Some people think that the government is wasting money on the arts and this money could be better spent elsewhere. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Arts reflect the heritage of a country and depict the creativity of an individual. While many believe that investment in the arts is a wastefinancing in arts is a wastage of money, I am of the opposite view as I believe that investment in the arts is worthwhilefinancing in arts is a good idea for the government. Many people think that diverting funds towards the arts hampersdiverting funds towards arts hamper the well-being of citizens and the development of the nation. For example, available monetary resources, according to them, could be put to use in building more hospitals, roads, schools and developing other infrastructureinfrastructures. This means improving care for the sickincreasing care of the sick and improvingimproved transportation to previously inaccessible areas. For children, it caters for better education facilities. These people believe that art is a luxury and many governments cannot afford this extravagance. However, while investment in these essential servicesinvestments in such areas are vital, spending on arts is equally important. Allocating money to the development and support of the artsdevelopment and sustenance of arts helps boost the economy, and arts are important to reduce crime in societyalleviate crime from society and positively entertain and engage people. Art galleries can attract tourists from all over the world, generating revenuegenerating revenue in return while artists can reveal discrimination inof society through their works. It is also the case that viewing and practising the artspractising arts, such as painting, music, acting, dancing and so on, are good ways to relieve stressgood sources of venting out stress while also educating peoplewhile educating people at the same time. Such activities also present a positive image of a nation to the worldportray a positive picture of a nation to the world. If governments fail to financially support the artssupport arts fiscally, many art galleries and theatres would not be able to survive. The arts are as importantArts is as important as science for the overalltrue progress of a nation. In pithy, it is clear to me that spending on arts is beneficial to both individuals and societybeneficial both for an individual and society. Therefore, fundingTherefore funding arts by the government is not squandering money.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response maintains a clear position and offers several relevant benefits of public arts funding, with logical progression from the opposing view to its rebuttal. Its main weakness is uneven language control, especially awkward collocations and recurring agreement or reference errors, while the lack of paragraph breaks also reduces readability. Prioritise organising the argument into distinct paragraphs and expressing each supporting claim in more natural, precise language.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
A clear disagreement is sustained and supported with several relevant economic, social, and cultural reasons, though some claims remain briefly explained.
Develop the causal link behind claims such as crime reduction and social benefit with a specific, credible illustration.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas follow a broadly logical sequence and cohesive devices mark the counterargument and rebuttal, but the response is presented as one continuous paragraph.
Separate the introduction, opposing case, supporting case, and conclusion into distinct paragraphs with one central purpose each.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is sufficient for the topic and includes some less common items, but awkward combinations such as financing in arts and alleviate crime reduce precision.
Prioritise natural collocations and check unfamiliar formal expressions in context before using them.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex structures communicates meaning clearly, despite recurring agreement, reference, and parallelism errors.
Proofread subject-verb agreement and ensure pronouns and paired structures refer clearly and follow the same grammatical form.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that the government is wasting money on the arts and this money could be better spent elsewhere. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.