
Firstly, providing free education for all would be an enormous financial burden on the government, which would likely result in higher taxes onfor citizens. Moreover, such a policy could lead to a decline in the quality of education, as institutions may struggle to maintain their standards under resource constraintswith limited resources. Additionally, the idea that all education should be free may not give students an incentivemay not incentivize students to work hard or take their studies seriously. If education were free, some students might not feel motivated to study, as they would not have the same financial investment in their education as they would if they were paying for it themselves.
Furthermore, private institutions offer valuethere is value in having private institutions that are managed and funded independentlyindependently managed and funded. These institutions often offer specialized programs and resources that may not be available at public institutions and can offer students a unique educational experience. Private institutions can also be a source of innovation, as they are often able to respond more quickly to changes in the job market or emerging technologies. Therefore,This is why the government should not take steps that would abolish private educational institutions.
In conclusion, while it is important to promote equal access to education, I do not believe that all education should be free to all people and paid for and managed by the government. This would be financially unsustainable and could result in a decline in the quality of education.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The essay’s strongest feature is its consistently clear opposition to fully state-funded and state-managed education, supported by logically developed financial, motivational, and institutional arguments. Its main limitation is that some claims, especially the link between paying fees and student effort, remain plausible assertions rather than critically supported conclusions. The highest priority is to qualify that claim and illustrate it with a specific, credible example.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly answers the question, maintains a clear position, and develops several relevant reasons about cost, quality, motivation, and private provision.
Strengthen the motivation argument by acknowledging possible exceptions and supplying a concrete example or mechanism rather than relying on assumption.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are sequenced logically in focused paragraphs, and cohesive devices guide the reader smoothly without obscuring progression.
Create an even sharper progression by separating the financial-quality argument from the student-motivation point rather than placing both in one body paragraph.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible, precise, and appropriately academic, with effective use of terms such as “state-funded”, “financially unsustainable”, and “innovation”.
Reduce minor repetition of words such as “institutions” and “education” by using precise referencing where the meaning remains unambiguous.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately, with strong control of subordination, conditionals, punctuation, and agreement.
Maintain this high accuracy while varying a few repeated relative-clause patterns to make the syntax even more stylistically flexible.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
All education (primary, secondary and further education) should be free to all people and paid and managed by the government. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.