Should Countries Aim for Self-Sufficiency?
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 267 words, plus a breakdown of the sentence structures, cohesive devices and vocabulary that answer uses. Write your own version first, then compare.
Written by Manish Sharma · CELTA and DELTA qualified · 8 years teaching IELTS
Score my answer to this questionThe question
You have 40 minutes. Write at least 250 words.
Some people believe that countries should try to produce all the food and goods they need rather than relying on international trade. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Make the extent of your agreement explicit — 'largely disagree', 'partly agree' — early in the response
- 02Acknowledge the strongest opposing argument fully before refining or rejecting it
- 03Use technical economic vocabulary (comparative advantage, supply chain, scale) but explain rather than show off
- 04Distinguish between full self-sufficiency and strategic self-sufficiency — a nuanced position scores higher
- 05Use real-world references (pandemic, Ukraine) to ground abstract argument
Model answer
267 words in 4 paragraphs. Read it after you have written your own, not before: the point of a model answer is to show you what you missed, and you cannot miss anything you have not attempted.
Recent supply-chain shocks and geopolitical tensions have reignited an old debate about whether nations should aspire to economic self-sufficiency. While I appreciate the security argument for producing essentials at home, I largely disagree with the idea that countries should turn away from international trade altogether.
Supporters of self-sufficiency raise legitimate concerns. A country dependent on imported food, energy or medicines is vulnerable to supply disruption, currency shocks and political coercion, as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine both demonstrated. Local production also creates domestic jobs, reduces transport-related emissions on short routes, and helps preserve traditional industries that might otherwise disappear under cheap foreign competition. In sensitive sectors — military equipment, basic pharmaceuticals, staple grains — a degree of national capacity is genuinely prudent.
However, complete self-sufficiency is neither efficient nor realistic for most economies. The principle of comparative advantage, on which trade theory rests, holds that countries become wealthier when each specialises in what it produces best and exchanges the rest with others. A nation that insists on growing its own coffee in glasshouses, mining metals from poor-quality ore or manufacturing electronics from scratch will simply pay much more for the same outcome. Consumers face higher prices and fewer choices, businesses lose access to cheap inputs, and innovation slows because firms no longer face international competition. Small countries in particular cannot achieve the scale needed for many modern industries.
In conclusion, while strategic self-sufficiency in a handful of critical sectors makes sense, a wholesale retreat from international trade would impoverish ordinary households and weaken long-term economic growth. The wiser path is diversified trade alongside selective resilience, not isolation.
What this answer actually does
Measured from the text above, and compared against the other 69 answers of the same type in this library. These are counts, not band scores: they describe what the writing does, which is the part you can copy.
24 fewer than the median answer for this task type
6 words at the shortest, 30 at the longest
the same as the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 20.5 words and vary by 7.9 words either side of that, running from 6 words to 30. Variation is the point. Grammatical Range and Accuracy rewards a mix of simple and complex sentences, and an answer where every sentence is the same length reads as flat no matter how correct it is. 7 of the 13 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
6 in total, spread across 4 different functions. Range matters more than count: an answer that opens every paragraph with a sequencer signals its structure but never signals a relationship between ideas, and Coherence and Cohesion is marked on both.
however, while
because
in particular
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 90 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 83 per cent appear exactly once. Lexical Resource is where repetition costs the most marks, and the usual cause is not a small vocabulary but reaching for the same noun every time the topic is named.
The longest run of words copied straight from the question is 3 words. Examiners discount wording lifted from the question, so a short run here is the right outcome: the answer restates the topic in its own words rather than borrowing the question's.
What you are marked on
All four criteria carry equal weight, and your Writing band is their average rounded to the nearest half band.
Task Achievement
State a clear position and develop it with relevant arguments, addressing the counter-view
Coherence & Cohesion
Logical progression from opposing view to your own with clear paragraphing
Lexical Resource
Use precise vocabulary for trade, economics and national policy
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Use a range of complex structures including conditionals and concessive clauses with accuracy
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