Students who go directly from school to university benefit less from and contribute less to their courses than those who take a job or travel in order to get more experience in ‘real world’ before they start higher education. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement.
Sample Response
Experience is the best teacher, so goes an age old saying. Experience gained through work or foreign travelExperience earned from work or from a foreign travel is a valuable personal asseta valuable asset to own, for a person. I strongly believe that a student who enters university directly after schoola student who does not have work experience after school and has completed university gains less benefit in the real world thanreaps less benefit in the real world compared to the student who does. Today employersthe corporates are not only seeking undergraduate or postgraduate qualificationsa graduation or post-graduation degree from applicantsin their employees but also seeking relevant work experience to go with it. When an organisation hires an experienced ‘market ready’ professional, it saves a lot of time and money on employee trainingin training the employee. Thus, often during a recruitment drive, candidates who have no prior work experience end up as also-rans.
Based on work experience gained after schoolBased on the work experience after school, a student can choose the field in which they want to specialise at universitydomain of specialisation in which he wants to attend the university. By contrastOn the contrary, a student entering the university directly after school generally tends to follow othersgo with the herd while choosing the course or fieldcourses or domain at the university. A few months intoin the course, the student may not find it interesting but has no option to go back. In fact, the student may be compelled to find a job and pursue a career in the same field which may lead to the student not enjoying the work he does.
A student who has earned and saved money after school can pay a portion of his fees on his own and has to take a smallerlesser student loan to pay university feesfor paying the university fees. On the other hand, a student directly entering university after school may need to pay all their fees with a student loanhas paid the entire fees from the student loan. The student loan is a menace. According to a survey 8 to 10% of people in the USA are still repaying student loans at age 60repay student loans even at the age of 60.
In conclusion, considering the above points, I can say with conviction that it is better to work for a few years and then enter a university than to directly attend university after school. Apart from the monetary benefits, this approach also has benefits like individual growth and development.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response's strongest feature is its clear position and logically developed case that work experience can improve career choice, employability and financial independence. The main limitation is task alignment: it largely discusses benefits after graduation and student debt, while the prompt specifically asks whether gap-year students benefit more from and contribute more to their university courses. Prioritise direct analysis of classroom maturity, practical insight, participation and peer contribution, with examples tied to course experience.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear position is supported with developed ideas about employment, course choice and finance, but the crucial claims about benefiting from and contributing to university courses are largely unaddressed.
Explain how prior work or travel could improve seminar participation, practical understanding, motivation and contributions to classmates, and compare these directly with school-leavers.
Coherence and Cohesion
The essay is logically organised into focused paragraphs on employability, specialisation and finance, with clear progression and generally effective linking.
Retain the structure but make each body paragraph begin and end with an explicit connection to university course benefit or contribution.
Lexical Resource
A good range conveys education, employment and finance ideas clearly, though several collocations and countability choices are awkward.
Use natural phrases such as 'work or overseas travel', 'graduate or postgraduate qualification', 'choose a field of specialisation' and 'take out a smaller loan'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied structures with generally clear control, but article, tense, comparison and noun-form errors occur with some regularity.
Review forms such as 'an age-old saying', 'after a few months on the course', 'would have to pay' and 'tuition fees'.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Students who go directly from school to university benefit less from and contribute less to their courses than those who take a job or travel in order to get more experience in ‘real world’ before they start higher education. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.