Life teaches us the lessons and such lessons are the keys to success. How far do you agree with this statement, and do you think formal education is important or people should rely on their life experiences?
Sample Response
It is rightly said that “In school teachers teach first and then take exams, but in the school of life, it firstly gives us experiences and then we learn lessons out of them.” I completely agree that such real-life incidents are steps towards success. Apart from this, I beleive that basic education is a must which helps everyone to create the foundation for personal as well as professional life.
One of my favorite authors, Polo Farmen, has written a very good book called “Experiences are diamonds- Keep them in your heart.” He has mentioned that we are in the school of life forever when we step out of university. Indeed, I strongly agree with this. When people learn about anything without practically doing it, it is just like learning to drive a car standing outside. Life, of course, gives practical experience for everything. Admittedly, there will be situations that will give lemons, but it depends on the person whether to learn from unfavorable situations or just to curse them. In most cases, people learn great lessons from their worst experiences. I can relate this to myself, as my ex-boss was always rude to everyone, which taught me a precious thing to be polite with my subordinates and colleagues, because of which I have become a Project Manager at a very early age. Thus, I think life lessons are very important for a person to become successful.
If pizza is life, then, in my view, pizza-base is the education that creates a foundation. Through education, we not only come to know about the essential subjects such as history, science, maths but it grooms us to be a good human. As it is rightly said that, “Your money or property can be theft, but no one can ever take away your wisdom.” Additionally, it opens many doors to get a good job for an educated person. An uneducated person who just relies on life experiences has to struggle a lot, and many times people take them for granted because of their illiteracy. In recent years, many countries have made education free and mandatory for their citizens, which has helped them immensely to fight basic issues, namely poverty, and hunger. Hence, formal education is as necessary as breathing.
To conclude, in many ways, life teaches us priceless experiences which play a vital role in everyone’s journey. However, I support the idea of having not only basic but full education that can ultimately help society.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Correct spelling Original: beleive Suggested revision: believe Why it matters: Believe is misspelled.
- 2. Improve formal phrasing Original: a must which helps everyone to create the foundation for personal as well as professional life Suggested revision: essential because it helps everyone lay the foundation for both personal and professional life Why it matters: The revision uses a natural collocation and expresses the relationship more clearly.
- 3. Clarify time link Original: when we step out of university Suggested revision: after we leave university Why it matters: After accurately expresses that lifelong learning continues following university.
- 4. Use natural expression Original: without practically doing it Suggested revision: without putting it into practice Why it matters: Put it into practice is the natural expression for applying learned knowledge.
- 5. Improve collocation Original: practical experience for everything Suggested revision: practical experience in many areas Why it matters: Experience in is the natural collocation, and many areas avoids an unsupported absolute.
- 6. Avoid unclear idiom Original: situations that will give lemons Suggested revision: difficult situations Why it matters: The revised phrase communicates the meaning directly in an academic register.
- 7. Clarify the contrast Original: whether to learn from unfavorable situations or just to curse them Suggested revision: whether to learn from them or simply complain about them Why it matters: The revision avoids repetition and replaces the unnatural verb curse.
- 8. Remove unnecessary article Original: is the education Suggested revision: is education Why it matters: Education is used as an uncountable general concept and does not take the here.
- 9. Use concise verb Original: come to know about Suggested revision: learn about Why it matters: Learn about expresses the same meaning more directly.
- 10. Add balancing comma Original: maths but Suggested revision: maths, but Why it matters: A comma is needed before but in the not only...but construction here.
- 11. Use natural wording Original: grooms us to be a good human Suggested revision: helps us become good people Why it matters: The revision avoids the unnatural use of groom and fixes the singular generic noun.
- 12. Fix reporting phrase Original: As it is rightly said that, Suggested revision: As the saying goes, Why it matters: The original reporting structure is ungrammatical before a direct quotation.
Suggested Rewrites
- beleive believe
- a must which helps everyone to create the foundation for personal as well as professional life essential because it helps everyone lay the foundation for both personal and professional life
- when we step out of university after we leave university
- without practically doing it without putting it into practice
- practical experience for everything practical experience in many areas
- situations that will give lemons difficult situations
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response’s strongest feature is its full engagement with both questions, using clear personal and social examples to support the value of experience and education. Its main limitation is uneven language control, with several strained metaphors, inaccurate word choices, and faulty complex structures. The highest-priority improvement is to express the same ideas in more precise academic language and proofread sentence relationships carefully.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both parts of the task are answered with a clear position and relevant, substantially developed support.
Develop the relationship between formal education and experience more analytically instead of relying heavily on quotations and personal illustration.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay is logically organised into focused sections, and progression between the two main arguments is clear.
Reduce formulaic signposting and integrate examples more smoothly into the reasoning of each paragraph.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a good range of vocabulary, but spelling, word form, and collocational inaccuracies are noticeable.
Use more precise academic wording and correct expressions such as can be theft, fight issues, and pizza-base.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is attempted, though recurring clause, agreement, and parallel-structure errors reduce control.
Check paired structures such as not only...but also and revise overloaded sentences so each clause has a clear grammatical subject.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Life teaches us the lessons and such lessons are the keys to success. How far do you agree with this statement, and do you think formal education is important or people should rely on their life experiences?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.