More and more qualified people are moving from poor to rich countries to fill vacancies in specialist areas like engineering, computing and medicine. Some people believe that by encouraging the movement of such people, rich countries are stealing from poor countries. Others feel that this is only part of the natural movement of workers around the world. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Why?
Sample Response
Migrating to other countries is a phenomenon that can be rooted to the very ancient period of human civilisation. People move to other countries and places for better life, a better environment and better settlement. The number of qualified and skilled people migrating to developed countries from comparatively poor countries is increasing rapidly and some people think that it is a natural human tendency to settle in a better environment rather than to stay in their home country. On the contrary other groups of people find it hard to accept that it is a natural trend and criticise the rich nations for the brain drain. I believe that rich countries to some extent allure talented individuals to settle there but mostly it is decided by individuals and it is a natural movement by talented people.
To begin with, the life standard, security, career growth, political environment, research facilities and many other aspects of a better life in rich countries are far better than the poor nations. That is why capable individuals who might contribute to a great extent for a country are often allured by the rich nations to move and work there. The brain drain system that mainly attracts talented professionals to settle in rich nations could not be denied. According to a recent statistics, more than 10 percent talented individuals from Asian countries are permanently living and working in countries like the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and Sweden. Rich nations have many large and world known organisations that hunt for the talented people who are in IT, engineering, medicine or in other similar professions from poor nations and encourage them to contribute for their countries. Because of this talent hunt or more specifically brain drain system many poor nations are suffering from the scarcity of talented professionals. These individuals were supported and financed by the poor countries and when the time has come to repay and show patriotism, they are working for the development of rich nations. From this regards, some people accept that the rich countries are actually stealing capable professionals from poor nations.
But it can be easily understood that no rich nation can force a talented individual to migrate there and that’s why it is a decision taken by a person. Skilled professionals and workers are migrating to rich nations to have a better life and better salary. They can easily compare the life and career prospect their home country would offer with the opportunity they will get if they move to a rich nation. Should not poor nations provide better facilities for those gifted and skilled people to work at home country and ensure better lifestyle? The political instability, insecurity, discrimination in workplace are three major reasons people move to a rich nation.
Again, rich nations are not only giving the opportunity to talented individuals, they are also allowing students, labours refuses, minors and family members of workers. So from this regards, we can’t blame them that they are stealing talents from poor nations. Moving to a better place has always been a natural trend throughout the very beginning of human existence. People always moved from one place to another to get a better place to live in. Moving to a better place is a tendency we have inherited from our forefathers. Many skilled professionals through work in rich nations do not forget their home countries in most cases. They are the primary revenue earners for poor nations and from this regards, they are contributing towards the development of a poor country. It is often seen that a middle-aged skilled professional often come back to his home country and contribute even more from the experience he has gathered through working in a rich nation.
In conclusion, migrating to rich nations is a natural trend for expert professionals, which are mostly their own choices for better and secured life rather than the rich nations’ advertised temptation for them.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Correct fixed expression Original: rooted to the very ancient period Suggested revision: traced back to ancient times Why it matters: A historical phenomenon is "traced back to" a period rather than "rooted to" it.
- 2. Add missing article Original: for better life Suggested revision: for a better life Why it matters: The singular countable noun "life" requires an article here.
- 3. Clarify intended meaning Original: better settlement Suggested revision: better living conditions Why it matters: "Living conditions" expresses the intended attraction more naturally than "settlement".
- 4. Add transition comma Original: On the contrary other groups Suggested revision: On the contrary, other groups Why it matters: A comma is required after this introductory transition.
- 5. Use neutral verb Original: allure Suggested revision: attract Why it matters: "Attract" is more natural and neutral for describing migration incentives.
- 6. Correct preposition Original: by Suggested revision: of Why it matters: "Of" identifies the people who are moving, whereas "by" implies agency over a separate action.
- 7. Use correct collocation Original: the life standard Suggested revision: living standards Why it matters: "Living standards" is the conventional term for overall material and social conditions.
- 8. Fix faulty comparison Original: far better than the poor nations Suggested revision: far better than those in poorer nations Why it matters: The revision compares aspects of life with equivalent aspects rather than with countries.
- 9. Use natural collocation Original: contribute to a great extent for a country Suggested revision: make a substantial contribution to a country Why it matters: "Make a contribution to" is the correct and more concise collocation.
- 10. Choose natural wording Original: allured Suggested revision: attracted Why it matters: "Attracted by" is more idiomatic and appropriately neutral in this context.
- 11. Use present tense Original: could not be denied Suggested revision: cannot be denied Why it matters: The claim concerns a current situation, so the present modal form is required.
- 12. Fix determiner agreement Original: According to a recent statistics Suggested revision: According to recent statistics Why it matters: "Statistics" is plural here and cannot follow the singular article "a".
Suggested Rewrites
- rooted to the very ancient period traced back to ancient times
- for better life for a better life
- better settlement better living conditions
- On the contrary other groups On the contrary, other groups
- allure attract
- by of
Why this response received Band 6.5
The essay offers a clear, nuanced position that wealthy countries may attract skilled professionals but migration is mainly an individual, natural choice, and it examines brain drain, working conditions, remittances, and return migration in depth. Its main limitation is excessive length and repetition, with some irrelevant migrant categories and unsupported statistics weakening focus. Prioritise two balanced body sections—costs to poorer countries and reasons migration remains voluntary—using concise, credible evidence and more accurate language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The chosen viewpoint is clear and both the brain-drain objection and voluntary-migration case are substantially developed, though some evidence is unsupported and peripheral material reduces focus.
Replace the unverified statistic and references to unrelated migrant groups with one credible example of professional recruitment, remittances, or return migration.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument has a logical overall sequence, but overlong paragraphs, repeated natural-movement claims, and digressions weaken efficiency and progression.
Condense the response into two main body paragraphs and state each reason once before supporting it with a focused example.
Lexical Resource
The essay displays a broad range for migration, careers, research, brain drain, remittances, and development, but frequent inaccurate collocations reduce precision.
Use dates back to, living standards, career prospects, attract skilled professionals, skills shortage, retain talent, remittances, and secure life.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex ideas are communicated, but agreement, articles, plurals, prepositions, relative clauses, comparisons, and sentence boundaries contain frequent errors.
Correct forms such as better than those in poorer nations, a recent statistic, ten percent of, contribute to, at home, professionals who work, and often return.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
More and more qualified people are moving from poor to rich countries to fill vacancies in specialist areas like engineering, computing and medicine. Some people believe that by encouraging the movement of such people, rich countries are stealing from poor countries. Others feel that this is only part of the natural movement of workers around the world. Which viewpoint do you agree with? Why?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.