Some people believe that a gap year between school and university is a good idea, while others disagree strongly. Consider both sides of this debate and present your own opinion. You should give reasons for your answer, and include ideas and examples from your own knowledge and experience.

While
gap
years are increasingly popular, they continue to be rather controversial because the benefits are hard to quantify exactly. There are arguments on both sides of
this
very topical debate
,
Accept space
,
and I will discuss them now.On the one hand, opponents of
gap
years point to the cost involved in areas
such
as
air fares
the fare charged for traveling by airplane
airfares
,
Accept space
,
accommodation and living expenses. All
this
money has to come from the student’s family, or
evenfrom
Suggestion
even from
borrowing to be paid later.
Secondly
, it is often said that
gap
years take a young person’s
focusaway
Suggestion
focus away
from studying, and allows them to get involved in distractions
such
as travelling.
This
can
makeit
Suggestion
make it
hard to adjust to university life, damaging the student’s performance.
Finally
, there is a
concernover
Suggestion
concern over
the safety of young people if they are travelling to remote places. Being kidnapped or mugged
isa
have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
is
poor start
Suggestion
a poor start
to an academic career, after all.
On the other hand
, supporters of
gap
years say that the skills learned outweigh
thedisadvantages
Suggestion
the disadvantages
. They highlight the independence and assertiveness that a student will acquire, in
areassuch
Suggestion
areas such
as time management and interpersonal skills. They
also
say that these skills lead to greater career success later in life,
thus
cancelling out the costs involved.
Furthermore
, there are many
examples
Suggestion
Examples
of young people using
gap
years to achieve something significant, whether in
voluntaryork
or in a sector of business that interests them.In conclusion, my own feeling is that a year off can indeed be a useful activity, with
theexperience
Suggestion
the experience
leading to improved skills that are invaluable in the future. Of course,
this
is provided
thatthe
Suggestion
that the
year is planned carefully and used for something genuinely worthwhile.
Submitted by alghimire2016 on

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Structure your answers in logical paragraphs

The easiest way to score well on the IELTS Task 2 writing portion is to structure your writing in a solid essay format.

A strong argument essay structure can be split up into 4 paragraphs, each containing 4 sentences (except the conclusion paragraph, which only contains 3 sentences).

Stick to this essay structure:

  • Paragraph 1 - Introduction
  • Paragraph 2 - First supporting paragraph
  • Paragraph 3 - Second supporting paragraph
  • Paragraph 4 - Conclusion

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