There are only so many topics that IELTS can ask you about for the writing tasks, that is mostly because it is an international exam and that the subjects to write about chosen must be suitable for all countries and all cultures.
Most questions can be categorized in to the following topics and we will examine these in more detail in future posts! They are all topics that educated people should be able to speak and write about in their own language!
The main topics are:
- Education (this is quite a common topic)
- Employment and money
- Environment and housing
- Family
- Globalisation (a difficult topic to cover but appears often)
- Government
- Health
- Language and culture (seems to be quite popular as well)
- Law and order
- Media and advertising
- Science and technology
- Sport and leisure
- Travel and transport
You might notice that most task 2s that we have looked at so far have been about education, that is no accident. Education as a topic is probably the most popular topic
There is a general trend in some countries of students taking a break from their studies between school and university and either going travelling or taking a job for a year. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
Answer:
Lots of students upon finishing high school decide to take a break from study and either embark upon a programme of travel around the world or take a job to get some important real world experience. This trend is especially prevalent in certain Western societies where many teenagers in a gap year strap on a backpack and go travelling around the globe or put away their school uniforms in exchange for some kind of work attire and commence employment. There are some great benefits of doing this but there are also unfortunately some serious disadvantages as well.
The advantages of taking a year break from studies prior to embarking on further study are many. This year gives students a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience new people and new experiences away from their normal comfort zone before the responsibilities of life such as supporting a partner or children or be worried about money and a mortgage start to build which would inhibit people from doing embarking on this kind of undertaking later in life. The new experience of work and travel should be fun and an adventure, it will be the first time that these young people will have any degree of freedom over their lives and the ability to choose a job that a person is interested or a place to travel to might inspire them to try something new or something they are interested in. That experience can then be used in the course of their studies; either as a stimulus for the subject of study or as an experience to make the person a more rounded individual. In essence, having a gap year tends to make people have a much greater degree of self-confidence and self-discipline. There is also another advantage that real world experience of work or travel can make it easier for a person to differentiate themselves from the common herd when it comes to applying for jobs or places on academic courses.
There are however some serious drawbacks to counterbalance the positive aspects of working or travelling as a young person before progressing onto further study. The cost of taking a year off to travel might be high in terms of costs, especially of problems arise, for example if some kind of medical treatment is required overseas, the costs can spin totally out of control. For work, a student will not be able to get a very fulfilling job and will be stuck doing the most menial of tasks; in effect their year spent working will be of little value when it comes to actual marketable skills and knowledge they can take to a subsequent employer. Traveling overseas, while it can be exciting, can also be very dangerous as well. Being young and ignorant of life’s dangers, these students could be potential targets of criminality in the areas they choose to travel to. Spending this time away doing something that may not be too productive can also mean that these people are a year behind their peers when it comes to work and study and will always be playing catch-up in terms of career and study.
In conclusion, there are both benefits and drawbacks to the young taking a break from study and entering the world of work or going around the world travelling. It seems likely that the trend of travelling in a gap year may decline in the future due to negative economic but the trend of working might increase as students try to save some money so they are not so greatly indebted by the cost of their studies. It does seem that people who take this kind of opportunity have a much more rounder view of the world and they do seem to have derived a great deal of benefit from the overall experience.
(635 words)
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