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IELTS Writing Samples

IELTS essay samples (writing task 2), report and letter samples (writing task 1) with Band Scores, marked by IELTS teachers, including comments and suggestions on how to increase your score

IELTS essay, topic: The best way to solve environmental problems is to increase the price of fuel (agree/disagree)

This essay topic was seen in a recent IELTS test in Taiwan

Some people believe that the best way to solve environmental problems is to increase the price of fuel.Do you agree or disagree?

Sample Band 8 Essay

Raising the price of car fuel is believed by some people to be an excellent method to solve the growing number of environmental issues. However, I strongly disagree with this idea, as doing so would make life difficult for lower-income households. While making fuel more expensive wouldn’t change the habits of wealthy families, switching to fossil fuel alternatives could prove to be much more beneficial for the environment.

The most compelling reason against raising the cost of fuel is that the upper classes of society will hardly be affected by rising fuel costs, as this only makes up a minor proportion of their expenditure. They will continue to use their personal vehicles as they wish without a thought for the environment or the higher fuel prices, even if their country has state-of-the-art public transportation.

Those who will feel the crunch of this decision are the middle-class and lower-income households, since travelling is a major part of most people’s routine, be it to work, school or shopping. Driving is almost unavoidable in many instances; therefore, raising the price of petrol would only serve to widen the gap between the rich and poor, and serve as an inadvertent form of discrimination.

Another reason why increasing the cost of fuel is far from the best way to deal with environmental pollution is that now there are much more viable alternatives. Due to the rapid advances in technology, scientists and engineers have been able to develop several alternatives to fossil fuel, such as cars powered by electricity or naturally produced biofuel. The move to adopt clean energy sources instead of fossil fuels is a much more promising alternative compared to simply making fuel more expensive.

In conclusion, I believe that governments of the world should invest more time and money in finding alternatives to fossil fuels that are more environmentally friendly, rather than simply raising the cost of petrol.

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IELTS Letter, topic: writing to thank a bus company employee for helping you

The topic of this letter appeared in a recent IELTS exam in Kenya. Below is a sample response that is likely to score Band 8 or above in IELTS.

You lost an item while travelling on a bus. An employee of the bus company assisted you in recovering your lost item. Write a letter to the company manager to thank the employee. In your letter,

– Describe what you lost and how the employee helped you find it
– Say how you felt after recovering it
– Explain why it was important to you

Answer

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to express my gratitude for the kind and prompt assistance shown to me by one of your employees at the Durban Bus Station regarding an issue that I faced after an intercity trip on one of your buses.

About an hour after my trip, I realized that I had absent-mindedly left one of my carry-on bags on the bus. I panicked since that bag contained several confidential business documents. Upon making an enquiry to the station, I was reassured by one of your employees named Julie that they would do everything in their power to locate my missing luggage.

It was an immense relief for me to learn that the bag was found after only a few minutes. The documents in it were prepared for a crucial business meeting, scheduled later in the day. Thanks to the professionalism and courtesy of your employee the meeting was able to go ahead successfully.

Please pass on my sincere appreciation to Julie for making this possible.

Yours faithfully,

Melody Rose

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