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This is a good question and one we received from a member of our private Facebook group (Feel free to join and ask your questions about IELTS).

Here is an example of a Band 9.0 Task 2. It is 293 words long so a bit long for what most people are able to produce. I don’t recommend writing more than this unless you are a very high user of English. Band 9.0 is just native or native-like level English that fully answers the question i.e. you don’t need to add anything else to the essay. You need to write in a logical way and support your ideas, much like you have to do in the speaking exam in Part 3. See what you think.

Many people today think that dangerous sports should be banned. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or

experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Band 9 example

Nowadays, people have the opportunities to play a wide range of sports, yet, for some, there is a need to add an element of danger to their ‘play’. I feel that these high-risk sports should be banned as people get hurt unnecessarily, which is a burden for families and hospitals too.

One sport that has grown in popularity is called ‘street luge’. It is whereby people race down mountain roads lying on a skateboard and reach speeds of up to 100 km an hour. I read an article in the New York Times about how this sport had led to the deaths of 57 deaths of predominantly young men in the last 4 years as there were very few regulations and protective equipment was used reluctantly. To me this is such a waste of life and we wouldn’t have lost so many young men if this sport had been banned.

Further to this, dangerous sports and the injuries/deaths that arise from doing them take their toll on hospitals too. To take another example, in the Verdon Gorge in France, tens of thousands of people go there every year to free climb the limestone cliffs. This has led to the local hospitals being overwhelmed with injuries at times as well as helicopter medical crews putting their lives in danger as they have to collect injured climbers from precarious locations. The French health service is free yet it is unfair that the French public should have to pay for these people who have been injured trying to get their ‘fix’.

To conclude, people putting their lives in danger to take part in a sport seems to me to be futile and has led to a waste of life and a financial burden for the public.

Word count 293

One key thing to take from this is the development of the ideas.  You can see that both are supported by developed examples that are very specific.  This is what you need to do to get into the higher Bands.

If you have your IELTS writing evaluated by IELTS examiners here at upmyielts.com, you get an example essay back with your writing if you use our questions.  You can order one here.