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IELTS Essay: Do prisons work?

December 14, 2020 Pooja Ph.D. CELTA

Writing task 2 : IELTS Essay: Do prisons work?

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
In many places, prisons are overcrowded and expensive for governments to maintain. Yet, when offenders are released, they end up back in prison a short while later.
Do prisons work?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant example from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.

IELTS Essay - Do prisons work? In many places, prisons are overcrowded and expensive for governments to maintain..........

Sample Answer

Imprisonment is one of the most common forms of punishment in several parts of the world. But, how effective is this system? A high percentage of prisoners relapse into crime once they are released into the community. They are imprisoned again and this vicious cycle continues forever. In my view, sentencing criminals to time in prison fails in most cases and in this essay I will explain why.

Firstly, offenders enjoy a comfortable life in prisons. Many of them have access to luxuries such as televisions, mobile phones, free internet and sport facilities etc. In other words, instead of being a place where lawbreakers should learn a life lesson, prisons become holiday camps. If the penal system really expects prisons to act as a deterrent, then I think it should be tougher.

Secondly, I do not accept that all offenders need to be separated from society. Take pickpockets and shoplifters as examples. Keeping these petty criminals in the same cells as rapists, murderers or violent criminals actually worsens the situation. This is because after serving their time in prisons, juvenile and minor offenders often turn into habitual and professional criminals. Sadly, governments and tax payers have to bear the cost of keeping these recidivists (= a criminal who continues to commit crimes even after they have been punished) in jails. I think punishing them through fines, community service or other non-custodial means etc. is a better option.

To conclude, I do understand that criminals who pose a threat to society cannot be allowed to roam freely. For such people, imprisonment is necessary. But, for other offences prison is not the answer. In my view, the severity of the crime committed should be taken into consideration before deciding on the punishment. (290 Words)

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IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

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IELTS Writing Letter: Problem with a neighbour

May 21, 2020 Pooja Ph.D. CELTA

IELTS Writing Letter: Problem with a neighbour

You should spend 20 minutes on this task.
You have a problem with a neighbour.
Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter

Describe the problem

Say how long it has been a problem

Explain what action you would like the neighbour to take

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear ………………..

IELTS Writing Letter Describe the problem with a neighbour say how long it has been a problem what action you would like the neighbour to take

Sample Answer:

Dear Mr Singh,

I am writing to you to see what can be done about the loud noise coming from your flat. It seems that you are renovating your kitchen.

In the evenings we hear a lot of banging, hammering and drilling. Thinking that the problem will be for one or two days only, I kept on ignoring the noise. But, more than 10 days have passed and the amount of noise is increasing day by day. The deafening sounds of hammers and drilling machines are spoiling our evenings. It has become almost impossible for me and my family to do anything in the evening. Kids have their exams in two weeks. Therefore, something must be done to solve this issue.

I understand that your full-time work does not permit you to call the workers during the daytime. I would suggest that you contact a professional builder and take some days off from work. Certainly, an experienced person will be more efficient. Both I and my wife are working and our children are in their schools, so any noise between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm will not affect us.

If you need any assistance in finding a professional builder, I can help you. Please feel free to call me on 0091 788989898.

Hoping that you will take this suggestion into consideration. (221 Words)

Regards,

Lovely Singh

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

IELTS online simulator

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IELTS Writing task 2: Horizontal and vertical cities

May 20, 2020 Pooja Ph.D. CELTA

IELTS Writing task 2: Horizontal and vertical cities

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Some people believe that it is better to live and work in vertical cities. Others, however, think that horizontal cities are better for living and working.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant example from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.

IELTS Writing Task Horizontal and vertical cities With industrialization came urbanisation meaning the formation and development of Metropolitan cities.

Sample Answer

With industrialization came urbanisation meaning the formation and development of Metropolitan cities. These mega cities tended to grow at rapid paces, sometimes vertically and sometimes horizontally. Depending on the authorities and the level of development at the time, there developed vast differences between the two.

The first type of city, the horizontal city, was usually found under rich and liberal governments housing individual cottages with wide lanes and private gardens. Today these cities, also referred to as garden cities, are spread out on a vast area of land usually in sparsely populated expanses. Living and working in such a city would definitely be a pleasure, although the real estate prices in such locations tend to be unusually high. The drawbacks would mainly be regarding the area of natural habitation which constantly needs to be cleared in order to maintain the pace of development.

The other type of city that is the vertical city is more commonplace nowadays. The origin of most of these cities was due to the unfettered growth of population and lack of land for further development, which forced people to move skyward. Here, work is easily available and property prices tend to be much more affordable as compared to the horizontal cities. Although the main problems with these cities include sound nuisance, garbage management, water shortages and a host of other problems, land is not an issue. These urban spaces not only offer modern and sustainable living but also provide room for corporate development.

To give my opinion as a summary, I would state that looking at today’s advancements and weighing the pros and cons of both lifestyle choices, horizontal cities sound very appealing but are not likely to last for very long. In contrast, vertical cities are by far more economical and sustainable. I believe that vertical cities are the way forward.

Feel free to call for suggestions and queries.

IELTS Band 7 Dehradun
Near Ballupur Chowk, Dehradun

email: info at ieltsband7.com

IELTS online simulator

IELTS BAND 7 Home page

IELTS Essay: Computers will be more intelligent than human beings

May 11, 2020 IELTS Research

WRITING TASK 2 Computers will be more intelligent than human beings

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some scientists believe that very soon computers will be more intelligent than human beings. Some people think that this will be a positive development, while others worry it will have negative effects.

What are your opinions on this?

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

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer:

Human civilization has developed at a staggering pace in the last century. We went from not having sliced bread to being on the path to having supercomputers more powerful than we can comprehend. There is indeed a common presumptuous notion out there; that one-day computers might become ‘more intelligent than human beings’.

The amount of ignorance this specific thought conveys leaves me quite inarticulate. Firstly, computers are digital, brains are analogue. There is no conceivable way to compare these two. Computers are highly logical machines designed to perform tasks; humans are essentially a tangled mass of neurons behaving in an unpredictable manner, which births thoughts, emotions and ideas. Their core functions are polar opposites.

The issue that must be addressed is the highly misdirecting role of movies and entertainment media in presenting Artificial Intelligence as ‘self-sufficient’ and ‘intelligent’ in the manner of independent thought processing. One cannot press this enough; but machines will never aim for world domination. They have been created for one purpose and one purpose only, to aid humanity.

The world’s fastest computer averages out at 200 petaflops, the human brain has been estimated to run at one exaflop. The difference between them is akin to the earth and sky. Nonetheless, I do not doubt the gap will be closed within the next decade. However, this will just mean that supercomputers will be more efficient at the analysis tasks they perform, this will not mean that they will spontaneously decide to sprout a conscience and destroy the world in the blink of an eye. This idea is so ridiculous it has passed the point of comedic hilarity into plain oblivion and beyond even idiosyncrasy.

I refuse to even acknowledge such a possibility. Computers becoming more efficient than human processing power would be a leap in the fields of data analysis, weather prediction, space calculation, molecular modeling, natural resource exploration, etc. There is absolutely no cause for worry, fear or panic. Only further awareness on the true nature of computers and the fictionality of popular media tropes.

In conclusion, it is inevitable that computers will become more efficient. There are very little drawbacks to this save for initial job losses, the positives outweigh the negatives in all formulate-able aspects.

Staggering	very shocking and surprising
Comprehend	to understand something completely
Presumptuous	Showing little respect for others by doing things they have no right to do
Notion	a belief or idea
Inarticulate	unable to express feelings or ideas clearly, or expressed in a way that is difficult to understand
Conceivable	possible to imagine or to believe
Misdirecting	to use something in a way that is not right or legal
Petaflops	a unit of computing speed equal to one thousand million million (10¹⁵) floating-point operations per second.
Exaflop	a billion billion calculations per second (10¹⁸)
Comedic	relating to or involving comedy
Hilarity	a situation in which people laugh very loudly and think something is very funny
Oblivion	the state of being completely forgotten
Idiosyncrasy	a strange or unusual habit, way of behaving, or feature that someone or something has
Media tropes	something such as an idea, phrase, or image that is often used by the media
Fictionality	the quality of being fictional (= imaginary)
Inevitable	Certain to happen