Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer. What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Sample Response
The main function of a university is debatable. Some people believe that it is essentialnecessarily important for a university to provideconvey knowledge and skills to graduates thatwhich are relevant to their work field later. However, others argue that university should give access to knowledge for its own sakechoice without regarding the impact on employersemployer later. Personally, I believe that the essential role of a university is to provide students with basic knowledge and skills for their future career which will be elaborated throughtrough the following paragraphs.
To begin with, a university is responsible for sharing knowledgeresponsible to share knowledge to graduates which are relevant to the subject and their career later. Students who decide to be nurses and enrol in a nursing programmenurse academy should be given extensive knowledgeshould be imposed abundant knowledge about nursing. This, somehow, will enhance their insight about nursing and make them understand about disease and proper treatment. For example, providing general knowledge about the rampant virus of Ebola can establish students' idea on how to recognise the symptoms of Ebola and how to ensure the proper treatment of the patients.
Furthermore, a university also immensely needs to boost graduates' skillsgraduates skill that will be matched with their future job. Knowledge must be accomplished by related skills to perform a better action in workplaces. Some universities support their graduates by various skills through various ways. One example is a university internshipFor instance is university internship. A dentist student cannot be a good dentist if he is just supplied by knowledge about dental problems. Yet, he needs to gain skills of how to identify and treat dental problemshow to identify and recovery dental problem through direct practice in the internship. While doing practice, he will receive several skills of how to administer treatment on dental problem supporting his future career after graduation.
All in all, basic knowledge and skills should be granted to graduates to support their activity in their workplaces.
Why this response received Band 6.0
The essay states a clear view of the university's practical role and supports it with relevant nursing and dentistry examples, while its paragraphing provides an understandable progression. The main limitation is that the alternative purpose of pursuing knowledge for its own sake receives almost no development, and frequent language inaccuracies weaken clarity. Add a distinct paragraph evaluating that view before explaining why workplace preparation remains the stronger priority.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay gives a clear opinion that universities should prepare students for work, but it gives very little attention to the opposing view about knowledge for its own sake.
Dedicate one body paragraph to the alternative function of universities before explaining why employment preparation should be the main function.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response has clear paragraphing and basic progression, but examples sometimes repeat the same idea and links are formulaic.
Make each body paragraph advance a different reason and use topic sentences that connect directly to the main function of a university.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is sufficient for the topic, but word choice is often inaccurate or unnatural, especially around education and employment.
Use precise academic phrases such as provide relevant knowledge, practical skills, clinical practice, and future employment.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Frequent errors in relative clauses, articles, verb forms, and noun phrases affect accuracy, although the overall message remains mostly clear.
Review each complex sentence for the correct subject, verb, and object pattern before moving to the next idea.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer. What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.