Some people believe that the best way of learning about life is by listening to the advice of family and friends. Other people believe that the best way of learning about life is through personal experience. Compare the advantages of these two different ways of learning about life. Which do you think is preferable?
Sample Response
From my everyday experience and observation, I believe thatI can stand that the best way of learning about life is through personal experience. However, some people think that it is wiser to learn about life bythrough listening to the advice of family and friends. It does not mean I totally disagree with this way of learning. Moreover, I think that it is wise for a person to take an intermediate position because each of these ways has its own advantages. BelowBellow, I will give my reasons to support my point of view.
On the one handside, learning through one’s personal experience brings many benefits. First of all, scientists say that personal experience has a greater impact on a person. I have to agree with this. Take, for example, children. They will not believe their parents when they say thatbelieve their parents that something can hurt them until they try it and confirm it for themselvesmake sure of it. Furthermore, most likely, they will remember this experience longer. SecondlySecond of all, people learn how to analyze their mistakes, drawmake conclusions and try to avoid them next timeand next time try to avoid them. So, I think this is valuable learningit is a great experience that makes people stronger, more self-confident and persistent. They gain more knowledge and experience that will be very helpful and valuable in the future.
On the other handside, listening to the advice of family and friends also brings many benefitsbrings many benefits too. Parents patiently pass downParents with great patience pass down their knowledge and experience to their children. Parents teach their children all they knowThey teach them all they know, and they want their children not to make the same mistakes. In addition to those practical benefits, learning from others’ advicesomeone’s advice is painless. For example, parents nowadays very often talk to their children about drugs. I think it is a clear case in whicha great example of when one should not try drugs in order to gain new experience. I think it is a case when children must trust their parents.
To sum up, I think it is wise to combine both of these ways of learningboth of these ways to learn and try to analyze personal mistakes as well as those of otherspersonal mistakes as well as not personal. Together,I think together; they can greatly simplify one’s life and shorten the path to successmake the way to success shorter.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response’s strongest feature is its clear, balanced comparison, with relevant explanations and examples for learning through experience and through advice. Its main limitation is imprecise language and an initially shifting preference, although the conclusion ultimately makes the combined position clear. The highest-priority improvement is to state that nuanced position consistently from the introduction and express supporting points with more natural, precise phrasing.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
Both methods are compared through relevant, developed advantages, and the conclusion gives a clear qualified preference for combining them.
State the combined preference consistently from the introduction and deepen the comparison between the two methods.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response progresses logically through distinct viewpoints, with clear paragraphing and generally effective linking.
Use a less formulaic range of transitions and connect comparisons more directly across the two body paragraphs.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is sufficiently varied for the topic, but several inaccurate choices and collocations reduce precision.
Replace awkward expressions such as “make conclusions” and “not personal” with natural, context-specific wording.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A useful range of sentence forms is attempted, and meaning remains clear despite recurring errors in structures and punctuation.
Improve control of verb complements, pronoun reference, and clause punctuation in complex sentences.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people believe that the best way of learning about life is by listening to the advice of family and friends. Other people believe that the best way of learning about life is through personal experience. Compare the advantages of these two different ways of learning about life. Which do you think is preferable?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.