IELTS Aid (Practice Essays)

My Sample: Television shows and computer games that show violence are thought to have negative influences on many viewers’ behavior while the opposite opinion is believed by others. They say that there are other elements that can affect a person’s actions. This essay will explain the author's perspectives on how both these points are correct. According to many studies, there is a connection between what a person watches and how he acts. This reaction can be compared to how food affects our mood. Television shows and digital games can directly stimulate the brain by producing certain chemicals that alter the mood of an individual watching a violent show or playing an aggressive game. Since science backs up the idea that these kinds of entertainments can impact our behavior, there is no question that this is true and highly agreeable. Try enjoyable, flexible teaching CPD courses from FutureLearn. Start learning for free. Although there is definite evidence for its influen...

Sample: A nation’s government allocates budget to different sectors for valuable economic projects. One such sector is space exploration. However, is it necessary to spend billions of money on this or should governments use the money in more meaningful plans? This essay will feature the viewpoints of the writer regarding this matter. The study of space and what lies beyond it has always been one of the most interesting sciences. Many developed countries race their way to the top to unlock mysteries and to discover new things outside our planet. The thrill of exploring the unknown has been the primary reason why humans still take the risk of voyaging the stars. Scientists and even hobbyists believe that studying astronomy can greatly help us not only in understanding the different weather patterns but also finding solutions to problems such as global warming and others. Despite its almost immeasurable cost, more and more countries join the bandwagon by creating their own space agenc...

More and more people believe that smart individuals are more likely to be successful. In contrast, some people say that a person’s achievements cannot be the only factor to consider to see his or her intellect. This essay will explain that intelligence can be objective and subjective therefore there are many ways on how it can be gauged. It has been long believed that intelligence is the ability of a person to attain high grades in school. This makes intelligence objective. In many educational institutions, educators and students often think highly of exceptional individuals who perform well academically. They often put these special students on a pedestal and give them pressure by saying their expectations to them. Many teachers even provide their recommendations for these students to certain companies to help them land a job easily. A good job means a successful life. This may sound unfair to many but this is still practiced in schools all over the world. But are all of them succes...

Sample essay: More and more university students these days prefer to study overseas. This is contrary to the more traditional approach of finishing school in your home county that was popular a long time ago. This development in education has opened many doors to the students not only personally but also professionally. This essay will explain the reasons why the gains far exceed the drawbacks. Although school fees are definitely more expensive, many believe that the promise of a better life can only be attained when a person starts a new life in another country. Many third-world countries like the Philippines suffer from a social issue called “brain drain”. This is the phenomenon where professional workers leave their own countries for better opportunities abroad. This problem has the tendency to get bigger if studying in universities abroad becomes the norm. The lack of a highly-qualified professional workforce can affect a country negatively in many ways. On the contrary, ...

Sample report: The bar chart compares a country’s total export earnings in billion dollars in five different products in 2015 and 2016. The table reveals how each products’ value in percentage changed in those two years. Overall, the first graph presents that the country’s earnings in exported products rose in 2016 except for gems and jewelry. The table reveals though that four out of five categories grew in percentage value by 2016. From the bar graph, during both years, petroleum products sold more than the other categories; while textiles ranked the lowest. A considerable climb in earnings can be noticed for the majority of the products especially with textiles which jumped from a little over 25 billion dollars to about 31 billion. In contrast, gems and jewelry had a loss of around 3 billion dollars from its initial collection of approximately 43 billion. Agricultural products showed almost no change in both years with roughly 30 billion dollars. As for the ta...

This blog will explain how to achieve a good score in one of the band descriptors in the first IELTS Academic Writing task. According to the public band descriptor, a high score is given if: the output fully satisfies all the requirements of the task; clearly presents a fully developed response (Band 9)  covers all requirements of the task sufficiently; presents, highlights and illustrates key features/bullet points clearly and appropriately (Band 8)  covers the requirements of the task; presents a clear overview of main trends, differences or stages ; clearly presents and highlights key features/bullet points but could be more fully extended (Band 7) How to get your desired band score? Follow the instructions in the task carefully.  Here's a step-by-step guide. 1. You must paraphrase the given topic sentence. Don't forget that using the same words from the task topic is not allowed. 2. SUMMARISE the information by selecting and reporting the main fe...

Sample essay: Many people from different walks of life are opting to reside in foreign countries for various reasons. This, however, often results to issues that are inevitable but are not severe. What kinds of problems arise when immigrating to another country? Perhaps one of the biggest barrier to be considered is language. Adapting to the culture of an unknown country is challenging when an immigrant does not have enough abilities to communicate with locals. As a result, newcomers are limited to using simple words and gestures. This can be a frustrating daily routine. Immigrants then have no other choice but to learn a new language. Although, it is important to point out that this is a foreseeable dilemma that can be addressed and therefore is not considered severe.   Another issue related to migration is adaptation. Ideally, people prefer to mingle with those they easily identify with. That is, we create a small community that follows and accepts the same beli...

Sample: The visual data illustrates the population of British males and females pursuing graduate studies full time and part time in three school years. From the graph, it can be seen that there are more people who pursue further education partly and between genders, more men enroll in graduate schools. Looking at the data, a growth in the number of full time students in both genders can be noted. It is important to highlight though that more women showed interest in regular graduate studies from 1980/81 and 1990/91. However, in the year 1990/91, the quantity of male students was on the same level as women at roughly 200 thousands. As for irregular students, different trends can be seen for both genders. For men, a downward line can be noted. In 1970/71, an approximate 1000 men attended graduate studies before it descended value to a little over 800 in 1980/81 and 1990/91. On the other hand, women climbed from an estimated 700 thousands in the first year to 1200 in th...

Sample essay: The advent of technology has made it possible for most workers to opt to work as freelancers than to be employed in a company or organization. This essay will discuss the reasons for this growing trend and its possible disadvantages. More and more working individuals are getting attracted to work for themselves due to one big reason – convenience. Self-employment offers benefits like flexible working hours, reduced risk for burnout from shorter working time, and of course, fast and high payment. Freelancers, depending on their skills and experience, can demand for a certain wage per work to their customers. Moreover, due to the nature of their job, tasks can be done quickly and easily. This is one reason why some companies nowadays prefer hiring freelance workers. Although the benefits of this work seem to be endless, this type of work also has drawbacks. One is the uncertainty of work availability. Since many young professionals prefer to work on their ...

Sample Response: The visual data illustrates the blueprint of a public park called Grange Park before and now. It can be noticed that the park’s overall design has changed drastically over the years. In 1920, the year when the park, Grange Park featured a few amenities like a stage for musicians located on the western area, a fountain in the middle, a small pond for water plants on the far right, and a glasshouse on the lower east side. The park also had seats and rose gardens located all around the park’s area. As time passed, the park went through a lot of renovations. Now, new facilities were added and some of the old features, like the glasshouse, were completely removed. The pond was replaced with a dedicated children’s play area and a café right beside it. Only one water feature can be seen on the extreme lower right side. The center of the park is now a rose garden with seats surrounding it. The former stage is now an ampitheathre for concerts. It is importa...

It has been a long time since I posted here. I was busy doing other stuff that I did not have enough time to do some practices. However, now I can concentrate on practicing again. Anyway, here's the third installation of the 13th Cambridge IELTS textbook. Maybe some of you already have a copy of this since I have been seeing a lot of pdf copies of this new book on the internet lately. But for those of you who do not have access to this pdf, here it is. You can check my other posts for some of the other test questions from this book, too. Well, if you look at the questions well, the first part is already a bit challenging to answer since it is considered somewhat a "taboo" to talk about money. On the other hand, we must also consider that the questions do not entirely ask about how you manage your money. Anyway, good luck! Again, I do recommend that you practice every day as much as possible and do try to ask someone's assistance. You need another person to tel...

Sample essay: Education is, without question, one of the highly sought after rights we have. Since time immemorial, we have given it such value that questions whether it should start at home or at school became one of the most controversial. This essay will discuss the benefits of children learning at home and at school and some of my opinions regarding this matter. In the earlier times and until now, many of us believe that learning starts at home and the children’s first teachers are always their parents. Being the sole authorities at home, parents can provide focused learning to their children. This kind of strict environment is something that cannot be attained when studying at school wherein attention of the teacher is divided to almost all students. Moreover, most children can learn different life values that they can bring to use until they grow up. Such values include trust, loyalty, and kindness to name a few. Although learning at home provides a lot of reward...

SECTION 4:     QUESTIONS 31 - 40 Questions 31 - 32  Complete the following sentences. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. 31    The speaker identifies the following two differences between being a high school student and a university student: • the academic expectations of tutors and lecturers are.............................................. • students must take responsibility for their own learning. 32.    The speaker aims to get students to recognise exam stress and the way it can affect …………………………………………………………………………………………….. Questions 33-36  Complete the table below USE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each  answer.  QUESTIONS 37-40  Complete the following notes. USE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.  37     Time needed to study effectively will ........................................... according to individuals.  38     Time Management i...

SECTION 2:    QUESTIONS 11-20 Questions 11-16  Complete the table below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer. Questions 17-20 Match the names of the buildings with the letters on the map below. 17    The Library ................            18    Administration Building        ................ 19    Bookshop                     ………… 20    International Student Advisor ………….

Sample: Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing this letter as a response to the post I have read in your newspaper about awarding an exceptional individual who has given a great deal of help and support to our community. With this in mind, I believe I know a person who deserves to be recognized for her work. I am talking about none other than Ms. Natalia River, the Guidance Counselor of Brookside High School. As a Guidance Counselor to the youth in our community, I strongly think she has been doing her best to be the role model for not only the youngsters in our community but also the adults. Recently, she has launched an outreach program for our out-of-school youth. This program aims for these individuals to learn a technical skill for free. One of the offered courses here is web designing. These students, after finishing the course, would be able to utilize this newly-learned skill to be able to apply to companies in need of this technical comput...

Write about the following topic. The internet has greatly increased our access to information. To what extent do you think this is a good thing? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.  You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Sample: The world has never been more informed because of the internet. The ability to access almost all kinds of information has become easier and faster. However, I do believe that there are also consequences and all good things come at a price. In this essay, I will be enumerating some of the negative effects we have to consider. People from different ages use the internet for the purpose of research and learning. Free tutorials of every kind of skill can be found and studied via the internet. This allows individuals who find it hard to enroll in an institution, due to different consequences, study and improve a skill they have been wanting to develop at the comforts of their...

Sample: Dear James, Thank you for looking after my house while I'm away. I can't tell you how happy I was when you said you'll do it. Anyway, I have left the house key under the rug of the rocking chair on the porch. Please be careful not to misplace this because I have no spare. The plants need not be watered too often so you don't have to worry about that. For my cat, Lucy, she must be fed at least twice a day. Her food is stored under the sink and her bowl is just under the table in the kitchen. She enjoys the company of other people so I think you don't have to be afraid of her unless you have allergies. As for the mail, leave them beside the telephone in the living room. If there are emergencies of some sort, don't hesitate to contact me thru email. I really can't thank you enough for doing me this huge favor. See you after 2 weeks. Word Count: 168

Sample: It has been mentioned by a number of people that computers by far, are the most essential and useful tool that was invented in the last century. This essay will focus on my complete agreement to this statement as well as some supporting examples. A world without computers is highly unimaginable. We know all too well that almost all people in the world, from different walks of life, use a computer for purposes like studying, entertainment and work. By using such device, individuals can juggle their tasks and time more effectively and productively. Students can try and get information faster on the internet than browsing each and every book they can get their hands on in a library. Plus, through the use of computers and the internet, distance learning has become one way for us to learn new things on our own time and convenience. This is especially helpful for those students and workers who both work and study at the same time. With this new platform, it is truly appropri...

Sample essay: The visual data presents the forested areas of six regions around the world in millions of hectares from 1990 to 2005. Overall, it can be seen that most of the woodlands have decreased in the area size and that Europe and Oceania have the widest and smallest measurement. To explain in detail, Africa, Oceania, and South America's forests have seen a noticeable decline in the total number of the area covered with trees in 2005. Surprisingly, an opposite trend can be noted in Asia and Europe. In the past years, these countries have seen a gradual increase in the size of their forests from 576 to 584 (in millions of hectares) in Asia and 989 to 1001 in Europe. It should also be mentioned that one area, North America, despite a reduction of 3 million hectares from 1990 to 2000, maintained its forested area size to 705 million hectares in 2005, respectively. Word Count: 152

When studying a language, we often have a lot of practices to improve our writing and speaking skills. However, for listening, it is often overlooked and sometimes, ignored. Unfortunately, most people do not realize that Listening is the most crucial skill to develop. Without this skill, a student will not be able to comprehend well, and definitely, won't be able to identify sounds which is important when practicing pronunciation. In my years as an English as a Second language teacher, I find it hard to teach this skill mostly because there are no shortcuts for this. The key is practice. One of my challenges is to teach this skill in as much fun as possible for students of varying age range and English levels. One effective technique for me is VIDEO WATCHING . The effectivity of any activity depends on the teacher's preparation.  To do this, I often look for a video online (TED videos are the most common) that is in line with my student's interest. First, I inform m...