Task 2 · Opinion (agree or disagree) · Environment
Individual action against climate regulation
An agree-or-disagree essay on whether personal green habits matter, where the band 9 answer separates what individual action achieves from what it is for.
The question
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Some people believe that individual efforts to live more sustainably achieve nothing while governments fail to regulate polluting industries. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.
What separates the three answers
All three accept that regulation matters more than recycling. Only the band 9 answer works out what personal behaviour is actually for once that concession has been made.
The three answers
Band 6.5
262 words (the task asks for at least 250)The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.
The answer
Nowadays, the climate change is one of the biggest problem in the world. Some people think that when a person try to live in a green way, it is useless, because the government do not control the big companies. I agree with this opinion in some way, but I also think that individual is still important1.
Firstly, it is true that the industry produce much more pollution4 than the normal people. For example, if I recycle my plastic bottles every day, this is only a very small amount comparing to a factory which is burning coal for many years. So the government should make strong laws for these companies, because only the government have this power. Without the law, the companies will never change, because they only think about the profit.
Secondly, however, I do not think that the individual actions are completely useless.2 If many people change their habit, the companies will see that the customers want the green products, and they will change also3. Moreover, when people live in a green way, they will vote for the politicians who care about the environment. Also, the children see their parents doing this and they will learn the good habit from them, so the next generation will be more responsible. This is also important for the future of our planet.
In conclusion, I agree that the government regulation is the most important thing for solving this problem, but I do not agree that the individual efforts are useless, because they can also push the companies and the politicians in the good direction.
What an examiner notices
1. Task response
“I agree with this opinion in some way, but I also think that individual is still important”
In some way is never quantified, and the conclusion repeats the same unresolved balance. The examiner is looking for a position that can be located, not merely detected.
2. Coherence and cohesion
“Secondly, however, I do not think that the individual actions are completely useless.”
Secondly signals one more of the same; however signals a reversal. Using both shows the connector was chosen from memory rather than from meaning.
3. Lexical resource
“the customers want the green products, and they will change also”
Green appears three times in the essay and there is no second way of expressing it — no sustainable, low-carbon, or environmentally responsible. Range, not accuracy, is what caps the score here.
4. Grammatical range and accuracy
“it is true that the industry produce much more pollution”
Plural verb after a singular subject, and the same slip recurs in the government do not control and a person try. Repeated agreement errors are the clearest single marker of this band.
One honest caveat
Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.
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