Month: September 2016

IELTS Essay Sample Answer # Living Alone

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.
In some countries, people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or negative development? Answer in at least 250 words

The question above is majorly for people preparing for IELTS academic, however you can treat it as a sample answer for essay. Now, the first thing that you need to keep in mind while answering this question is that you have got 40 minutes and in these 40  minutes you need to put up your best show.

No matter how well you know the topic, but simply starting to write the essay will surely land you up in trouble. So, start with taking notes, figure out the points you will bring up in the essay, what will be the flow of those points, what kind of vocabulary you are going to use and the kind of phrases you want to use. When you are clear on these things, move on with writing the essay.

POINTS:

  1. People who choose to live alone become more independent and self-reliant.
  2. Living alone however, can increase the housing demand.
  3. There are chances of people feeling isolated, lonely and feel more stressed up.
  4. Increase in the pricing of houses.
SAMPLE ANSWER

The last decade has seen the rise in people who live alone, particularly in large cities in developed world. In my opinion, this trend can have both positive and negative consequences in equal measure.

The rise in one-person households has some great positive effects for both personal and broader economic reasons. On an individual level, people who choose to live alone tend to become more independent and self-reliant than those who live with their family members. Certain things like paying electricity bills, managing budget, cleaning and taking care of oneself can be learnt only when you have to live alone. From an economic perspective, the trend towards living alone will result in a greater demand of housing, leading the construction industry, estate agents and other companies that rely on homeowners to buy their products or services.

However, there are certain negative impacts as well of living alone. Firstly, people living alone often get surrounded by increased feelings of lonliness, isolation and worry. Most people miss out on the emotional support that only family and friends can provide. Secondly, with increase in the demand for housing, there will be a rise in the property prices and rents. While this may benefit some businessmen, for the general population, this is an issue that might hinder their living alone decision.

In conclusion, the increase in one-person households will have both beneficial and detrimental effects on the individuals and on the economy. (238 words)

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IELTS Speaking # Work And You

We all work for our living and it could be anything. Let us today have a look at some questions that figure out the relation between work and you.

What do you do for living?

Professionally, I am a software engineer but I also work as a content writer for various websites.

Describe your workstyle.

I really don’t have a very specific work style. On weekdays, I work for living on and during weekends I work for myself. I love travelling and writing, so during weekends I pursue my passion.

What are your responsibilities at work.

I am a data analyst in the project that I am working on. My task is to ensure that accurate data comes to the final data ware house so that the next team, the one that does reporting gets clean and right data. As a travel blogger, I am responsible for writing post that tells the reader everything about the place and the people and the culture.

How do you handle pressure at your workplace?

Well, I usually do a physical exercise whenever pressure comes in. It could be either dancing or running. But, when I am not able to do either of these, I settle for either writing or listening to music.

How many hours do you work each day?

I work 9 hours each day, which includes a break of 2 hours.

How did you get this job?

Well, I am done my Bachelors in technology in Information Technology. So, during the last year, lot of companies came in for campus recruitment and I got selected at Infosys.

Work and you

Do you enjoy your work?

Oh! Yes I do. It is lot of fun interacting with so many people and grilling each other to get to the best option available and then we can always go out and play and be part of lot of things I never thought I could be.

What do you dislike about your work?

The only think that I really don’t like about being a software engineer is that apart from being a great job, it is not something very close to my heart. At hear, I am a writer, traveler and a reader. And I would definitely would want to do something near to it.

Describe your career goals.

To be very frank, I would say I don’t have any definite career goals as such. I just want to follow what steve jobs said, ” Do what you  love and love what you do”. I really want to be someone who wakes up every morning feeling great about the day and sleeping at night feeling satisfied with the work that I have done.

Do you prefer to work alone or on a team?

I think both work fine for me. As a software engineer, it is always a great idea to start off the work as a team because you get to know lot of ideas that you can work upon. Different approaches that could be followed and simpler ways by which the task could be done. After that, I think it is good to work alone and bring in your creativity to the work.

Do you think team work is important?

Definitely yes. When you are working on a big project or even a small task, the creativity that team work brings along, can never be replaced by what an individual can do. Because, when one person does the same thing, there are more chances of bugs, but when an entire team does it, you can find lot of new aspects of the work, which might have remained hidden.

If you could change your job or profession, what would you do?

I would definitely become a professional travel blogger and travel around the world, write about it, make videos and interact with people, get to know about cultures and may be just show everyone what truly the world holds. After this, may be I would open a company that gives equal education rights to everyone, because I think education is something very important for everyone.

Do you think your way of work will change in future?

I hope so. Because, I wish to  be able to open my own company and do work for myself, not only on weekends but everyday.

Describe the process of getting a job in your country.

For getting a job in my country, it is very important that you have done some sort of graduation or post graduation. Most of the companies look out for the college degrees and then grant the job. One can even clear different exams held at national level to land up an exciting job, but having a degree is a must. But, yes if one wants to do the unconventional jobs, like photography or writing, I think what matters is your work and not a degree.

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IELTS Essay # Poor Urban Life

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.
More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a better life, and life in cities can be extremely difficult.
Discuss some of the problems people living in cities face. How can government make urban life better for people?
You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer One:

This is an academic writing essay and when it comes to academic part of IELTS, you are lot more judged on your vocabulary, the kind of sentences you make, the relation that you are able to maintain between the paragraphs and then are you able to answer the question properly. So, keeping in mind all of these things, the first thing you should do before you start writing the essay and frame sentence and all of that, think about the points. This is a discuss type of an essay, so you are not required to just give the advantages, disadvantages and then neither are you supposed to favor anything. You need to merely discuss i.e. bring in the points that are possible, without bending down to either of the points.

Now, let us have a look at the points that could be framed for this essay. Make sure, you take 10 minutes or so to frame points Think about them, clearly and be sure of what you will be saying when you start framing sentences.

  1. Cost of living is much higher than in a small town or village.
  2. There are higher rates of crime in urban areas when compared to the rural ones.
  3. Pollution is a major problem in cities and often life in cities could be unhealthy and stressful.
  4. Government should invest in building affordable housing to reduce the cost of living.
  5. Proper strategy to ensure that traffic is under control.
  6. Development of provincial towns to ensure that there is less of pressure in major cities.

Now, once the points have been thought of, the next step is to move towards writing the essay. The academic essay should consist of at least 4 paragraphs. Out of these four, the first two are the opening and the ending while the other two are the ones in which the major content is put.(302 Words)

Sample Answer Two

Cities are where people dream. However, there could be certain drawbacks of living in large metropolis. In my opinion, government has a major role to play in improving the lifestyle at cities for the average inhabitant.

The main issue for people living in cities is the cost of living. Inhabitants of cities have to pay higher prices for housing, transport and even food. The other major problem with living in urban areas is the high rate of crime when compared to rural locations. Not only crime, there is an increased poverty leading to depression and high stress level. Furthermore, the air qualities in cities is often poor due to the pollution from traffic, and the streets are over crowded.

However, there are various steps that the government should take to tackle these problems. Firstly, investment in building affordable or social housing to reduce the cost of living. People living in cities have to live in localities that are not only unsafe but even unhealthy for living. Secondly, politicians should use their power to ban vehicles in cities and promote use of cleaner public transport. This will reduce both air pollution and traffic congestion. In Delhi, for example, the introduction of odd-even rule, i.e. cars with odd serial numbers can travel on certain days while even on others has helped to curb the traffic problem. A third option would be to develop provincial towns in rural areas, by moving industry and jobs to those regions, in order to reduce the pressure on major cities.

In conclusion, an unchecked migration of people from towns to cities is likely to increase pressure on major cities. Governments can certainly implement a range of measures to enhance the quality of life for all residents. (298 Words)

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IELTS Cue Card # Admire

Describe a person, much older than you, whom you admire:
You should say –

  • Who the person is?
  • How you know the person?
  • How this person has influenced you?
  • Why you admire this person?
Sample Answer – One

It has been a pleasure to be able to meet so many great people around. Right from work to school to the place where I live. There have been people who have been successful in the eyes of others and then the ones who were right for themselves. But, the one person who I admire is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Although, I have never met him in person, but I know about him from the books and documentaries made on him.

There is something about Steve Jobs that is so amazing that one could just be spell bound by him. From his story to the way he talks and the attitude that he carries, it is almost amazing. And the one thing that I really like about him is that was a born fighter. He never gave up and it is so amazing.

Anyone else in his shoes, would have easily quit when he was kicked out of his company but getting kicked out of his company did not stopped Steve Jobs, he went out and tried his fortune in other ventures and ultimately came back to Apple and then brought back Apple to what it is now. A company we look forward to. A company with principles that are so inspiring. He in so many ways has taught our generation how to lead life.

Sample Answer – Two

There have been several people who have influenced me in so many ways. But, the one person I think who actually brought about a change in the way I think is my father. There is nothing particular as to why I admire him but there are so many things that make me fond of him.

I have never seen a man more hardworking and selfless than him. He would go out and do things right and that is what he has taught us. Starting from a broken family to unfaithful relationships to broken trust to so much more. Being born in a poor family and then rising to do what he has actually done, I think it is truly amazing. There are others like Bill Gates, Sachin Bansal and Indira Nooyi who people think to be successful and yes they are but sometimes I believe had my father also got the right environment, where people would have pushed him forward rather than backward, he might also have had a bungalow near the beach.

But, inspite of that, in spite of the fact that his family has always been against him and there have so many struggles, the one thing that I love and admire about my father is that he has always been very positive. Positive about the things around him, about his life and his future which I believe is truly amazing.

 

Tips:

There are so many people we come across, so many of them from whom we learn things and then there are people whom we admire. In today’s cue card, talk about someone who you admire.

You can spend 2-3 minutes figuring out the points that you are going to say. Once you are ready, go on and hit the target. While practicing make sure that you don’t give up on the first attempt, you need to try as many times as you can, record it and then evaluate yourself. Make sure your last attempt is the your best one.

Free IELTS Latest cue card

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