IELTS Band 9 Writing Samples: Task 2 Essays

One of the best ways of learning how to write better is to simply read sample IELTS band 9 essay answers, and that is exactly what we have here: 10, Band 9 sample IELTS essays. Each essay is followed by a teaching point to show you why it is a band 9 IELTS essay.

Finally, all of the essays on this page have been written using the system I teach on this page IELTS writing task 2 and in my full IELTS course here that has helped thousands get the score they need.

You can also download these sample answers as a pdf file here if you prefer: IELTS Essay Samples Band 9 pdf or, simply read them below:

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Sample Essay #1 – Two Part Question

In some countries, the number of people visiting art galleries is reducing. What do you think the reasons for this are? How can we solve this problem?

In certain locations around the world, the number of people visiting art galleries is declining. This essay shall outline some of the reasons for this trend and then go on to suggest ways in which this issue could be resolved.

Firstly, visitor numbers are on the decline due in part to the ever-increasing convenience and ability of new technology. If someone has access to the internet from a device then there is virtually no need to visit an art gallery as all the finest works can be viewed online for as long as you want and at a minimal cost. For example, there is virtually no reason to go to the effort of leaving your house and traveling across a city and then paying and queuing with other people just to see works of art that you could just as easily view from the comfort of your own home.

However, there are some effective ways in which we might reverse the trend of declining visitor numbers to art galleries. One such way would be to ensure that all the artwork at a gallery is not available to view online, or at the most, just a small sample of an art galleries work is available for viewing. This would then create a sense of curiosity in the viewers mind and make them more likely to visit the art gallery. Furthermore, you could create a discussion zone at the art gallery where like-minded individuals could meet face to face and discuss the particular pieces of art that interest them. This would make visiting the gallery a more unique experience and be more likely to catch people’s interest.

Overall, visitor numbers are declining but there are a number of ways to tackle this problem. It is up to the art galleries themselves to come up with solutions and then deliver these to the public if they wish to survive in the future.
319 words

Teaching Point: Notice how both of these topic sentences directly answer one of the questions asked in the question. This is key to making sure that you do not go off topic and do in fact answer the question. This ensures you will not lose marks for Task Achievement.

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Sample Essay #2 – Discussion And Opinion

In many countries, men and women work full-time. It is therefore logical for men and women to share household work. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Nowadays, many people believe that men and women should share household chores equally as both genders are just as likely to have full-time jobs. Personally, I agree with this viewpoint and the following paragraphs shall outline my reasons for this belief.

First and foremost, traditional gender roles have been severely diminished in many cultures in recent years. This means that less pressure is now placed on women to complete the tasks that were commonly associated as being a women’s job to complete. These days it is just as acceptable for a man to do the housework as it is for the women, and they won’t be looked down upon by their male friends as they might have been in the past.

Secondly, it has become much more commonplace for women to be the main breadwinners of a household and therefore by default have less time available for domestic duties This means that it often makes more sense for men to stay at home and not work, which in turn means that they have more time available to complete household chores than might have been the case in the past. Imagine, if a woman worked full time and then had to come home and complete all of the household chores as well, regardless of whether the partner was working or not, the relationship would be put under a great deal of pressure and might eventually end if they were left to do the chores alone.

In summary, I agree that the changing trends of society mean that couples are often led to divide household chores more equally these days. Despite resistance by certain groups, this trend is likely to continue into the future.

278 words

Teaching Point: Notice how I have repeated my opinion twice, in both the introduction and conclusion but have done so using different words. This shows off a range of vocabulary but also ensures that I have answered the original question that was asked.

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Sample Essay #3 – Discussion And Opinion

Libraries are a waste of money, therefore, computers should be used to replace them. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Some people are of the opinion that libraries funding should be cut and the money invested in making computers available to the public instead. I mostly agree with this line of thought and the following paragraphs shall explain why this is the case.

Firstly, libraries should not receive any more funding because they contain such a limited and often outdated amount of information. As soon as a book is published it goes out of date and cannot be updated without an entirely new copy being printed which is both costly and time-consuming. On the other hand, a computer connected to the internet overcomes both of these limitations with ease, for example, any web-site, pdf, or online journal can be continuously updated by the authors and there is no time wasted in printing of the book.

On the other hand, though, libraries do still offer a quiet place for members of the public to go and read. In today’s fastpaced society there are few places to be found where people can simply go and relax without fear of being hassled by salesman or traffic which may have damaging consequences for the public. For instance, a report in the ‘Journal of Good Health’ recently reported that spending as little as 5 minutes per day sat quietly on your own can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by 50%, so, losing the quiet space of a library could harm a nation’s overall health.

To sum up, the public need for up to date information and also for restful places for people to relax needs to be considered carefully. Governments need to decide what their priority is and act accordingly.
279 words

Teaching Point: Notice how in the first line of the introduction I have simply paraphrased the question statement using my own words. I have also changed the order of the information in the sentence. This shows the examiner that I have good grammatical control and also a range of vocabulary.

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Sample Essay #4 – Discussion And Opinion

Some people think that money is the best gift to give a teenager, others disagree. Discuss both sides and give your own opinion.

Certain groups of people are of the opinion that giving teenagers cash is the most appropriate present to present them with, however, some people disagree with this approach. Personally, I believe that this is not the case and this essay shall outline arguments for either side.

Firstly, teenagers are often very impulsive by nature and are likely to make decisions that may not be in their best overall interest. As a consequence, if you hand over money to a teenager they may well simply go and waste the money on consumable goods and sometimes harmful items such as drugs, alcohol, or other such substances. Therefore, it is probably in the teenagers best interest if you buy them constructive presents that they can get greater value and education out of. For example, buying a teenager book tokens to further their knowledge is far more productive than giving them cash to blow on alcoholic beverages.

On the other hand, however, some people would say that allowing the teenager the freedom to choose what they want to spend their money on is an important lesson for them to learn. Not only does it allow them to see that you trust them but it also means that they are likely to buy something that they will actually value. Furthermore, if a teenager senses that you do not trust them then they are likely to hold this against you and use it against you at some point in the future, whereas, they may well act more responsibly if you hand over cash for them to spend.

In conclusion, teenagers are at a very sensitive stage of their development, however, I remain of the opinion that they do need some guidance in the way that they spend their money. Parents should take care to manage this situation appropriately.
302 words

Teaching Point: Notice how the conclusion starts by summarizing the two topic sentences using different vocabulary, Once again this proves to the examiner that you have a good range of vocabulary.

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Sample Essay #5 – Opinion Essay

Some people believe that people who do physical work should be paid the same as people who have a high-level degree. Do you agree or disagree?

Certain groups of people are of the opinion that people who engage in manual labour should receive the same level salary as someone who is highly educated. I disagree with this point entirely and shall outline the reasons for this in the following paragraphs.

One of the main reasons why highly educated people should receive a greater salary than lower-skilled workers is that they create more value for a business in the long term. This is because a lower skilled worker will simply do as they are told and perform their role in the organisation whereas a highly skilled worker is more likely to suggest solutions to
problems or invent more productive ways of doing something. Over the course of a number of years, these incremental improvements could lead to large increases in profit for the company.

Allied to this, graduates have often invested a great deal of time and money into their education and so surely, therefore, deserve to be paid more to cover this. For example, a recent survey from ‘Time’ magazine revealed that the average medical student seeking to become a doctor graduates with more than $150,000 of debt before they have even earned a penny.

Furthermore, countries need educated populations in order to develop, organise themselves and grow. Therefore governments need to make sure students are encouraged to study for higher qualifications and paying higher salaries to these individuals when they finally graduate is one way of ensuring this.

In conclusion, more highly educated employees are worth more to a company and a country. These are the main reasons why I continue to believe they should be paid more.
273 words

Teaching Point: It is helpful to develop your paragraphs by using examples. However, this is difficult to do as you do not know what question you will be asked. This is why you should just make up realistic sounding examples. It really is not important if the example is true or not, the examiners do not care. All they want to do is assess your English. So, go ahead and simply make up realistic sounding examples to develop your answers just as I have done here!

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Sample Essay #6 – Opinion Essay

In some countries, children under sixteen are not allowed to leave school by law and get full-time work. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

In certain areas of the world, children under the age of 16 are prevented from gaining full-time employment by law. I believe this is a good thing and this essay shall outline the reasons for this standpoint.

Firstly, anyone under the age of 16 should be pursuing education rather than a salary. This is because they have the rest of their working lives to get a full-time job but only a few limited years during their youth which they can dedicate entirely to education. Education is the key to a positive future and so it is right that laws should prevent someone from damaging
their own education. If we let young people simply do what they want with no thought for the future then we would not be guiding and protecting them as a society surely should.

In addition to the above, many countries around the world have high unemployment levels. If youth under the age of 16 were also added to the working population then this would likely only lead to further increases in unemployment. For example, in Greece the ‘Greek Echo’ recently reported that unemployment had increased to a record level of 38% of the population. Furthermore, having unemployed youngsters on the streets often leads to increased crime rates, especially those relating to anti-social behaviour whereas if the youngsters had to remain in school or college they may well stay out of trouble.

Overall, beginning employment early has more negative impacts than positive. Governments should consider carefully when and how they allow people to finish their education if they wish their nations to be prosperous in the future.
269 words

Teaching Point: Notice how I have used two conditional sentences here to discuss future changes. This demonstrates a wider range of grammar to the examiner and therefore helps to improve your band score. Make sure you brush up on the second conditional in particular, as it is often useful in IELTS essays.

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Sample Essay #7 – Two Part Question

Nowadays, some parents pressure their children to be successful. What are the reasons for this? Is this a positive or negative development?

In recent years, some children have been put under pressure by their parents to be successful in life. This essay shall discuss both the reasons why this is so and whether this is a positive or negative development.

It appears that some of the youth of today are placed under pressure by their parents to be successful because the world has become a very materialistic place and in order to show how successful you are you need to have money to buy nice things. This usually means that a good education is needed so a well-paying job can be secured. Unfortunately, as a consequence of students studying to gain a high paying job, which their parents may wish for them, they may actually be doing something which is not what they want to do deep down in their soul. As a result, a student may begin to lack motivation in their studies, lack of passion for what they are doing or even become depressed as a result.

Furthermore, the pressure placed on young people to succeed at school may well mean that they do not take part in other valuable opportunities. For example, rather than taking part in an International Award programme they may well opt to do extra homework because of the time required to gain the award. However, participating in the award would have provided them with so many opportunities to learn new and different life skills, such as: social skills, trip planning, map reading, fund raising, teamwork and so on, skills which you simply cannot ever learn from a book.

To sum up, anything that could cause depression or reduce a young person’s opportunities has to be a negative. Parents need to think carefully about what type of life they want their child to actually have and not just on future financial prospects.
308 words

Teaching Point: Notice that I have used a range of sentence starters and connectives to help the essay flow. I have not simply repeated the same linking words like ‘and also’, ‘then’, or ‘next’ that are often overused in IELTS essays. Using a range like this means that the essay sounds more natural and native like and of course helps improve a band score.

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Sample Essay #8 – Problem And Solution

In many countries, people have health problems because they choose to live an unhealthy lifestyle. What do you think the reasons for this are and how can it be solved? Give relevant examples from your experience?

In many places around the world, people are choosing to live an unhealthy lifestyle and are suffering significant health issues as a result. The following paragraphs shall discuss the possible cause of this and offer a number of solutions.

Firstly, one of the main causes of these health issues is the influence of advertising from big businesses trying to make a profit. These businesses have no morals and are only interested in making money, this means that they will target anyone they can even though they know that their products are bad for people’s health. For example, MacDonald’s are certainly
aware that their food is bad for children but they still target them through the use of associating clowns and Disney characters with their ‘happy meals’.

Allied to the above, people are ill disciplined even when it comes to the importance of their own health. These days, everyone knows the risks of eating ‘junk’ food on a regular basis but many continue to do so. The reason for this is that it is just too convenient and they are just too lazy to make some real nutritious food for themselves. For instance, anyone who goes out on a weekend will have witnessed the large queues of young people in fast food restaurants even when there are much more healthy options nearby including various supermarkets which all sell healthy ingredients from which to make food from.

In summary, the power of big business and the weak will of humans is damaging the health of many. Governments, schools and parents should consider carefully how they are going to tackle these issues in the coming years.
273 words

Teaching Point: Usually the second or third sentence of a paragraph will be explaining the reasons for what has been stated in the topic sentence of the paragraph.

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Sample Essay #9 – Discussion And Opinion

Nowadays, many families move to different countries. Some people think that children gain many benefits from this while others consider it to be hard for a child to move to a foreign country. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

These days it is not uncommon for whole families to migrate to other parts of the world. Some people are of the opinion that this has a negative impact on the children involved whereas others believe it has a positive impact. Personally, I think the positives outweigh the negatives and this essay shall outline both sides of the debate.

First and foremost, generally people only move to other countries if they believe there is going to be a significant improvement to their children’s lives. Often this takes the form of improved education opportunities. For example, when the UK entered the European Union there was an immediate influx of people and part of the reason for this is that the UK
offers a free and a quality education to any youngsters living there. Many migrants believe that the key to future success is education and that moving to the UK will enhance their children’s future.

On the other hand, removing a child from the culture they have grown up in may severely disrupt their behaviour especially if they did not want to move in the first place. Teenagers and even younger children are very sensitive to change and a major change such as moving to another country could cause a lack of confidence. For example, suddenly a child has
to east food they are not used to and may not like, suddenly they may also have to get used to weather they may not have even experienced before. All of these things could cause a child to experience mental health issues.

Overall, children often gain more opportunities by migrating abroad although they will face new challenges. Parents should carefully consider the potential impact a sudden move may have on a child before they make the final decision.
296 words

Teaching Point: 4 main paragraphs is usually enough for most IELTS essays. An introduction of about 50 words, two body paragraphs of about 90 words each, and a conclusion of about 30 words.

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Sample Essay #10 – Discussion

Earlier technological developments brought more benefits and changed the lives of ordinary people more than recent technological developments. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Improvements in technology that occurred in the distant past produced more positive effects than the developments that have occurred in the last few years. I completely agree with this statement and the following paragraphs shall outline the reasons for this belief.

The first telephone completely revolutionized the way business was done and benefited humanity greatly. For the first time people could send messages long distances with ease and the pace of business increased dramatically making more people richer and creating more job opportunities. However, these days when the latest iPhone update comes out the only real changes are to do with fashion rather than providing any real new benefits. For example, now you can upload items to a ‘cloud’, or play more advanced games, but neither of these improvements in anyway compares to the first time phones were released to the public.

Similarly to the above, the first computers also transformed the way companies ran their businesses. Previously there were filing cabinets full of paperwork and accessing that information could take hours to locate the piece of information that you wanted. In contrast though, computers have been around for so long now that they have almost reached their limit in terms of how useful they could possibly be. For example, the only real changes that happen now are new releases of the Windows operating system and the so called improvements are actually just considered annoying changes to many rather than actual improvements.

In summary, the most profound long lasting impacts that technology has brought us occurred many years ago. These days’ beneficial changes now come in very small increments and I believe that will continue to be the case in the future.
282 words

Teaching Point: Always start with an introduction which rephrases the question. You should try to use different words i.e. synonyms and paraphrases of the original words in the question so that you can show to the examiner your range and level of vocabulary.

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Sample Essay #11 – Discussion

Nowadays, people of all ages from certain parts of the world spend most of the time at home rather than going outdoors. Discuss the reasons for this and say whether it is a positive or negative development.

In this day and age it is far more common for individuals to spend the majority of their time inside rather than outside. I believe this is a negative development for society and the following paragraphs shall offer possible reasons why this could be the case.

Firstly, spending more time indoors naturally indicates decreased activity levels. This automatically leads to reduced health of populations due to problems such as obesity, stroke, heart attack and so on which are all linked with decreased levels of exercise. Clearly this is a major negative for everyone concerned. Governments have higher health costs, people
die younger and families of course are deprived of a family member needlessly.

Secondly, the fact that people are indoors more often than not indicates that less time is spent socialising with others face to face. This can lead to mental health problems but also to a decline in the development of ‘real world’ social skills which help to make people employable. Afterall, in most places of work there is a definite need to communicate face to face with colleagues of customers and if an individual is not capable of doing this it does not matter how ‘book smart’ they are they will not be able to function adequately in the workplace.

Overall, it is clear to me that there are far more negatives to positives of people spending more time indoors than outside. Governments, education authorities and parents around the world should carefully consider the consequences of such a trend.
251 words

Teaching Point: Your main body paragraphs, which are the two paragraphs in the middle of your essay, should begin with a topic sentence. This topic sentence should say what the main point of your paragraph is and does not have to be too long or complex. The reader should be able to guess what the rest of the paragraph is going to be about just from reading your topic sentence.

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IELTS Essay Samples Band 9 PDF

For convenience you can also download these sample band 9 answers as a pdf file here:

IELTS Essay Samples Band 9 pdf

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What To Do Next?

If you want to see the exact process I use to write essays like the above band 9 answers then there are two options. You can read my main guide to writing IELTS essays here, or you can go straight to my IELTS course page which thousands of people have used to master each part of the IELTS test.