Skip to main content

Hot Off The Press

C2 Sample Essay 39 (School or family shapes one's personality)

In the minds of ESL exam candidates, e ssay writing is one of the most daunting tasks they are required to complete, regardless of the level of the exam, the administering body or the ease with which they themselves use the language. The same applies to students who are asked to write an essay by their teachers at school.  In the previous sample essays posted on the blog, the main point I stress is the need to become acquainted with this form of writing (as opposed to writing a letter, review or report, for instance), to get a feel of what authorial voice is and how to organize and progressively express the arguments you wish to make in a coherent manner.  Unfortunately, the best way to prepare for exam writing or learn how to write good essays for school is to read as many essays from as many sources as possible, then write as

IELTS Academic Task 1 Report 5 (Graph - News Sources)

This is the fifth sample report (Task 1) which follows IELTS guidelines for the Writing section of the Academic Module. 

The graph in this case deals with where people get their news from. 


The sample written is much longer than what a candidate would have time to draft (over 300 words), but the reason for this is to give candidates more words to underline and add to their list of phrases to use in such types of writing tasks.
 

First, make sure to have read my post 





https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/2018/03/using-sample-essays.html


especially taking note of point number 3 towards the end, so that you know what to do with the samples available on this blog. 


 Here's the graph: 


Source: https://www.statista.com/chart/16430/news-consumption-us/

 

 

  And here is a sample answer: 


    The bar chart presents the shift in trends over a two-year period in the way adults stay up to date on current events in the United States. Five different news sources were surveyed for the years 2016 and 2018 and results were published for television, online news websites, social media platforms, printed newspapers and radio bulletins. The overall conclusion from the findings is that online sources are on the rise, though generally speaking, percentages for all five means have not fluctuated dramatically.

   The first main point that emerges from the study for the years examined is that television was and still is in 2018 the most popular source of news. Even though a marked decrease of 8% occurred from 2016 to 2018, which is the greatest change in the graph, learning through televised broadcasts about what is going on locally and internationally is by far the most preferred means, a difference ranging from  approximately 30% to 40% in contrast to all other means in 2016 and from roughly 15% to 35% in 2018.

   Another important detail is the fact that though there is a downward trend in the percentage of adults who watch the news on TV or read about it in newspapers, the number of those who turned to online news and radio news broadcasts in the two years examined rose. Radio news had the smallest increase by one percent, whereas news gathered from social media platforms increased from 18% to 20%. The most preferred online news sources were news websites which showed the greatest increase of all news sources in the graph, and which present an increase in viewer numbers from 28% in 2016 to 33% in 2018.

   In sum, what is clear is that the combined percentages of those who stay informed by way of news websites or social media have exceeded those quoted for television, the most preferred news source for the two years analyzed.

 

  


Find other IELTS Task 1 reports here: 



https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/search/label/Reports



Need help with the IELTS Speaking? Click on the image below. 



https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/2018/05/ielts-speaking-basics.html





For IELTS essays (Task 2) click here:
https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/search/label/writing








Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Letters of Complaint - Useful Phrases

Whether it's to complain about something you bought or a service you found was unsatisfactory, as part of your job or because you are preparing to take an exam in English at B2 or C2 level, it is a fact that you should know the basics about writing or even orally expressing your dissatisfaction.  The following post should help you organize your letter or email (even an oral statement, if necessary) as well as give you some useful phrases you can use.
Read more

Virginia Woolf - The Legacy (Overview)

When a wife dies and leaves her husband her diary, all is possible. In Gil bert Clandon's case, the legacy his wife leaves him is much more than he could ever have imagined.  Virgi nia Woolf signs an exceptional short story which questions the foundations of marriage, people's need for communication by any means possible a nd their inclusion in a mutually beneficial partnership . When one reneges on that contract, the other will seek new outlets to grow , as p ersonal d evelopment in any marriage is inevitable. If that development is undertaken without any consideration for one's spouse, then problems will unavoidably ensue.
Read more

Tobias Wolff - Powder (Overview)

"Powder" is a short story intended to quickly state the obvious - a father's bond to his son is always a difficult thing to forge when parents aren't on good terms with each other. The level of difficulty in achieving this increases as fathers aren't used to explicitly explaining to their sons that they are trying to forge a stronger bond at a particular moment in time to begin with. Accordingly, the complications the father in this particular story is required to overcome are not only the time constraints the mother has placed on the trip as a whole or the mistrust towards her husband she has allowed her son to bear witness to which the father feels he must compensate for, but also the disparity in character traits that father and son exhibit. Having read the story for the first time, students predominantly respond to the query "What was the story about?" either with "I didn't get it. Some father and son skiing" or "S...
Read more

Nadine Gordimer - An Intruder (Overview)

The short story An Intruder was incorporated in Nadine Gordimer's short story collection Livingston's Companions, published in 1970. As such, it must be read and viewed through the prism of her somewhat earlier works which dealt with South African society's inequality and the problems arising from the diseased status quo of the times. An Intruder focuses on relationships between characters and how perceptions of a situation differ in the eyes of each individual based on a combination of nature and nurture, or at the very least that is what Gordimer would have the reader gauge. What made James Seago what he is? Why is Mrs Clegg, Marie's mother, such a typical depthless wishful socialite with an exaggerated respect for higher social status? Couldn't Marie judge the merit of the man who treats her like a child or is she turning a blind eye to his behavior because it suits her? Whatever the answers to these questions, the one certainty we have is that the noti...
Read more

C2 Sample Essay 8 (Parenting)

Writing at C2 level (Proficient User) on English language examinations is the same no matter the awarding body when it comes to writing essays. If you are a candidate giving an exam in English (IELTS, CPE, ECPE, CELP, LRN, ESB, TOEFL), make sure you read my earlier post What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog? to get the most out of the sample essays provided on Argute Legacy .     The topic of this essay is to discuss what the responsibilities of parenting are. If you are not taking an exam but need to discuss this topic, then read on and note down what you deem useful. If you intend to use this essay as part of an assignment, remember to paraphrase so as not to plagiarize. The topic is similar to what candidates expect in any other C2-level examination in that examiners want to see a well-organized, coherent and cohesive discussion of the issue with arguments and examples written in approximately half an hour. Whether or not you ...
Read more