Nowadays many students choose to take a year off before entering university. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of taking a year off, and give your own opinion about whether it is a good idea.

It is true that more and more
students
are taking a
gap
year
before pursuing higher education. While there are certainly some drawbacks for
students
who make
this
decision, I believe that taking a
gap
year
before entering
university
is beneficial overall. On the one hand, there are several difficulties that
students
who take a
gap
year
may experience.
Firstly
, they may need financial support from their families
such
as living costs, housing, bills and other expenses.
For example
, a student from a lower-income family may need to work for tuition and seek more part-time jobs. It is impossible for
students
to take a break for a
year
without family support.
Secondly
, they may struggle to cope with their family relationships because their family needs to give some support, both in terms of financial and spiritual conventions.
Finally
, entering
university
a
year
later may put
students
behind with their high school classmates, and some
students
may feel lonely and disconnected from them.
On the other hand
, taking a
gap
year
before attending
university
can be extremely rewarding. The main benefit for
students
who want to take a break before taking tertiary education is to recharge their batteries. Letting their hair down and just having fun may help them feel refreshed and be ready for the
next
stage. Another advantage for
students
that take a
year
off is to gain more working experience.
For instance
,
such
working experience may look good on their CVs, which could lead them to compete for better positions in the
university
. The other advantage of taking a
year
off is more personal; it can help
students
learn some skills for their later life, gain different experiences and introduce them to a new network of friends. In conclusion, I believe that the trend of taking a
year
off before entering
university
is a positive one, especially if the
students
are able to overcome the difficulties that they are likely to face.
Submitted by bsbwillie on

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Include an introduction and conclusion

A conclusion is essential for IELTS writing task 2. It is more important than most people realise. You will be penalised for missing a conclusion in your IELTS essay.

The easiest paragraph to write in an essay is the conclusion paragraph. This is because the paragraph mostly contains information that has already been presented in the essay – it is just the repetition of some information written in the introduction paragraph and supporting paragraphs.

The conclusion paragraph only has 3 sentences:

  • Summary
  • Restatement of thesis
  • Prediction or recommendation

Example:

To summarize, a robotic teacher does not have the necessary disciple to properly give instructions to students and actually works to retard the ability of a student to comprehend new lessons. Therefore, it is clear that the idea of running a classroom completely by a machine cannot be supported. After thorough analysis on this subject, it is predicted that the adverse effects of the debate over technology-driven teaching will always be greater than the positive effects, and because of this, classroom teachers will never be substituted for technology.

Start your conclusion with a linking phrase. Here are some examples:

  • In conclusion
  • To conclude
  • To summarize
  • Finally
  • In a nutshell
  • In general

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