TEST 3 WRITING CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 3

CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH IELTS 3

TEST 3

WRITING

WRITING TASK 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. The charts below show the levels of participation in education and science in developing and industrialised countries in 1980 and 1990. Write a report for a university lecture describing the information shown below You should write at least 150 words.   WRITING TASK 2 You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topic. In many countries children are engaged in some kind of paid work. Some people regard this as completely wrong, while others consider it as valuable work experience, important for learning and taking responsibility. What are your opinions on this? You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence. You should write at least 250 words.

ANSWER KEY

MODEL ANSWER WRITING TASK 1 The data shows the difference between developing countries and industrialised countries’ participation in education and science. In terms of the number of years schooling received, we see that the length of time people spend at school in industrialised countries was much greater at 8.5 years in 1980 compared to 2.5 years in developing countries. The gap was increased further in 1990 when the figure rose to 10.5 and 3.5 years respectively. We can see a similar pattern in the second graph, which shows that the number of people working as scientists and technicians in industrialised countries increased from 55 to 85 per 1,000 between 1980 and 1990, while the number in developing countries went from 12 to 20. Finally, the figures for spending and research and development show that industrialised countries more than doubled their spending, from $200bn to $420bn, whereas developing countries actually decreased their spending from $75bn to $25bn. Overall we can see that not only are there very large differences between two economies but these gaps are widening. WRITING TASK 2 The issue of children doing paid work is a complex and sensitive one. It is difficult to say who has the right to judge whether children working is ‘wrong’ or ‘valuable’. Opinions will also differ as to ‘learning’ benefits: no doubt teachers and factory owners, for example, would have varying concerns. An important consideration is the kind of work undertaken. Young children doing arduous and repetitive tasks on a factory production line, for example, are less likely to be ‘learning’ than older children helping in an old people’s home. There are health and safety issues to be considered as well. It is an unfortunate fact that many employers may prefer to use the services of children simply to save money by paying them less than adults and it is this type of exploitation that should be discouraged. There is a big possibility that those working kids are influenced by different types of people they are working with and some lead them to a malevolent way. For example, most of the working kids in the factory start smoking and even abuse drugs at a very early age. Some kids are engaged in full-time jobs to support their family and thus how completely destroying their education. However, in many countries children work because their families need the additional income, no matter how small. This was certainly the case in the past in many industrialised countries, and it is very difficult to judge that it is wrong for children today to contribute to the family income in this way. A working child in many cases is the only earning member for many families. So their support is invaluable and they can’t leave the jobs no matter how hazardous the job is. Nevertheless, I would like to conclude that, in better economic circumstances, few parents would choose to send their children out to full-time paid work. If learning responsibilities and work experience are considered to be important, then children can acquire these by having light, part-time jobs or even doing tasks such as helping their parents around the family home, which are unpaid, but undoubtedly of value in children development.