Writing Task 1
The table below shows expenditures on advertising of four car companies in the UK in 2002.
Sample Answer
The table shows the amount of money that four car manufacturing companies spent on different forms of advertising in the UK in 2002.
It is clear that Renault spent the largest amount of money on advertising during 2002. In addition, TV advertisements were by far the most popular advertising format while the opposite was true for cinema advertising.
In 2002, Cetirizine allocated $70 million for TV advertisements while the figure for Vauxhall was slightly lower, at $65 million. Meanwhile, $59 million was spent on TV commercials by Renault, and only $45 million by Rover. In terms of press advertising, the amount of money spent by Renault was again largest, at $45 million, slightly higher than that of Rover, at $38 million. In contrast, Vauxhall and Cetirizine only spent $8 million and $12 million on press advertising, respectively.
Of the other forms, advertising in cinemas and outdoors incurred the lowest costs, with less than $10 million spent by each company. It is also notable that expenditure on radio advertising by all car manufacturers was similar, at $15 million each.
Band 7.0+
Writing Task 2
The best way to ensure the growth of children is to make parents take parenting courses. Do you agree or disagree?
Sample Answer
Some people believe that parents should be made to undertake parenting courses in order to guarantee that their children develop well. Personally, I disagree with this idea and will outline the reasons below.
On the one hand, parenting courses could equip parents with necessary skills and knowledge to help them deal with raising their children. For example, many first-time parents can be overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for their new born infant. Without proper instruction, they do not know how to handle or care for their baby most effectively. Parenting courses could help parents to overcome these common problems. Similarly, many parents have a great deal of trouble dealing with troublesome teenagers who are misbehaving while going through adolescence.(1) Parenting courses could also help parents to better understand and deal with these issues.
However, while parenting courses could provide a lot of good skills and information to parents, many people would argue that parenting is an innate skill that every mother and father can naturally access once they have a child.(2) For example, many mothers instinctively know how to hold and care for their child as soon as it is born. In addition, many people have their own ideas about what good parenting involves due to their own upbringing, and cultural influences. Lastly, many people would consider it ridiculous that people should be forced to attend parenting courses as people should be free to make their own decisions.(3)
In conclusion, although parenting courses could provide some beneficial outcomes for both parents and children, I believe that it should be up to the parents to decide whether or not they wish to participate in such courses.
Band 7.0+
