In this post: the eight education questions I met most often, the three core tensions behind them, and the first three logic chains: for breadth and for practical skills.
Education and Learning · 4 parts
- 1. Common questions and breadth arguments (you are here)
- 2. Depth, gap year and collocations
- 3. My own paragraphs, broken down
- 4. Worked example, mistakes and practice
✦ In this post
Education is one of the topics I wrote about most. Should university students take subjects outside their major? Should schools teach money management and car repair? Should school leavers take a gap year before university? I wrote four essays on questions like these for marking, and they scored between 6.5 and 7. Looking back, my education essays rarely lost marks because I “couldn’t think of ideas”. They lost marks because my ideas stopped halfway: I would write “practical skills are useful” without making clear useful for what, useful for whom, and why more important than academic study.
So this is not a vocabulary list (for quick vocabulary, see Topic Vocabulary, Part 1). Instead, it breaks education questions down into: what the questions look like → how to develop the arguments → which words to use → how I actually wrote them and what I scored → how to write them better. Every argument is written as a Point → explanation → example logic chain that you can move straight into a paragraph.
1. Eight common education questions
These are the education topics I met most often while making notes and practising. I have paraphrased the questions, and the right-hand column shows the real issue the question wants you to discuss. I eventually realised that once you identify the issue, the arguments almost grow out of it on their own.
| Question (paraphrased) | Common question type | The real issue |
|---|---|---|
| Should university students focus on getting their degree, or also take subjects outside their major? (I wrote this one, Cam18-2) | Discuss both views | Depth vs breadth; the value of a degree |
| Besides academic subjects, should schools teach practical skills such as car repair and money management? (I wrote it from both sides) | Agree / Disagree | Class time is limited, so which comes first? |
| Should school leavers work or travel for a year before going to university? (I wrote this one) | Pros and cons + your opinion | Gaining experience vs the cost of delaying study |
| Should universities prepare students for jobs, or pursue knowledge for its own sake? | Discuss both views | What is education for? |
| Should government funding go mainly to science and engineering, or be shared equally across subjects? | Agree / Disagree | Allocating resources fairly |
| Will online courses replace classrooms? | Outweigh / Agree | Flexibility and cost vs interaction and self-discipline |
| Are team sports the best way for children to learn to cooperate? | Agree / Disagree | The “only / best” way? |
| Should university fees be paid by students or by the government? | Discuss both views | Individual benefit vs benefit to society |
Looking at these eight questions together, you can group education questions into three core tensions. Whenever I see an education question now, my first step is to decide which group it belongs to:
| Core tension | Related questions | Key words for each side |
|---|---|---|
| Limited time: what to learn and what to give up | Major vs other subjects, practical skills, gap year | depth / breadth, opportunity cost, limited school hours |
| Who pays: the individual, the school or the government | Tuition fees, funding allocation, teachers for practical skills | public funding, financial burden, benefit society as a whole |
| The purpose of education: jobs, knowledge or character | The purpose of university, team sports, online courses | employability, critical thinking, social skills |
2. Argument bank: eight logic chains you can turn straight into paragraphs
Each argument has three steps: Point (a one-sentence claim) → explanation (why it holds, with at least one step of cause and effect) → example (concrete enough that the reader can picture it). At the bottom of each card is an English sentence you can use directly. I have written any research- or data-type examples as hypothetical examples, and I suggest you keep that tone too rather than inventing “a university study shows that 80%…”.
A. For breadth: other subjects and practical skills
For breadth · Point 1: jobs change fast, and people with more than one field switch careers more easily
Point → Students who have studied different fields adapt better to changes in the job market.
Explanation → Many routine jobs are being automated. People with only one set of skills find it hard to change direction once that job disappears, while people with a second specialism can carry their experience into a new role.
Example → In my university subjects essay, I used “administrative jobs being replaced by technology”. You could also use a hypothetical example: an accounting student who took a programming elective moves from bookkeeping to maintaining the system after the company introduces automated reporting.
Since many routine jobs are being automated, graduates who have studied more than one field can move into a new role more easily when their original job disappears.
For breadth · Point 2: you only know which path you want after you have tried a few
Point → Trying different subjects helps students confirm their interests and lowers the cost of choosing the wrong direction.
Explanation → Many people choose a degree based only on their exam scores or their family’s advice, and only realise at university that it does not suit them. The later they find out, the more time and money it costs to switch. Trying different fields while still studying is like taking a career test at a much lower cost.
Example → The example in my “agree” essay on practical skills: after a money management class, a student discovers that finance is interesting and even wants to start a business.
Taking courses outside their major allows students to test their interests at a relatively low cost, before they commit years to a career that may not suit them.
For practical skills · Point 3: managing money is a life skill everyone needs, and not every family teaches it
Point → Skills such as money management and filing taxes should be taught at school, because they affect everyone’s life and families differ enormously in what they teach.
Explanation → Some parents teach their children to keep accounts and save; other families never talk about money. If schools do not teach it, this gap continues into adults’ financial situations. Only when schools teach it to everyone do all students start from the same line.
Example → A hypothetical example: a first-year university student gets a credit card for the first time, does not understand revolving interest, and only pays the minimum each month. A year later, the debt is a good deal larger than the original spending.
Teaching financial management at school ensures that every child, not only those whose parents discuss money at home, learns how to budget and avoid debt.
Continue reading · Part 2 of 4
IELTS Notes in English · Topic Guides (post 1 of 10)
Next →: IELTS Task 2 Topic Guide: Work and Careers
Task 1 Structure · Task 2 Structure · Topic Guides · Writing Language · Band Score Samples · Practice Methods · Speaking & Study Tips
✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
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