IELTS Writing Task 2 essay with model answer

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic

It is generally believed that some people are born with certain talents, for instance for sport or music, and others are not. However, it is sometimes claimed that any child can be taught to become a good sports person or musician. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

Write at least 250 words.


Model Answer:

One of the highly controversial issues today relates to whether some people are genetically equipped with what it takes to be a gifted person, such as a skilled musician or athlete, or that it is possible to acquire such a gift through the conventional methods of learning and challenging work. In this essay, I am going to shed some light on both points of view and extend my partial support to the latter view. 

On one side of the argument there are people who argue that if one is born with an inherent talent he need not work hard to exhibit one’s skills. The main reason for believing this is that many of the famous musicians and athletes have shown remarkable progress and achievements since early age. One good illustration of this is the famous musician, Mozart, who was effortlessly capable of composing music since his early childhood. Therefore, it is easy to see why their argument has gained support.



On the other hand, it is also possible to make the opposing case. It is often argued that innate talents and hard-work are not mutually exclusive. People often have this opinion because under appropriate circumstances and good preparations, people can acquire skills that could enable them to excel in a profession or talent such as music or sport. A second point is that, nowadays, modern behavioral science and research can analyze the criteria and the factors that lead to success. A particularly good example here is the Australian swimming national team that has achieved excellent results by the implementation of scientific evidence to motivate and train swimmers. Thus, it goes without saying that their viewpoint is credible and realistic.    

In my opinion, both arguments have their merits. On balance, however, I tend to believe that both an innate talent and training are the best combination to achieve admirable results.

 

Total Words: 312

Task Achievement: 9

Coherence & Cohesion: 9

Lexical resources: 9

Grammar: 9

Overall Score: Band 9

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8 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. shruti joshi 6 years ago

    Is it not an issue of writing more than specified word limit?? If not then, to what extent we can write in terms of number of words against 250 word limit.

  2. Lucas 6 years ago

    250 is the minimum number of words. Your essay’s length should be from 250 to 300 words.

  3. IELTS Online Practice 6 years ago

    Lucas is absolutely correct. 250-300 is the ideal length.

    If you write more than 300 words, you might end up making more grammatical and lexical errors which will negatively affect your score. Moreover, you may not be able to write the essay within 40 minutes.

    Most importantly, never write less than 250 words.

  4. Alisher 6 years ago

    I think there is a mistake. If one is born with an inherent talent he need (needs or doesn’t need) not work hard to exhibit one’s skills. Could you submit your reply to my email, please?

  5. IELTS Online Practice 6 years ago

    “need not” is used correctly in the sentence. On the other hand you would use “needs” if the sentence was:
    “If one is NOT born with an inherent talent he NEEDS to work hard to exhibit one’s skills”

    Hope this helps.

  6. T 5 years ago

    As an IELTS examiner, I can say with absolute confidence that this essay will NOT recieve a 9. At best, it is a 7.5

    There are several unnececssary words and a few inappropriate referents which could have been avoided.

    The last sentence of the first para:

    I am going to shed some light on this question from both points of view and extend my partial support to the latter view.

    The sentence refers to *this question*. There is however no question mentioned in the paragraph. This will affect Coherence and Cohesion.

  7. Anisha Aggarwal 5 years ago

    One of the highly contentious issues these days is whether people are indeed born with some innate skills like dance, sports or music or anyone can be taught to gain these skills.This essay will discuss both sides of the argument and extend partial support to the former view.

    On one side of the argument, there are people who opine that if a person is born with an inherent talent, they need not put in much effort to exhibit one’s skills. The main reason behind this belief is that many famous actors, musicians, dancers and sports people have shown remarkable achievements since early age. Take for example, legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar, her god gifted voice led her to become the most successful and celebrated playback singer. Moreover, she belonged to a musical family, so singing was in her genes which was enhanced further by expert classical training. Thus, it seems realistic and fair to support this notion.
    On the other hand, it is often claimed that a person can accumulate artistic skills by getting good training. To enunciate, under appropriate circumstances and good preparations, people can acquire talents in any art form like singing, dancing and sports. For example, one of my friends, Rahul, who is an IT profession was intrigued about learning guitar, so he took classes from one of the best guitarists in town and now he is a pro in playing guitar. However, he had to do a lot of hard work and put hours of dedication to fulfill his dream.

    In conclusion, although with hard work and dedication one can acquire any talent, but I am also inclined to believe that both an innate talent and expert training are the best combination to achieve admirable results and be a legend.

  8. komaljit kaur 4 years ago

    this is good but one of them they discuss both views in this essay however the clearification is missing and only one or two points were discuss in this essay they give background line in introduction but according to teachers this is not important and donot clear thesis in this essay

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