CAMBRIDGE 16

The diagram below shows the process for recycling plastic bottles. Summerise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Essay
The diagram illustrates how plastic bottles are recycled.

Overall, the recycling of plastic bottles is a cyclical process that consists of use, collection, sorting, crushing, cleaning, pelletizing, making new plastic products, and reuse.

After plastic bottles are used, they are discarded in recycling bins, waiting for trucks to transport them to a recycling plant. Once there, they are sorted and those that can be reused are compressed into blocks. The blocks are then broken down by a crushing machine into small pieces, which are subsequently cleaned to remove any residue.

The small clean pieces produced in the last stage are then poured into a machine where they are turned into pellets. The machine also heats and melts the pellets, which creates plastic raw material. Finally, the raw material is made into different plastic products, including pens, bottles, and reusable shopping bags. After these products are used, they go through the recycling process all over again. (155 words)

Some people say that now is the best time in history to be living. What is your opinion about this? What other time in history would be interesting to live in?

Sample essay

Some people feel that we are living in the best time of all (You could also use “the best of all times”). I completely agree with this point of view because of the long life expectancy we have. However, a more interesting time to live would be the post-World War II era, in the U.S.

We live much longer lives thanks to advances in medical science. Before the 21st century, people often died from infections that can easily be treated today. However, now, even cancer could be cured. Take those with kidney failure. They could get a kidney transplant and go on to live for another five or even ten years. What could be better than having a second chance at life?

However, the best time to be alive doesn’t mean the most interesting time to be alive. I think you would have much more fun living in the U.S. after World War II. At that time, the U.S. economy experienced unprecedented growth. Suddenly, blue-collar Americans could afford things once considered high-class. Imagine you are a factory worker living in that era. All of a sudden, you own a television and a car. During off-hours, you can watch your favorite TV shows at home or drive to your favorite places to have a blast. How interesting your life has become!

In conclusion, we are living longer and this makes now the best time to be alive. However, a more interesting time to live would be postwar America because, all of a sudden, you could afford so many things that would have been too expensive to buy. (258 Words)

The plans below show the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Essay

The plans show Southwest Airport now and next year, after redevelopment.
Overall, the airport will be expanded to provide more gates, and the addition of other new facilities will offer more convenience for both departing and arriving passengers.

The departures entrance is on the left as one faces the building. Upon entering, passport control and security can be seen straight ahead. After redevelopment, a bag-drop area will be added in the departures hall, before one goes through passport control. Although the check-in counters will be relocated to make room for the new bag-drop area, they will still be right before passport control. The café, on the other hand, will be moved close to the entrances.

Once through security, passengers will see some shops, which the airport currently doesn’t have. Ahead is the concourse. At the moment, there are 8 gates and passengers may use a moving walkway to get to their boarding gate. Going forward, the airport will have a much longer concourse with 18 gates so the walkway will be replaced by a sky train.

Moving on to the arrivals hall, at present passport control and customs are the only services in the hall. Beginning next year, however, there will be a cafe, ATM machines and car hire arriving passengers can use after clearing customs.

Many manufactured food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, which causes many health problems. Sugary products should be made more expensive to encourage people to consume less sugar. Do you agree or disagree?

Sample Essay
Many processed foods and drinks are packed with sugar and this leads to many health issues. I agree that, to reduce sugar consumption, sugar-packed products should be sold at a higher price.

Many people over-consume sugary products because they are cheap. For example, in the United States, many fast-food restaurants offer free refills on sodas. As a result, customers tend to have two or even three sodas at a meal. If these restaurants were required to implement a 20% tax on these drinks and stop supplying free refills, many customers probably would not order one at all, let alone have a second one. A regulation like this could be extremely effective in terms of preventing obesity among low-income people since many of them are heavy consumers of cheap sugar- sweetened foods and beverages.

In addition, making high-sugar products more expensive can promote healthier eating choices. This is because if the prices of these products increase to a point at which people are unable to afford them regularly, they may turn to foods that are healthier and more affordable. For instance, if a can of strawberry-flavored beverage costs three times the price of a box of fresh strawberries, why not choose the cheaper fresh fruits which can also satisfy a sugar craving? Although fresh fruits also contain sugars, natural sugars are much healthier than added ones.

In conclusion, sugar-sweetened products should be made more costly to reduce sugar intake. For one thing, the over-consumption of these products is partly because of their low cost. For another, increasing their price can encourage people to choose healthier food. (265 Words)

The diagram below shows the manufacturing process for making sugar from sugar cane. Summerise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Essay
The diagram displays how sugar is manufactured from sugar cane. Overall, it is a linear process consisting of four main stages: farming, crushing, separating and drying.

The first step is to grow sugar cane and it takes about 12 to 18 months for it to mature. After it has fully grown, it is harvested either manually or mechanically. The manual method involves farmers removing the leaves first and then chopping the canes, while the mechanized method uses machines to cut the canes directly.

The harvested canes are then crushed in a mill to extract the juice, which later on is purified using a limestone filter. Next, the purified juice is boiled in an evaporator to remove water, which concentrates it into a syrup. The syrup is then poured into a centrifuge where it is spun at high speed to separate the sugar crystals. Finally, the crystals are dried and cooled and the end product is sugar.

In the future all cars, buses and trucks will be driverless. The only people travelling inside these vehicles will be passengers. Do you think the advantages of driverless vehicles outweigh the disadvantages?

Sample Essay
n the future, all vehicles will be autonomous. Passengers will be the only people inside them. I believe businesses can cut costs by using driverless cars, and this advantage far outweighs any potential disadvantages.

One downside of self-driving cars might be that they could lead to large employment losses. Nowadays, in many countries, a great number of people are making a living by driving, be they truckers, bus drivers, or delivery couriers. Imagine all these people are made redundant by autonomous cars. That would raise the unemployment rates in these countries significantly.

On the positive side, driverless cars could help businesses reduce operating expenses. This is because, with these cars, they would not need to hire drivers to deliver their products or services to their customers. For example, the American logistics company UPS currently has hundreds of thousands of truck drivers and pays them an average of 60,000 dollars per year, which adds up to tens of billions of dollars annually. Replacing these drivers with autonomous cars would mean that these huge salary payments could be eliminated. I think this could create a great advantage for society as a whole because companies could devote the money they save on labor to other aspects of their business, which could mean cheaper, better goods for consumers.

In conclusion, although self-driving vehicles would result in many job losses, I believe this downside is greatly outweighed by the upside that these vehicles could help businesses save operating costs.

The charts below show the changes in ownership of electrical appliances and amount of time spent doing housework in households in one country between 1920 and 2019. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Sample Essay
The first graph displays the percentages of households in one country that owned electrical appliances between 1920 and 2019, while the second graph illustrates how much time the average household in that country spent doing housework every week during the same period.

Overall, ownership of all three appliances increased during this period, with that of refrigerators having the greatest growth. At the same time, the amount of time spent on housework decreased.

Washing machines were the most common of the three electrical appliances in 1920, with ownership reaching 40% of households. This number then rose to about 75% by 2019, with a small dip in 1980. Nearly a third of households owned vacuum cleaners in 1920. Although ownership climbed steadily, it did not reach 100% until 2000.

In comparison, almost no households had a refrigerator in 1920. However, ownership increased rapidly and by 1980 there was one in every household.

The amount of time spent doing housework, in contrast, first fell significantly from 50 to 15 hours per week per household between 1920 and 1980. After that, it experienced only a small drop to just over 10 hours a week in 2019. (192 Words)

In their advertising, businesses nowadays usually emphasise that their products are new in some way. Why is this? Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Sample Essay

In their advertising, businesses today often promote the idea that there is something new in their products. I believe they do this because it can help them beat their competitors. It should be seen as a positive development because new features are there to respond to consumers’ new needs.

By emphasizing novelty, brands can increase their chances of staying ahead of their competitors. No matter what product a company sells, there are always hundreds, if not thousands, of similar ones on the market that consumers can choose from. If the company does not inform consumers through its marketing that the product is innovative in some way, it will just be one of the many out there, rather than one that is different and grabs consumers’ attention. For example, in an iPhone commercial, Apple effectively delivers the message that the latest version of iOS allows users to disable cross-app tracking. This new feature which no other smartphone has can definitely help Apple attract new buyers since nowadays people are becoming more and more concerned about their online privacy.

I think this is a positive development because consumers have new requirements that need new products to satisfy them. For example, with all the digital devices at their fingertips, people nowadays want to limit their screen time more than they did a decade ago. Noticing this change, Amazon has launched a screenless fitness band called the Amazon Halo. This screenless feature is something existing fitness trackers such as Apple Watches and Fitbits cannot offer.

In conclusion, emphasizing the newness of their products in advertising is an effective way for brands to stand out from the competition. This is a positive development because new features can meet customers’ new needs. [289 Words]