IELTS  11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 4 Task 2 Question

Test 4 Task 2 Model Essay by an Expert 

Can money buy happiness? It’s an age-old question, and the answer is yes, up to a point. After that, it depends on how the money is spent. This is true both on an individual level and on a macro level. Countries should focus on being economically successful, so that other types of similarly important progress can be developed.

Economic progress is the most important of all types of progress, since it can ensure that the basic needs of a country’s citizens are met. It is essential that countries have enough economic success to provide its citizens with jobs, shelter and enough to eat. However, this is dependent on there being no corruption at a governmental level and on the money being fairly distributed to all citizens. This can be achieved through measures such as a national minimum wage and tax-free allowances. Thus economic progress is the most important form of progress, but only if the economic growth is allowed to benefit everyone.

Other types of progress are just as important, but entirely dependent on economic growth. For example, it is crucial that a government allows educational progress, by providing free secondary education to all children. They should focus on progress in health, by offering free or affordable healthcare to all citizens. Finally, they should encourage progress in technology progress, and ensure that all individuals in a country can benefit from technological advances. However, for all of this progress to happen, a country must have sufficient money to invest in public services. This revenue is dependent on economic success.

Economic progress is the progress that allows other, equally important societal factors to grow. As long as the government ensures that the successful economy benefits all citizens, by investing in public services, other forms of progress will necessarily follow.

(297 words)

IELTS 11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 4 Task 1 Question

The table below shows the number of visitors to Ashdown Museum during the year before and the year after it was refurbished. The charts show the result of surveys asking visitors how satisfied they were with their visit, during the same two periods.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 4 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert 

The data show the number of visitors to Ashdown Museum in the years before and after refurbishment. It also displays visitors’ level of satisfaction with the museum in the same years.

The number of annual visitors increased dramatically in the year following the museum’s modernisation, with an extra 18,000 visitors compared to the year before the refurbishment. Customer satisfaction also increased drastically after the museum was refurbished, with 35% claiming to be ‘very satisfied’ with the museum, compared to just 15% before the refurbishment.

Similarly, the number of visitors who were ‘satisfied’ with the museum increased significantly after the refurbishment, from 30% to 40%. In line with this trend, dissatisfaction with the museum also decreased post-refurbishment. Before the refurbishment, half of the visitors that year reported feeling either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with the museum. In the year following the refurbishment, this reduced drastically to just one fifth. The percentage of people who did not respond to the survey remained constant at 5% in both years.

In summary, following the refurbishment of the museum, the number of visitors increased and the percentage of satisfied customers rose.

(186 words)

IELTS  11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 3 Task 2 Question

Test 3 Task 2 Model Essay by an Expert 

There are endless reasons why learning a foreign language enhances one’s life. Certainly, the most practical reason is that it allows you to communicate while abroad, but this essay also argues that being bilingual, or even multilingual, has benefits beyond this.

The view that the only reason for learning a second language is to use it while travelling is rather limited. However, this is certainly the most practical and potentially the most important reason for gaining a second language. Not only does speaking a foreign country’s native language make it more convenient when travelling and working there, but it also gives you a unique insight into the culture of that place. It enables you to connect and communicate with local people, and thus have experiences that would be impossible if you were unable to break down the communication barrier.

However, this is by no means the only reason to learn a second language. For one thing, bilingualism has a broad range of psychological benefits. Studies have shown that bilinguals have better multitasking and memory skills, for example, probably because they are used to swapping between two systems of speech, and have to remember a much broader set of grammar rules and vocabulary. Furthermore, learning a language is fun in and of itself. It’s possible to see language-learning as a code-breaking activity, full of logical puzzles and mystery. Translation is also a fascinating and creative activity, in which the translator attempts to capture the spirit of the words in both languages.

Whilst it is fun and enlightening to travel and use one’s second language in its original country by travelling or working abroad, there is a wide range of benefits to learning another language, even if one doesn’t use it in this more practical way.

(294 words)

IELTS 11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 3 Task 1 Question

The graph below shows average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per person in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Portugal between 1967 and 2007.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 3 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert 

The graph displays an average person’s carbon dioxide emissions in several European countries between the years 1967 and 2007.

The United Kingdom (UK) and Sweden show an inverse pattern to Italy and Portugal. Whilst in the UK and Sweden, the average individual’s CO2 emissions decreased in the forty year period displayed, citizens of Italy and Portugal saw a steady increase in emissions. Emissions by Italians and the Portuguese increased at roughly the same rate during this time, although Portuguese emissions remained consistently around 2.5 tonnes lower per person than Italian emissions.

Despite displaying an overall decrease in CO2 emissions per person between 1967 and 2007, people from the United Kingdom remained the highest emitters of CO2. The decrease is very gradual, with a drop of just 2 metric tonnes in 40 years. This is compared to the more drastic decrease of roughly 4 metric tonnes of CO2 for the average Swede.

The Swedish trajectory is the most erratic of the four countries displayed. Rather than a gradual increase or decline, it shows a sharp peak in CO2 emissions in 1977, before a sharp decrease between 1977 and 1987, when the decrease begins to level off. At the end of its decline in 2007, Swedish emissions match those of Portugal at the end of its incline (5.5 metric tonnes).

In summary, two countries experienced a steady incline in individual average carbon emissions, while two experienced a decline: one steady and gradual (the UK) and one erratic and steep (Sweden).

(248 words)

IELTS  11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 2 Task 2 Question

Test 2 Task 2 Model Essay by an Expert 

Hong Kong’s landfill sites are filling up fast. If waste levels continue to increase at the current rate, they will all be full by 2020. In such a small geographical area, recycling is an essential part of solving the problem of waste. This essay explains why a combined approach of mandatory recycling and simplified processes would most effectively incentivise people to recycle their domestic waste.

Nobody enjoys sorting their rubbish, and for this reason, the only way to ensure that everybody recycles their waste is to make it mandatory. Compared to simply chucking everything into one bin, sorting waste is a much more time-consuming and inconvenient process. No matter how much people are educated about the environmental benefits of recycling, a sense of duty to the environment has simply not proved to be enough to encourage people to spend extra time sorting their rubbish. A more drastic measure is required to ensure that everybody fulfils their environmental responsibility: making it illegal not to recycle one’s waste.

However, illegalising non-recycling would not be an effective measure if recycling remained as confusing as it currently is. A recent survey in Hong Kong revealed that 73% of people are unsure about what can and can’t be recycled. According to the survey, the most typical reaction to experiencing such uncertainty was to send the confusing item to landfill. A clearer labelling system on packaging, more consistent rules across districts and public information campaigns, combined with mandatory recycling laws, would motivate and enable people to form the environmentally-friendly habit of recycling their waste.

To summarise, it is evident that laws are necessary to force people to take part in this inconvenient but essential activity. However, for the laws to be effective, the process of recycling should be made simpler, with more clarity about what should be recycled and how.

(304 words)

IELTS 11 Writing Model Essay (Free sample)

Test 2 Task 1 Question

The charts below show the proportions of British students at one university in England who were able to speak other languages in addition to English, in 2000 and 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Test 2 Task 1 Model Essay by an Expert 

The pie charts display the difference between the number of languages spoken by British students at a university in 2000 and 2010. They also display some of the most popular languages spoken as well as English.

At the university documented, more students spoke a language additional to English in 2010 than 2000. In 2000, 80% of students could speak at least one additional language, compared to 90% in 2010. The number of students able to speak more than one other language also increased by 5% from 10% in 2000.

The percentage of students able to speak individual languages shifted between 2000 and 2010. The proportion of students able to speak only German and English remained constant at 10% of students. Those able to speak Spanish or one other language in addition to English increased by 5% over the decade from 2000. In contrast, students able to speak French in addition to English decreased by 5% from 2000 to 2010. It decreased to just 10% of all students in 2010, making it the joint least popular specified language, equal with the percentage of German speakers. Indeed, in 2010, there were more students able to speak Spanish than students able to speak French or German combined.

In summary, the percentage of British students able to speak at least one extra language increased between 2000 and 2010, with the distribution of languages spoken shifting slightly across this time period.

(236 words)