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ECPE Writing - Sample Article (Banning Cars from the City)

This is the fourth sample article that conforms to the writing section requirements of the ECPE (Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English) of the University of Michigan.  My first post to deal with articles , explains what needs to be present in the piece of writing candidates compose. Examiners are looking for articles that elaborate on ideas and have solid arguments; are well organized; make use of a wide lexical and grammatical range; have an original ring to them (in other words,

C2 Sample Essay 15 (National Examinations)

If you haven't already done so, before you read this sample essay please read

What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog?


Sample C2 level Essay

The following is a sample essay based on the Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (ECPE) writing section. The question can be found on page 152 of the ECPE Book 1 Practice Examinations textbook published by the Hellenic American Union.




 
National examinations at the end of high school force students to study very hard, but are they actually learning or just memorizing? Give your opinion about this practice and its outcome.


          Educating children and teenagers in our day and age is one of the most vital things needed for a successful career in the future, which is why many experts disagree as to what the structure of the educational system should be. More specifically, it is the methods of assessment which generate a great deal of heated debate as many claim that high school exams at the end of one’s academic career  merely force students to memorize information and not learn it. It is my view, however, that such exams are beneficial in the long run.

          To begin with, national exams allow students to review and synthesize facts anew. The point of major exams in fact is to make students see the whole picture, not just a chapter or unit of information. For instance, students who learn about the French Revolution one year and study the American Revolution or the Industrial Revolution in the next are able to compare and contrast these separate historical eras and thus have a clearer picture of the 18th and 19th centuries as a whole when they revise for these finals. Instead of seeing them as separate events, it is more apt to view them as part of a continuum, which is what the study of history should make us see.

          A further reason why such exams help students learn better is that school is not only meant to teach you facts, but to form you as a person as well. Studying for national exams is arduous work which places you under stress. Life is no different, and neither are employers who will set difficult tasks with impossible deadlines. Were a student to learn to discipline themselves to work hard and weather such taxing moments, they would gain the self-confidence and experience necessary for tertiary education and the professional world.

          There are, nevertheless, those who rightly point out that examinations like these are simply exercises in rote learning and that students forget the majority of things they memorized if not immediately, then in a few years at least. What such people tend to forget, however, is that the mind is a tool which needs to be trained like any other muscle. If anything, such exams train children’s minds to remember and this too will serve them in the future, and although a considerable amount of what they learn will be forgotten, whatever matters to them the most will not be erased from their minds.

          All things considered, memorizing information for national exams at the end of senior year is a good way to prepare students for difficult undertakings in later life and widens their scope as regards any given subject they are tested on. Regardless of what is remembered or forgotten, it is a valid way to test one’s ability to manage time, handle pressure, train the mind and proves a person’s determination to succeed and dedication to effort.


Word count: approx. 480 words


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