Should Secondary School Pupils Do Community Service?
A complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 question with a model answer of 300 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.
In some countries, secondary school pupils are required to spend a certain number of hours each year doing unpaid community service, such as helping at care homes or cleaning public spaces. To what extent do you agree or disagree that this should be a requirement for all secondary school pupils? Write at least 250 words.
How to approach it
- 01Make your position clear in the introduction and stick to it throughout
- 02Acknowledge the strongest objection rather than ignoring it — then refute it
- 03Use concrete examples — care homes, environmental projects, US high schools
- 04Use a range of opinion phrases: 'I largely agree', 'in my view', 'I find it overstated'
- 05Make sure each paragraph develops one main point fully
- 06Avoid sitting on the fence — show clear agreement or disagreement with the prompt
Model answer
300 words in 5 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.
In an era when many teenagers spend hours each day on screens, the idea of requiring secondary school pupils to perform unpaid community service has become increasingly popular. While I recognise the practical concerns this raises, I largely agree that a modest, well-structured community service requirement would benefit both pupils and the wider society.
The educational case for mandatory service is strong. Most school subjects are abstract and individualistic; pupils memorise facts, sit exams, and compete for grades. Community service, by contrast, places adolescents in unfamiliar environments — care homes, food banks, parks, primary classrooms — where they meet people whose lives differ sharply from their own. This kind of exposure cultivates empathy, responsibility, and a sense of civic identity that no textbook can deliver. Research in countries such as the United States, where high schools commonly require service hours, suggests that participants are more likely to vote, volunteer, and remain civically engaged as adults.
The social benefits are also significant. Care homes that struggle to fund extra staff gain young companions for lonely residents; environmental projects gain hands for tree planting and litter collection. In effect, the requirement creates a steady, low-cost workforce for charitable causes that improve community life.
The main objection — that compulsion undermines the spirit of volunteering — has some force, but I find it overstated. Many of the most beneficial parts of school, from physical education to maths, are compulsory, and few would seriously argue that we should remove them on the grounds of choice. Provided the schedule is reasonable, the activities meaningful, and the supervision adequate, mandatory service is no more coercive than a typical academic timetable.
In conclusion, requiring a limited amount of community service from secondary school pupils strengthens both their character and their communities, and the objections, while understandable, do not outweigh these benefits.
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.
9 more than the median answer for this task type
6 words at the shortest, 30 at the longest
1 fewer than the median answer for this task type
carry a subordinate or relative clause
Sentence rhythm
Sentences average 21.4 words and vary by 7.7 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. 9 of the 14 sentences here carry a subordinate or relative clause.
The cohesive devices it uses
5 in total, spread across 3 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.
by contrast, while
such as
in conclusion
Vocabulary and repetition
Ignoring grammar words, 84 per cent of the content words in this answer are distinct, and 75 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 Response
Give a clear, consistent opinion supported throughout
Coherence & Cohesion
Logical progression of arguments with effective linking
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary on education, civic life, and community
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
Range of complex structures with consistent accuracy
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