If you don't spend some time planning your ideas, it's likely that you'll run out of things to write, or you'll go off-topic. When planning, keep checking the question to make sure that your ideas are relevant.
Read the question below, and then look at my example plan.
The older generations tend to have very traditional ideas about how people should live, think and behave. However, some people believe that these ideas are not helpful in preparing younger generations for modern life.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?
4-paragraph plan:
- Introduce the topic of 'traditional ideas and modern life', then partly agree: some ideas are outdated, but others are still helpful
- Paragraph about ideas which are not so helpful nowadays:
Work - having a career for life is no longer normal
Relationships - 'rules' about who and when to marry are changing
Gender roles - traditional fixed roles of men and women have changed - Paragraph about traditional ideas which we shouldn't forget:
Work - work hard, do your best, take pride in your work
Behaviour - politeness, good manners, respect for others
Community - help others, be a good neighbour, look after local area - Conclusion: repeat / summarise the answer
Dear Simon thank you so much for your course your blog and your tips and advice. I got my result and I am very happy with it.
L 7.5
R 8.5
W 7
S 7
Overall score 7.5
Posted by: vian | July 15, 2015 at 10:44
Can I say that the traditional ideas of elder peole and new ideas of youngsters can be coexist in my conclusion?
Posted by: tian | July 15, 2015 at 11:04
It is true that some old fashioned ways of lives created by our grandparents were more applicable only for their time and the new generations need some new approaches for living in modern life. While I agree with the idea that these days are different from the past, I believe that some traditional values are still useful.
There are some traditional thought that cannot fit us in the new world. Generations back, building a career was based on having a single job and this could be the only one for entire of life, whereas nowadays it is consider unusual to have only one profession for long time. In the matter of relationship, old fashion rules endorsed more restricted relationship which was limited to persons close to the family circles, but this method now is totally out of fashion. Another outdated idea was the difference between gender in family and society. For example, women had no right to vote and it was unusual to see a woman as a head of an organization.
Nevertheless, I believe there are several traditional lessons that could definitely be useful in modern days. First of all, there is no doubt that working hard is the best approach to achieving our goals. Another old fashion attitude that we can still be used in our lives is following of standards, principles and values in regard to behaving with other members of societies. For example, it is generally accepted that respect others’ right should be one of our core principles. Finally, cooperating and helping others should also be taken into account when we are thinking about some valuable traditional ways of life.
In conclusion, although some old approaches towards life are still valuable and are used in our daily life in modern world, some new way of living, thinking and behaving are also necessary.
Posted by: Aria | July 15, 2015 at 15:37
It is true that old people have their own traditional standards about how a person should function in society. While I admit that modern life is different from the past, and these perceptions might be no longer useful, I disagree that traditional opinions are invalid in the 21st century.
On the one hand, there are several traditional ideas that might not be helpful in modern society. Firstly, it is no longer unusual for people to pursue multiple careers in their lifetime. Secondly, the old “rules’ about roman relationship are also rapidly changing. For instance, it is acceptable nowadays for women to get married in their 30s or later, whereas girls had to accept arranged marriages in their early 20s or even younger in the 70s and 80s. Finally, the traditional fixed roles of men and women disappear as women have become increasingly independent for the past decade. In fact, in many households, women are the breadwinners, while their husbands assume childcare responsibilities at home.
On the other hand, many traditional ways of life should not be forgotten. One of them is the passion and pride that the old generation takes in their work. Moreover, traditional values about behavior such as politeness, good manners and respects for others should be passed from one generation to the next. It is not acceptable in any time to not give seats for the elderly when taking public transport. In addition, the spirit of helping other and treating their problems as our own, which was taken for granted in the past, should never die out.
In conclusion, although traditional thoughts and ideas cannot be applied in some occasions, their good qualities should be preserved as they are still beneficial and worth to learn from in many other cases.
Posted by: Tran Nguyen | July 16, 2015 at 08:07
People have different views about the lifestyle. While I agree that some traditional ideas from elderly people should be inherited, I also think that young people could have their own choices to prepare themselves for the modern life.
It is true that some thoughts and behaviour from our ancestors should be kept and followed nowadays. One behaviour we should follow is that being brave when facing the challenges. Boldness that brings hope and promotes self-confidence in hardship is a good and necessary spirit. Being brave helps people to conquer the difficulties and achieve their potential. The personality of honest and humble when cooperating with others should be still encouraged. People still need team work and rely on others to live and work. People who have good manners and social skills are more likely to be popular in modern society.
On the other hand, as society develops, I also agree that it is necessary to have new ideas and thoughts for young people to help them best fit the modern world. The working style that staying in the same job for whole life has been changed due to the development of working style. Nowadays, people tend to change their job more often that their parents did in the past because they believe that they could gain more practical experience and multi-industry knowledge by working at different industries and occupations. Besides, in some countries the lifestyle of having more children does not fit today's environment. Families tend to have few children in order to provide better living and studying environment to the child.
In conclusion, it seems to me that, both good traditions from elderly generations and creative ideas from young people are important for modern people's lifestyle.
Posted by: NJ | July 16, 2015 at 10:03
In this September I am going to study 1 foundation course in England. Now, my IELTS score is 6.5 in general and 6.0 in writing so I want to ask you that how can I practise for college writing. Should I continue to do IELTS writing or do some other task?
Posted by: Le Dieu Anh | July 16, 2015 at 12:55
Hi Simon, or should I say Sir.. !
It is really a great support being provided by you to all the students like me who are preparing for IELTS.. your all posts are becoming of utmost help to grasp the subject better and learn in fast pace.
I request you if you can answer my query here:
What could be the best approach to answer a question type like:
a) Do you agree or disagree?
and
b) To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Firstly, do we need to answer both the questions alike, or the structure of answering both type of above questions vary?
And then, many other blogs and their teachers suggest to give opinion at the start in intro, and then discussing my opinion in first supporting para and then showing how the other opinion with which I am disagreeing is not a better option.
So, pls clarify which is the best way to answer both the above type of question to get the higher band score in IELTS.
Thanking you for your time and valuable efforts.
Regards
Munjal Shah
Posted by: Munjal | July 16, 2015 at 14:38
It is sometimes argued that some old fashioned ways that our older generations assumed inseparable from their own lives should be avoided by new generations due to modern life constraints. I believe that some traditional virtues and manners could be kept.
Applying traditional ways of lives seem impractical today. People were supposed to devote themselves to their father's career after reaching adulthood. The society pushed them to follow their ancestors' rules to maintain their family members safe and secure. Whereas today it is completely unacceptable by youth to stay with their relatives and obey the paternal figure. In the matter of marriage, girls were supposed to marry with their relatives at the same vicinity or hometown, to those who were also known by their parents and families, while nowadays this tradition is entirely rejected by young people. One another outdated idea is sexual discrimination. People used to put more value on males than females in a rich variety of issues such as educational facilities, social orders and political decisions.
Despite those dysfunctional manners mentioned above, I strongly believe that traditional styles are capable of producing beneficial and practical ways by which new generation could be more succeeded in their lives. First of all, undoubtedly hardworking is an efficient way in achieving targets. Furthermore, following high values such as politeness and respectfulness with others are always recommended. Finally, contributing in helping others and preserving local area are usually admired by common sense. For example, both showing respect to neighbors and keeping the natural environment clean, are suggested by many religions and cults.
In conclusion, while traditional ideas seem to be outdated and inefficient today, there are still some useful and beneficial methods without which the new generations would be suffered.
Posted by: meem alef | July 16, 2015 at 15:20
Every person has his own motive either living and moving. According to this motive people equip their life style like how they will think, live and behave. Traditional people I mean generation of our parents and grandparents they have their own motive in living, thinking and behaving, and they did apply it in their life and got output and those are flowing through us though our think tank is totally different from their generation. And these two can't be coexist.
Please do the correction.
Posted by: Kanti Sarma | July 17, 2015 at 09:56
It is true that modern life has changed the way we live, think and behave. While I believe that some traditional ideas about living are outdated, I am also sure that others are still helpful.
There are various reasons why our lifestyles are no longer the same as our parents say they were in the past. Firstly, people now are engaged in rather various kinds of jobs throughout their working lives. This brought to the fact that having a career for a long time became a rarity in you people’s lives. Secondly, people’s attitudes towards relationship and the decision who and when to marry are changing. Due to standards of living, people are forced to spend more of their time on studying and training, or finding a job and reaching professional goals rather than on themselves. And it makes hard to decide on finding a life partner or taking a responsibility for a family life. Finally, when compared to the past, traditional fixed role of men and women have changed. More and more women are taking high-ranking positions such as directors and executive officers.
On the other hand, I think we should not forget about our tradition approach to life at all. Senior citizens usually teach young generation to develop crucial criteria of being successful adults such as hard working, doing one’s best and taking pride in one’s work. Traditional values have also great impact on being a good human. As a rule, our parents insist us in being polite, respecting others and having good manners. Apart from advantages to one’s behavior, traditional values are naturally design to bring benefits to the community. They include helping others, being a good neighbor, look after local area and so on.
In conclusion, I agree that changes in attitudes towards how to lead a life adopted by modern life are inevitable, I believe that traditional value are still helpful for becoming a right person for the society.
Posted by: Challanger | July 17, 2015 at 10:04
Hi Aria!
Although I'm not proficient in giving a feedback for an essay, I want to give it a try in order to imrpove my understanding and skills for writing task 2, certainly if you don't mind. And I ask you in turn, to look at my essay and score it owing to your personal experience as well.
So, in my view, there is regular typos ("we can still be used", "it is consider" and etc.) in the essay, but I don't think thi is because of poor spelling skills, it looks more like a technical errors. Good vocabulary it has, appropriate paragraphing, task reponse achieved with some fails in cohesion and coherence. My overall band for this essay would be like 6,5-7.
Now it is your turn. Go ahead!
Posted by: Challanger | July 17, 2015 at 11:51
Sir,
is it possible last three month test repeat?
Posted by: Sandip | July 17, 2015 at 12:04
It is controversial whether or not traditional concepts and values possessed by the older generation should be utilized and integrated into modern lifestyles pursued by young people. Although, I think some traditonal ways of nurturing the younger generation should be highly encouraged, to a large extent, young people should be prepared to keep pace with the fast changing and globalized world.
On the one hand, I agree that some traditional values that possessed by the old people should be considered as assets in our society and be advocated. For instance, in the materialised world, young people tend to be self-cente red and measure everything according to materialistic values. Youngsters pursue the latest bands blindly. These phenomena will demoralise our society as a whole. In this regards, I think traditional values such as being genuine and trustworthy in terms of relationship between people should be passed on to the young generation. People should mutually respect each other based on their characteristics, but not the amount of wealth possessed. In addition, the young generation should be encouraged to follow the traditional rituals that good fortunes can be obtained by working hard, instead of seeking a short cut to gain wealth.
On the other hand, I will object to the old fashion way of viewing the modern world and nurturing the young generation. Firstly, old people are more likely to reject changes in their lives in order to ensure a sense of security. They will percept changing jobs is very risky and should not be encouraged. However, these days, employees are expected to keep up to date in terms of skills and knowledge by changing jobs or going for career-focused study. The only way to keep the sense of job security is to be adaptable to the global environments and keep pace with the fast changing world. Secondly, due to the developments in technology, the way we live and behave has totally been transformed. For example, services and shopping are increasingly web-based, every one has to accept the digital world regardless of ages. If people harbour the old concept of doing things in the so called secure way and dealing daily agenda in person, eventually they will find themsleves in a dilemma because they can not function in the technology driven world.
In conclusion, we should keep traditional values and prepare young people in order to meet modern life demands.
Posted by: Jing | July 17, 2015 at 13:33
Wow 397 words!
Hi Jing
Massive essay. It looks like more of college student accordin to the vocabulary used.
So how much time have you spent on this?
And am I right in my guessing the occupation?
Posted by: Challanger | July 17, 2015 at 16:25
It is often argued that no longer are traditional beliefs correlated to modern life while in my view, I believe that some are outdated and some are still of use to juveniles.
Today, some traditional ideas become impractical for several reasons. Firstly, there have been great changes in traditional concepts of gender. The inequity between males and females was shown sharply in the past, which contrasts with the current trend that is enhancing equal rights strongly. Women have equal opportunities to attend schools, pursue a career they wish and share childcare responsibilities with their husbands, for example. Secondly, younger generations have a personal freedom in choosing their marriage partners. The concept that ‘a girl must marry the young man her parents have selected’ is old-fashioned, meaning that the option of a spouse to start a family later is put in the junior’s hand, but not their parents.
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there are several traditional views still helpful to prepare younger people for modern life. It is not hard to see in social relations, no matter how rich or high-ranked young people are, they ought to exchange polite greetings to old people and give a respect to them. Getting on well with colleagues and working hard are necessary attitudes they should have in a working environment. In addition, not only are the younger contented with a personal preference, but they also should place more emphasis on their fellow citizens who are in disadvantaged circumstances and thus in need of assistance.
In conclusion, to some extent some traditional thoughts have practical impacts on the modern lifestyle of young generations. Thus, I believe we should keep them, but should reject old-fashioned points.
Posted by: chuyendang | July 17, 2015 at 17:58
Thanks for your valuable ideas, I've just made my own essay.
To certain extent I agree that young people should consider not to follow outdated lifestyle. However I also think that our ancestors’ ideas are still useful.
There are three main causes of unhelpful ideas. Firstly, career is no longer normal in modern life and it is entirely normal if somebody pursues multiple careers in their lifestyle. Secondly, the relationships are being changed so that the rules about who and when to marry are not arranged anymore, and parents tend to respect their children’s choices. Finally, gender roles have also changed between men and women. Instead of being the breadwinner of a family as usual, many fathers and mothers share their parenting and domestic responsibility equally. They contribute equally to child care, cooking and cleaning, and househusbands are becoming more common.
On the other hand, I accept that young generation should not forget traditional lessons come from grandparents. For instance, people should work hard and do on their best in order to take pride in work. It is also essential enough for new generation to have good behaviors such as politeness, good manners and respect for others. Furthermore, by understanding the helpful ideas, young people will help others to overcome some struggle situations, or they should a good neighbor and they can even look after local community.
In conclusion, there are convincing arguments both for and against traditional ideas in modern life, but I believe that the lessons which come from our older generations have still impacted to prepare our lives better.
(251 words)
Posted by: Big Money | July 17, 2015 at 18:24
Hi Challanger,
Thank you for counting the number of words in my essay. I did not set time while writing. I want to see my best writing without time limit. By the way, I am not a college student.
Posted by: Jing | July 17, 2015 at 22:58
I took exam on 27 June and just want to share the question I had for Writing Part 2:
Most people seemed to forget the importance of national celebrations (national events) and take the time to enjoy for themselves.
What are the causes of this issue?
What can be done to resolve this?
Posted by: Oliver Miralles de Lemos | July 18, 2015 at 06:25
Hi Jing
Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, time limit is a major problem for my writing. Keep writing! Good luck!
Posted by: Challanger | July 18, 2015 at 16:28
hi everyone
sorry i had a question and its not for this title. please whoever can help me, i know Simon doesn't have time for all of us.
the question below is agree or disagree. i wrote a introduction similar to the introduction of one of the websites. but i considered my introduction as completely disagree but s/he says its partly agree. why?
(Government investment in the arts, such as music and theatre, is a waste of money. Governments must invest this money in public services instead.
To what extent do you agree with this statement?)
the writer introduction:Although I agree that it is important to spend money on public services, I do not think spending on the arts is a waste of money.
why this is not disagree while s/he says I do not think spending on the arts is a waste of money.
(i have watched Simon's writing video about agree/disagree and still i'm confused.
thanks
Posted by: shapol | July 21, 2015 at 21:48
I'm trying my best :( , any suggestions or comments are welcome.
It is true that the elderly usually hold their prejudices about how people should function in society. Although I admit that some perceptions might be not suitable for young people these days, I do believe that the others still have some values.
On the one hand, modern life is different from the past, and some outdated perspectives might be a hindrance for young generation progress. Firstly, sticking to a certain profession for entire life is no longer usual. The reason is that, in a contemporary society these days, youngsters now have various opportunities to seek for a more challenging and fulfilling job. Secondly, young people should have every right to choose their own marriage partner instead of being arranged and forced by their parents. Finally, the notion of being a breadwinner as a man gradually disappear since the gender equality in family life has been promoted.
On the other hand, there are some traditional values that we should not forget. One of them is the diligence in which old generations could play a good role model for youngsters because they always demonstrate a full commitment at work, and that is regarded as a key leading to success. Besides, politeness, good manners and respects for others are all admirable qualities that should be passed from one generation to the next. From a moral point of view, it would be disrespectful to not give seats for the seniors when taking public transport. Furthermore, young people should welcome the time-honored value about doing more charity work or neighborhood improvement schemes in order to support the community.
In conclusion, while some old-fashioned viewpoints of old generations might no longer fit the modern society, other ones are still beneficial for young generations.
Posted by: Nicholas Huynh | July 24, 2015 at 18:43
Hi
I had taken IELTS test on June6 and was not able to make it. I need 7 bands in each module but got the following scores.
Listening-7.5
Reading-8.5
Writing-5.5
Speaking-7
Overall-7
I need help in my writing. Could somebody help me in writing section??
Posted by: navneet | July 28, 2015 at 18:32
It is true that many of the old-fashioned ways of living are no more compatible with the modern life. However, while i agree so, I believe that there are some traditional values that are valid at all times.
On the one hand, there are several traditional ideas that do not apply in today’s life. For example, many people used to have only one career during their life time and they tend not to change it as they pursue their career.This might be a result of slow development or less job opportunities during that time. Today, people may have to change their career many times in order to adapt to the rapid progress in today’s life . Another major change in the way of living is the marriage standards. People in the past marry at an early age most likely is by what is so called an arranged marriage where parents are making all the arrangements of marriage including who should marry who. On contrary, today it is so acceptable for people to marry in their thirties or even beyond that. That is due to the fact that young people’s focus after they graduate is on their career rather than establishing a family. One more traditional life style change is the role of the man and the woman in the community. After the World War II, women are assumed a role of caregiver and housewife while men are the breadwinners of the family. This has drastically changed where now the roles are interchangeably taken by both men and women.However, , some traditional values are certainly still applicable to the modern world.
Posted by: Jell | August 01, 2015 at 19:09
Mark
Posted by: Ling Zi | August 03, 2015 at 08:21
Dear Simon,
As I know, variety and diversity has the same meaning. So, why you use two above words in your follow sentence?
"... but today's workers expect much more variety and diversity from their careers?
Thank you so much!
Posted by: Tien | September 12, 2015 at 17:34