IELTS Essays – Band 9

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is likely to score IELTS Band 9.

Set 2 General Training book, Practice Test 9

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Many parents give jobs to their children to do around the house in order to develop their characters and self-sufficiency.
Discuss this idea and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Answer

In many modern day families, it is a common aspect of family life that parents give jobs to their children to do around the house to develop their characters and a sense of self-sufficiency. This aspect can be looked at as having both positive and negative sides.

When parents give their children jobs or chores to do around the house, they make their children understand that they are part of a community. While this community is only within the family’s house, the lessons children learn from carrying out their chores are equally fitting for the global community they live in. Children are taught that they have to integrate into the global community and that in order for this community to work effectively, everyone must carry out their chores.

Furthermore, children learn about the concept of pride, as they are taught to be proud of what they have accomplished. Chores around the house additionally prepare children for living independently later on in life, as they acquire skills that are valuable for everyday life. I, personally, see this approach as very practical; helping my mother with cooking in my childhood and teenage years served me well, and living independently now I don’t have trouble preparing meals for myself and my housemates.

Although there are many supporters of this concept, some parents argue that children should not be given jobs to do around the house. They argue that children should be allowed to be children and not have any duties. In their opinion children should enjoy their childhood and should not have to deal with any of the responsibilities adults have to deal with.

In conclusion, I believe that giving children chores to carry out is a positive aspect of family life, as I think that it helps children to become independent and makes it easier for them to live by themselves later on in life.

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This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is likely to score IELTS Band 9.

Set 2 General Training book, Practice Test 8

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

It seems clear that obesity in today’s society is to some extent due to the availability of fast food.

Should governments place a tax on fast food to reduce the amount of fast food consumed?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Answer

Obesity has become a common problem in western societies and this is partly due to the availability of fast food at low prices. To tackle this problem, it has been suggested that governments should increase the tax on fast foods in order to reduce the amount of pre-cooked meals consumed. I personally believe that this is a sound idea, because especially young people, who have less money, will be discouraged from buying food at quick service restaurants.

The main reason for the high consumption of junk food is that it is a cheap alternative to healthy meals. A salad for example often is twice as expensive as a burger, resulting in more people eating the burger than the salad. As a result, people prepare fewer meals themselves and eat more mass-produced food instead. In my opinion, it should not be possible to sell fast food at a lower price than staple food. By making takeaway meals more expensive than vegetables and fruit, people would change their eating habits, as they would want to save money.

Another way to reduce consumption of fast food would be to prohibit its promotion. A similar approach was taken in terms of advertising cigarettes and one can say that this approach has been successful to some extent. Additionally, commercials for fast food often target young children through offering inducements, such as the toys in the happy meal at McDonalds for example. The children are persuaded to demand a happy meal, yet often do not necessarily want to eat the food contained in it. The only thing they want is the toy. If advertising junk food were forbidden, the number of children consuming pre-cooked meals would be reduced and therefore the number of obese children would decrease as well.

In conclusion, governments should put a tax on fast food to reduce the amount consumed in order to decrease the number of obese people. By placing a tax on fast food and making it more expensive than healthy raw foods, people would began to eat more healthily. If additionally the advertising of quick service restaurants were banned, the number of obese people would decrease even more drastically.

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