Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programs (for example working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children). To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
It is argued that unpaid activities such as charity workvoluntary services like charity, cleaning the neighborhood, teaching underprivileged peopleimparting knowledge to the underprivileged, etc. should be made mandatory in the high school curriculum. I strongly agree withto this as it not only helps students becomehelps in students becoming socially responsible adults but also shapesbut also in shaping their character.
Firstly, community service inculcates a sense of responsibility towards societytowards the society, which is essential to building a well-functioning societysomething that is needed to shape a good society. For instance, the introduction of the Swatch Bharath schemeintroduction of Swatch Bharath scheme in my school, The Hyderabad Public School, ten years ago taught me not only to keep the surroundings of the school clean but also never to litterto never litter wherever I go. ConsequentlyHence, now I feel responsible for maintainingresponsible to maintain cleanliness everywhere. Such services are needed to develop a better society in the future.
Secondly, voluntary services contribute to overall character developmentcater to the overall character development of an individual. It inculcates empathya feeling of empathy in children, whichchildren which is needed to build a better character. For example, an alumnus of Montessori High School, who indulged in petty law-breaking activities during school confessed that it was the charity service that he did in high school; which engraved deep ideas and thoughts in his mind; helped him in becoming a better person for his family and refrained him from committing socially irresponsible acts. Thus, such voluntary activities teach us to value what we have and in turn contributecontributes to our personality development.
That being said, we cannot deny the fact that many students misuse the time allocated for these services by treatingconsidering it as an excursion to enjoy with friends rather than a learning experience.
In conclusion, although compulsory voluntary community service has its drawbacks, it is still useful in shaping a child as a socially responsible citizen and also in their overall personality development. Therefore, pupils should be encouraged to participate in such activitiesinvolve themselves in such activities.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response maintains a clear position and develops two relevant benefits through specific examples, giving it a purposeful and generally persuasive argument. Its main limitation is uneven language control, especially in the long second example, where awkward clause linking, agreement, and collocation weaken precision. The highest priority is to express each supporting example in shorter, accurately controlled sentences while keeping the stance on compulsory service consistent through the conclusion.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is supported by two relevant and generally developed reasons, although the conclusion softens compulsory service to encouragement.
Keep the exact stance consistent and make each example more directly demonstrate why participation should be mandatory.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through distinct reasons, but the brief concession and heavily loaded second example interrupt the otherwise clear flow.
Integrate the concession into a developed paragraph and split the long example into a cleaner sequence of claims and support.
Lexical Resource
A good range of topic vocabulary conveys the argument effectively, despite several imprecise collocations such as describing ideas as engraved in the mind.
Choose more natural verb-noun combinations and avoid ambitious expressions unless their meaning and grammatical pattern are secure.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures, but agreement, preposition, pronoun, and clause-linking errors recur and occasionally make sentences awkward.
Prioritise accurate control of relative clauses and subject-verb agreement, especially when constructing extended examples.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programs (for example working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children). To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.