Society is based on rules and laws. It could not function if individuals were free to do whatever they wanted to do. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
In defining society, many insist that it consists of rules and laws, and that it would not be able to functionand would not be able to function if individuals were to actoperate without restrictions. I agree with this view and believeview, and believe that although society should allow individuals a level of autonomy, an effective legal system is necessary for a well functioning society, and ensuresensure the safety of the general population.
On the one hand, I believe that a level of autonomy is necessary for a society to flourish. Individual freedom allows society as a wholethe whole of society to move forward: bymove forward - by each person doing what he or she wants to a certain extent (provided that their actions do not harm othersso long as it does not harm others), society can benefit from greater creativity and flexibility. Furthermore, this would also improve the state of civil society, since individuals would be able to debate one another on issues concerning how they are governedissues that concern their common governance, and as such make wayplace for a healthier democracy. This, for example, is the caseThis is for example, the case in Western Europe, where a more individualistic social structureindividualist societal set up has created the longest-standing democracieslongest surviving democracies and richest countries in the world.
On the other hand, one could also rightly point out that no manpoint that no man exists as an island, and that individuals are connected within society by a set of lawsindividuals are connected within a society through a set of laws. These rules not only ensure that individuals do not exploit one another, it also sets the expectations for societal interactions - this standardization of behaviour allows people to treat each other with a degree of similarity and upholds societal stability, which could be said to be sorely lacking from an archaic society. For instance, in areas of war, where societal trust has broken down, we can see that individuals are much more skeptical of one another.
Therefore, Overall, I argueI overall argue that while people should be given a certain amount of autonomy in order for society to flourish both economically and creatively, this should nonetheless be confined to a pre agreed set of rules and laws.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear, consistent position that individual autonomy should operate within an effective legal framework, supported by logically paired arguments. Its main limitation is uneven precision: several claims and examples are broad or awkwardly framed, and some grammar slips weaken otherwise fluent reasoning; prioritise sharpening the evidence and revising sentence-level agreement and collocation so the argument sounds consistently exact.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The qualified agreement is clear throughout, and both autonomy and legal constraint are explored with relevant supporting ideas.
Make the examples more precisely demonstrate how laws enable society to function instead of relying on broad claims about regions or conflict.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically organised around two complementary sides of the position, and progression is easy to follow.
Tighten the internal progression of the legal-system paragraph so each sentence develops the central claim more directly.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and suitably academic, but several imprecise collocations reduce naturalness and exactness.
Replace awkward combinations such as make place for, rightly point and pre agreed with idiomatic alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are used flexibly, though recurring agreement and coordination errors remain noticeable.
Check subject-verb agreement and parallel structure carefully, especially in sentences joining singular subjects to multiple verbs.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Society is based on rules and laws. It could not function if individuals were free to do whatever they wanted to do. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.