Many people think the quality of British education, including higher education, has declined in recent decades. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
Sample Essay with Corrections
Expert Feedback
The essay demonstrates a basic understanding of the topic and presents arguments for both sides of the issue regarding the quality of British education. Key strengths of the essay include a clear structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The writer attempts to address both sides of the argument, which is essential for Task 1. Critical areas for improvement include grammatical accuracy, as there were numerous errors that affected clarity. Additionally, the use of vocabulary could be enhanced to avoid repetition and inaccuracies. The writer should also provide more specific examples to support their claims, which would strengthen the argument. Structural changes made include correcting grammatical errors, improving coherence with better linking phrases, and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence. Suggestions for further improvements not implemented in the corrected version include incorporating specific examples or statistics to support claims about funding and student attitudes, as well as varying sentence structures to demonstrate a wider range of grammatical competence. The tone used is appropriate for an academic essay, maintaining a formal style throughout.
Detailed Scores
What this means:
The essay has a basic structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the flow of ideas is sometimes disrupted by awkward phrasing and a lack of cohesive devices. To improve coherence, the writer could use more linking words and phrases to connect ideas more smoothly, such as 'Furthermore,' 'In addition,' or 'On the other hand.'
How to improve:
- Use a clear paragraph structure
- Connect ideas with appropriate linking words
- Maintain logical progression
- Use referencing effectively
What this means:
The essay contains numerous grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('many peoples thinks'), incorrect verb forms ('I am agree'), and sentence structure problems. While some sentences are clear, the frequency of errors affects overall clarity. To improve, the writer should focus on grammatical accuracy and vary sentence structures to demonstrate a wider range of grammatical competence.
How to improve:
- Use complex sentence structures
- Maintain grammatical accuracy
- Use a variety of sentence patterns
- Check for common grammar errors
What this means:
The vocabulary used is generally appropriate, but there are several instances of repetition and inaccuracies, such as 'educations' instead of 'education' and 'agree in some extend' instead of 'agree to some extent.' To enhance lexical resource, the writer should aim to use a wider range of vocabulary and avoid repetitive phrases, while also ensuring accuracy in word choice.
How to improve:
- Use a wider range of vocabulary
- Demonstrate awareness of collocations
- Avoid word repetition
- Use more sophisticated vocabulary accurately
What this means:
The essay addresses the prompt by discussing both sides of the argument regarding the decline in the quality of British education. However, the position is not consistently clear, and the development of ideas could be more thorough. For improvement, the writer should provide more specific examples and evidence to support their claims, as well as a clearer stance throughout the essay.
How to improve:
- Address all parts of the task fully
- Support ideas with specific examples
- Develop each point thoroughly
- Stay relevant to the topic
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