ielts samples

This essay topic was seen in a recent IELTS test in India

Newspapers have a significant influence on people’s ideas and opinions. Why is this happening? Is it a positive or negative situation?

Sample Band 8 Essay

Many people believe that newspapers play a pivotal role in shaping the way we think. There are numerous ways in which this affects our society, and I believe that this influence is mostly negative.

Newspapers have long been a source of valuable information that has kept societies abreast of the latest happenings in the world. Since the average citizen has minimal knowledge about the information in expert analysis articles, well-established newspapers are powerfully poised to form public opinion through attention-grabbing images and carefully worded commentary. This leaves the reader no choice but to trust the accuracy of what they have read.

Sadly, unbiased objectivity, which used to be the core idea behind journalism, seems to be a thing of the past. The arrival and spread of social media platforms has caused a gradual decline in print media subscriptions and their circulation, since readers tend to favor the internet and social media to stay informed about current affairs. This gave rise to a worrying trend of newspapers using sensationalist and controversial tactics to improve their sales. As a result, the constant barrage of bad news has led to a society that sees itself as more vulnerable and powerless than ever. To make matters worse, there are plenty of well-documented instances where newspapers have been used to spread false propaganda which is usually politically motivated.

All in all, although newspapers are our lifeline to the world around us, the recent trend of publishing misinformation has had a mostly negative impact on readers. It is my hope that newspapers will go back to publishing impartial accounts of the latest news in the future.

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This essay topic was seen in a recent IELTS test in Taiwan

Some people believe that the best way to solve environmental problems is to increase the price of fuel.Do you agree or disagree?

Sample Band 8 Essay

Raising the price of car fuel is believed by some people to be an excellent method to solve the growing number of environmental issues. However, I strongly disagree with this idea, as doing so would make life difficult for lower-income households. While making fuel more expensive wouldn’t change the habits of wealthy families, switching to fossil fuel alternatives could prove to be much more beneficial for the environment.

The most compelling reason against raising the cost of fuel is that the upper classes of society will hardly be affected by rising fuel costs, as this only makes up a minor proportion of their expenditure. They will continue to use their personal vehicles as they wish without a thought for the environment or the higher fuel prices, even if their country has state-of-the-art public transportation.

Those who will feel the crunch of this decision are the middle-class and lower-income households, since travelling is a major part of most people’s routine, be it to work, school or shopping. Driving is almost unavoidable in many instances; therefore, raising the price of petrol would only serve to widen the gap between the rich and poor, and serve as an inadvertent form of discrimination.

Another reason why increasing the cost of fuel is far from the best way to deal with environmental pollution is that now there are much more viable alternatives. Due to the rapid advances in technology, scientists and engineers have been able to develop several alternatives to fossil fuel, such as cars powered by electricity or naturally produced biofuel. The move to adopt clean energy sources instead of fossil fuels is a much more promising alternative compared to simply making fuel more expensive.

In conclusion, I believe that governments of the world should invest more time and money in finding alternatives to fossil fuels that are more environmentally friendly, rather than simply raising the cost of petrol.

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