Today, I want to show you a sample answer I wrote to an IELTS writing task 2 question. The broad topic was education and specifically it was about assessing students. It asks whether it is better to use traditional exams or ongoing assessments. Analysing the QuestionHere is our question for today: Formal examinations are the only effective way to assess a student’s performance. Continual assessment such as course work and projects is not a satisfactory way to do this. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?This an agree or disagree question and it is asking you your opinion about exams and continual assessment. You need to decide whether you agree or disagree with the idea in the statement. Thus, you will either say: formal exams are the best way of assessing performance continual assessment is better a mixture of the two would be optimal Remember that you don’t have to wholly agree or disagree. Your answer could lie somewhere in between. Just remember that you must make your views clear and logical, so if you do find yourself giving a sort of balanced answer, make sure that it’s not confusing for the reader. I will note that there are often different versions of IELTS questions and whilst sometimes these are very similar, there are often subtle but important differences. Here’s an alternate question: There seems to be an increasing trend towards assessing students through exams rather than continual assessment.What are the advantages and disadvantages of exams as a form of assessment?The idea is basically the same but here you are not saying that you agree or disagree. Instead, you are asked to talk about the advantages and disadvantages. This would require a different response even though the main topic is the same. Sample AnswerHere is my answer to the first question above: There is a lot of debate over how to conduct student assessments in various educational facilities. The traditional method is with examinations, but these days there is a lot of resistance to this, and many teachers prefer less stressful and more representative modes of assessment. This essay will argue in favour of continual assessment.The advantages of exams are few and mainly focused on the institutions rather than the students. Exams can be organised quite easily and conducted in a short period of time, as hundreds of students can sit together in a room to do the test. These exams can then be marked conveniently, sometimes even by a computer, without the hassle of many months of continual observation by teachers.However, traditional examinations are not the best means of assessing students in the majority of subjects. They require a student’s total knowledge of a subject to be assessed over a single event, which is itself an artificial construct, and requires enormous amounts of stress. The student needs to study for a long time to go into an exam hall and demonstrate a year’s worth of knowledge. This is unlikely to give a true representation of their expertise. Factors like anxiety can reduce their performance, as well as bad luck, sickness, and so on. It is far better to test a student’s knowledge over a longer period of time, in various ways, to get a more representative idea of their actual ability in that subject. This form of continuous assessment could give a far more reliable impression of what the student actually knows, rather than relying upon one single exam.In conclusion, traditional examinations are not the best way of assessing students, and they should be replaced by continuous assessment as this is more effective and reliable.If you want me to mark your essay and give detailed feedback, check out my writing correction service. NotesYou might be wondering about my reference to “advantages” in paragraph two in spite of this being in response to an agree or disagree question. Basically, I wanted to give the advantages of exams in order to highlight how few of them there are and how minor they are. I feel that this actually supports my main contention. It is not really about providing balance but rather showing the weakness of the opposing view supports my own one. Note my language here. As always, I have striven to use topic-specific language. That means words and phrases about education, exams, and the development of skills. I have not used any so-called “advanced vocabulary” because that is not a sensible approach. Instead, I have tried to use the best word for each situation. That’s the key to a good Lexical Resource score. Overall, my ideas are clear and coherent. I have explained myself well and used examples appropriately. My structure is sensible, with an effective introduction and conclusion.
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