CAMBRIDGE 13

The plans below show the layout of a university’s sports centre now, and how it will look after redevelopment.

Sample Report

The plans display how a university’s sports center looks now and how it is planned to redevelop it.

Overall, the center is to become completely roofed over and multi-functional, with different types of facilities being added.

The entrance of the center is in the middle of its southern wall. Upon entering, reception can be seen directly/straight ahead. Behind reception is a 25-meter-long pool, which has a changing room to its west and seating to its east. All these facilities are to remain unchanged.

However, the gym west of the pool is to be extended eastward, and the outdoor courts east of the pool is to be removed to make room for a sports hall and two dance studios. These new amenities will have a changing room added to the south of them.

There are also plans to demolish the outdoor courts to the west of the central pool. Instead, a new indoor leisure pool is to be constructed, with a changing room south of it.

Lastly, a sports shop and cafe are to be built southwest and southeast of the reception area respectively.

Living in a country where you have to speak a foreign language can cause serious social problems, as well as practical problems. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Sample Essay

Today many people are living abroad in countries where they have to speak another language. I agree that this can bring serious social and practical challenges.

To begin with, establishing friendships with local people requires more than just a basic grasp of their language. When living in a foreign country, it might not be difficult for you to hold simple conversations about everyday things like weather and food in the native language. However, if you want to become good friends with the locals, you need to be able to discuss topics that are of more interest and are more meaningful to them. You also need to speak in a way that is not critical of the local culture. Otherwise, you may discourage them from interacting with you further. Unfortunately, many foreigners’ language skills are not good enough to handle complex conversations like that.

In addition, when living in another country, there are many occasions in your everyday life when using the local language is unavoidable. For example, in most cities in China, bus stop signs are all in Chinese. Therefore, If you are a foreigner in China who can’t speak Chinese, it would be difficult for you to figure out where to get off the bus. The same can be true when bargaining with street vendors or negotiating the rent with your landlord.

In conclusion, I agree that language barriers can cause serious social and practical issues. For one thing, you can’t build friendships with the locals with only the rudiments of their language. For another, it is impossible to completely avoid using the local language in your daily life when you live in another country.

The chart below shows the percentage of households in owned and rented accommodation in England and Wales between 1918 and 2011.

Sample Report

The bar graph displays the percentages of households that owned and rented their accommodation in England and Wales from 1918 to 2011.

Overall, while the percentage of households renting their accommodation went down, the percentage owning theirs went up over the course of this 93-year period. Before 1971, there were more households renting than owning. After that, the reverse was true.

In 1918, approximately 75 percent of households lived in rented accommodation. However, this number dropped significantly to just over 30 percent in 2001 before climbing slightly to about 35 percent in 2011.

Only around a quarter of households were owner-occupied in 1918. Nevertheless, this proportion started to increase and became the same as the proportion of households that were renter-occupied in 1971, at 50 percent. Ownership then continued to rise and reached its peak in 2001, at just under 70 percent. After that, it only experienced a small fall to roughly 65 percent in 2011.

In spite of the advances made in agriculture, many people around the world still go hungry.
Why is this the case?
What can be done about this problem?

Sample Essay

Even though progress has been made in agriculture, a large number of people around the globe still face hunger. I think poverty is the main culprit in this problem, and developing the economy is how we could solve it.

There are still many people living in poverty. Even though advances in agriculture have greatly improved food output, many people are too poor to afford any. Take India for example. it certainly has some advanced agricultural technologies; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to become one of the biggest food producers in the world. However, millions of Indians either have no income or earn less than one dollar a week. Having no money to buy food, these people have to suffer starvation.

To resolve the hunger problem caused by poverty, governments need to focus on growing their economies. Poor people are often unskilled; building a strong economy means even the unskilled can find a job. To achieve this goal, governments can open up their countries to foreign investment. For example, since Amazon entered the Indian market, it has created hundreds of thousands of warehouse jobs for unskilled, local workers. A stable job like this allows the poor to have a steady income to feed themselves and their families.

In conclusion, although technology has increased food production, many people are still starving because they do not have enough money to buy food. To improve this situation, governments need to develop their economies so that even the poorest can find work to feed themselves.

The bar chart below shows the top ten countries for the production and consumption of electricity in 2014.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Report

The bar graph displays the ten countries that produced and consumed the largest amounts of electricity in 2014.

Overall, China and the United States led in both electricity output and use. Generation exceeded consumption in all the countries except Germany.

At 5,398 and 5,322 billion kWh, China generated and used more power than any of the other countries. The United States was the second-largest producer and consumer of power, at 4,099 and 3,866 billion kWh respectively . Of the other eight countries, Russia was the only country whose output and consumption were over 1,000 billion kWh, at 1,057 and 1,038 billion kWh respectively. In comparison, the corresponding figures for the Republic of Korea were only 485.1 and 449.5 billion kWh, making it the smallest electricity-producing and consuming country.

In terms of Japan, India, Canada, France, Brazil, and Germany, their outputs ranged from 526 to 937 billion kWh while their usages ranged from 455 to 857 billion kWh. It is also noteworthy that Germany was the only country that used more power than it generated, at 582.5 and 526.6 kWh respectively.

Some people say History is one of the most important school subjects. Other people think that, in today’s world, subjects like Science and Technology are more important than History. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Sample Essay

Some people argue that courses in history should be a top priority in the school curriculum, whereas others claim that nowadays courses related to science and technology are of greater importance than history courses. I agree with the latter opinion because those who focus on disciplines related to science and technology can earn higher salaries in the future.

On the one hand, it can be argued that courses in history can foster patriotism in the young. This is because by taking these courses, young people can know that without their ancestors’ sacrifice and hard work, they would not be able to live the type of lifestyle they are living now. As a result, they will love their country more and want to give back to their country. However, I think history courses do not equip students with the hard skills needed to contribute to their nation, which makes patriotism useless.

On the other hand, students who put much effort into courses in science and technology will have a better chance of securing high-paying positions in the future. The reason is that these courses train their ability to innovate, and with this ability, they will be able to bring innovation to their future employers. Their employers in turn will reward them with high salaries. For example, even entry-level software engineers at Facebook get paid 166, 000 dollars a year. I agree with this argument because getting a well-paid job after graduation is the main reason why most people go to school.
In conclusion, while courses in history can turn students into patriots, I believe subjects related to science and technology are more important because they help students get high-paying jobs. (279 Words)

The two maps below show road access to a city hospital in 2007 and in 2010.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Report

The two maps display how road access to a city hospital had changed by 2010 compared with 2007.

Overall, there had not been many changes made, except two new roundabouts, a new car park, and the replacement of the bus stops by a bus station.

Surrounding the hospital was Ring Road, which was connected to City Road by Hospital Road. By 2010, two roundabouts had been added, at the junctions of Hospital Road with Ring Road and with City Road respectively.

There was a car park for staff and the public on the southeast side of Ring Road in 2007. However, by 2010, it had become a staff-only car park, and a new public one had been built on the east side of this road.

Furthermore, the bus stops at both sides of Hospital Road had been replaced by a large bus station with direct access to the two roundabouts.

Some people believe that nowadays we have too many choices. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Sample Essay

It is argued that people today are confronted with an overload of options. I completely agree with this point of view because of the endless stream of information offered by online retailers and search engines.

People nowadays are bombarded with a vast selection of merchandise when shopping online. Unlike physical stores, e-commerce sites, such as Amazon and eBay, do not have space constraints. Thus, when a consumer searches for something on these sites, often hundreds if not thousands of related products appear. To compare them, they have to spend much time reading their descriptions and reviews. As a result, they may experience decision fatigue, which in turn paralyzes them.

In addition, search engines are making people suffer from information overload. In other words, people may feel overwhelmed by the number of search results they receive and end up learning nothing. Take for example those who are searching YouTube for how to get a band 7 on the IELTS writing test. In a second, they would get so many recommendations from the platform’s algorithm. They may feel they need to watch all these videos so that they do not miss out on any valuable content. But in the end, they may get confused by the different advice given by those video creators, and still not know the key to scoring high on the writing test.

In conclusion, I believe that people nowadays are faced with an excess of choices because of the amount of suggestions they get from online retailers and search engines.