Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ecpe Sample Essays
Ecpe Sample Essays
becoming increasing
increasingly
ly dependen
dependentt on
nuclear power generation now that fossil fuels are dwindling in supply. What is
your opinion about this? Write a composition that discusses the advantages
and disadvantages of nuclear power as an alternative to more conventional
fuels.
There
There is no doubt
doubt that
that nowada
nowadays ys many
many countr
countries
ies rely
rely on nuclea
nuclearr power
power
generation since fossil fuel supplies are shrinking. Some people believe that
nuclear power is beneficial whereas others hold the opposite point of view.
Personally
Personally ! have ............. ....... feelings about this issue.
#n thethe othe
otherr hand
hand nucl
nuclea
earr powe
powerr is thou
though
ghtt to have
have many
many draw
drawbabackckss
for ....................... reasons. #ne of these is the fact that nuclear power has a
great diversity of ..................... impacts on both the environment and people.
To e&emp
e&emplify lify the accide
accident
nt at *herno
*hernoby
byll cause
caused d the conta
contamin
minati
ation
on and
dest
destru
ructctio
ionn of the the loca
locall ecos
ecosys
yste
tem
m and
and in term
termss of radi
radio$
o$ac
activ
tivity
ity its
conse)uences in other parts of the globe were both serious and ...................
%nother one is that nuclear power creates radioactive waste in the form of
spent plutonium and the problem of its disposal is .................. as it remains
radioactive for thousands of years.
To ......
..........
........
........
........
.....
. nuclea
nuclearr power
power genera
generatio
tion
n has both
both advant
advantage
ages s and
drawbacks. #n a personal level ! support that nuclear power is very beneficial
but recognise that it could be catastrophic as well particularly if something
goes wrong. %s to whether any given country should ................. for nuclear
power or abolish pre$e&isting plants ! believe only the citi+ens have the right
to decide but the ................... is on governments to ensure that it is a fully
informed decision.
Topic: Many countries are turning to nuclear power generation because of the
problems
problems using conventiona
conventionall fuels cause. "uclear
"uclear power
power is however
however not
without its problems. So should countries choose nuclear or not? Write a
composition which e&presses your views.
#n the other hand those who are against nuclear power generation base
their opinion on the dire and .................. conse)uences nuclear accidents
such as the one on *hernobyl cause. ,owever their ideas are flawed as they
fail to realise that the safety record for nuclear power is actually very good and
that new technologies are constantly being developed to ensure that they
become better.
! am a fervent supporter of the idea that any kind of tourism even eco$
tourism should be restricted for the essential reason that the destruction of
the environment is unavoidable. To e&plain being ............... by tourists
pristine areas such as ,awaiian beaches or %ma+on forests rapidly
become ..................... beyond recognition due to the demands for food and
accommodation tourists bring with them and the pollution and garbage they
leave behind when they go away.
#n the whole it seems that the disadvantages of this issue far outweigh any
possible advantages. To my mind tourism is only eminent nowadays because
people are more concerned with the money it generates than the environment
it destroys. Therefore ! believe that something must be done to ..................
this imbalance.
Topic: /&cessive consumerism has resulted in the creation of huge amounts
of garbage which cannot be easily disposed of. Write a composition which
describes the main problems of garbage disposal. 0-o not write an argument
nor offer any solutions1
There can be no doubt that in our contemporary times that trash disposal is a
ma2or problem which prompts great environmental damage. /&travagant
consumerism has triggered the creation of enormous amounts of litter and yet
the methods of disposal employed cause detrimental ....................... that
cannot be easily rectified.
%nother disposal method is to dump litter into landfills. This is however a far
from ade)uate way of dealing with the problem as rainwater washes through
the half$buried garbage causing to&ins to .................... into the ground water
below. This contaminated water is then used to .................. crops or worse
as drinking water with inevitable conse)uences. !t also affects marine life as it
makes its way down river systems and eventually to the sea. %dditionally not
only do landfills take up considerable areas of land that could be used for
other purposes such as agriculture or housing but the ................. given off by
rotting garbage is intolerable.
3andfill dumping should also be considered. To&ins from deposited trash seep
into the ground water below landfill sites thus contaminating it. This same
water is then used for irrigation and drinking.
The last method is dumping at sea. !t is obvious that in this way it directly
contaminates the water thus threatening marine life which is of great
significance to both animal and human life as the e&tinction of any given
species of fish wrecks havoc on the food chain hence putting other species at
risk. Moreover swimmers are strongly affected by the level of pollution of the
sea they swim in. !t simply is no longer be safe for them to swim in vast
radiuses around any dumping site.
!t(s an indisputable fact that the crime rate has increased dramatically. "ot
many people can stand this situation so they suggest that capital punishment
should be re$introduced. ,owever others have the opposite opinion. 'rom my
perspective people should not be punished by being killed.
There are several reasons as to why the death penalty should not be
legalised. The most significant one is that killing criminals makes things worse
due to the fact that neither their crimes can be corrected nor can they offer
things to humanity in order to compensate for what they have done. To
e&emplify a person that has been arrested and convicted for murder cannot
make the dead person live again by being killed so e&ecution helps nobody
apart from the relatives who might what the guilty person to die out of a sense
of revenge. %nother important reason is that sometimes people who feel guilty
and depressed are willing to die so in this case the criminal seems to be
alleviated by this action. To elaborate capital punishment does not seem
harmful for them so far from being a punishment it is a source of relief.
"ot withstanding these facts there are those who support that by killing
criminals danger to society as a whole is being reduced. This idea is flawed
however because of the fact that they fail to realise that criminals that have
committed serious crimes inevitably get life$sentences and are never released
back into society thus ensuring the general public(s safety.
To recapitulate it seems that there are strong arguments to support the re$
introduction of the death penalty despite the concerns of some. ! certainly
think that capital punishment is both inhumane and unnecessary and
therefore should not be considered as a viable solution to increasing
criminality.
Topic: Many think that the achievement of success is due to hard work while
others think it4s more of a matter of chance. What do you think success can be
attributed to? Write a composition e&pressing your view. Support with
e&les.
"onetheless many are at odds with this idea They view that success comes
from opportunities and chances irrelevant to goals or fighting for them. While
this strikes me as being a comfortable point of view how is a person e&pected
to attain the desirable outcome when not even trying to reach it?
#n the whole it seems that success is a weighty issue having a great many
aspects to consider. My firm conviction is that not only success but day$to$day
activity is unlikely to be regarded as feasible if one is not prepared to instigate
a serious plan for it.
Topic: Many think that the achievement of success is due to hard work while
others think it4s more of a matter of chance. What do you think success can be
attributed to? Write a composition e&pressing your view. Support with
e&les.
#n the other hand numerous individuals are opposed to this belief and
strongly support the idea that success is a result of risks and chances. They
base their arguments on the fact that making the correct choice will lead to a
bright future. 6ut their ideas are flawed because they fail to realise the fact
that risk taking is inherently dangerous and can easily destroy any chance of
successful achievement.
There are a host of reasons why ! have adopted this opinion when it comes to
this highly debated topic. The first of them concerns the matter of self$esteem.
To elaborate when a person takes risks he7she feels confident owing to the
fact that he7she has faith in him7herself and his7her decisions. To elaborate a
risky but simultaneously successful decision is likely to make a person gain
self$confidence ,ence this may result in being more decisive and the
positive outcome of a risky decision such as winning in gambling is capable
of changing the entire life of a person.
'urthermore another not only fundamental but also significant reason entails
the fact that when taking risks or e&ploiting opportunities of chance people
feel independent. To 2ustify people feel far freer to do anything they desire
when their actions are not part of a specific program or plan. Thus this factor
is able to contribute to people having a sense of en2oying their lives and
making the most of the opportunities they are provided with.
3ast but not least there is also another reason which is no other than the
matter of challenge and suspense. When a person puts everything on the line
with unsound or dicey decisions he7she risks winning everything or losing it
all. %lthough failure is possible if it were not for such risks people(s lives
would be dull and monotonous perhaps even robotic.
3ife is full of challenges. These challenges give rise to our strong desire to
achieve goals which sometimes are unlikely to happen. Most people get to
e&perience such moments of disappointment during their lives and ! am no
e&ception. #f the number of times ! had to accept that things would eventually
not work out the one during which ! faced the most severe disappointment
was when ! struggled to convince my parents to purchase a bike for me.
#ver the years the number of things ! would like to have owned was limited
though at that time a bike seemed like a dream which 2ust had to come true.
6eing too young to be trusted with an independent vehicle ! had to cope with
denial and long frustrating discussions over the danger bike ownership
involved even if such arguments were sensible enough. "otwithstanding the
fact that neither my father nor my mother would agree to e&pose their young
child to the danger of transportation via such a form ! remember spending
most of my time doing research on bikes of high )uality comparing prices
and befriending people who owned one. /ventually there came a point when
! wished to hear no more of their ob2ections and merely went out bought the
bike.
To recapitulate lessons can be learnt from the hardest of times. Maybe that is
what makes us go on in the end5 the never$ending hope for something better.
Topic: Many think that it4s important to e&perience failure in order to learn from
it. To what e&tent do you think this is true? -escribe an incident when you
failed and what if anything you may have learned from the e&perience.
3ike almost everyone else in their life ! have e&perienced a moment when
things didn4t go as well as e&pected. %nd that incident was when ! failed an
/nglish e&am for which ! had been well prepared.
'irst of all before sitting for this difficult and important e&am ! tried my best to
be properly prepared so as to succeed. ! made sure that ! had studied for
every lesson and that ! did not miss any classes. ! pushed myself to be among
the best students in class something that would ensure my success.
,owever the problem was not the theoretical or written parts of the e&am but
the orals. 'or an illogical reason ! felt e&tremely an&ious even though the
interview was not considered to be an e&tremely important or difficult e&am
component. Therefore ! did not do as well in class in that part of the e&am
though ! did try to improve on my performance in it as well.
Several months later my teacher called me and told me that ! had failed the
entire e&amination due to the orals. ! was devastated and couldn4t help
thinking of giving up. ,owever it eventually dawned on me that ! should learn
from the failure and make sure that ! was well$and$truly prepared ne&t time.
/ncouraged by this insight ! vowed to try again. ! studied for more than si&
months placing particular emphasis on the orals. !n the end when ! did re$sit
the e&am ! actually achieved a better grade for the interview than the written
parts of the e&am.
This incident definitely taught me not to stop making efforts and doing the best
! can so as to succeed. ! learned that failure is always a possibility in people4s
lives but it should not act as a deterrent and people should not be discourage
by it. !n fact failure is a great motivator and should not be regarded as
confirmation of defeat but an instigator for success.
Topic: Many think that it4s important to e&perience failure in order to learn from
it. To what e&tent do you think this is true? -escribe an incident when you
failed and what if anything you may have learned from the e&perience.
There can be little doubt that failure is an integral part of everyone4s life.
!ndeed it is inevitable not to undergo such unpleasant situations. %s far as my
e&perience is concerned ! have faced failure many times. #ne of the most
remarkable ones is last year4s final term e&aminations.
There are many factors which led to this negative e&perience. %ctually ! used
to have a condescending attitude towards e&aminations and ! felt the level
was very low. Thus my efforts were insufficient and inade)uate. Seldom did !
devote time to study right up to 2ust before the e&amination period. #nly then
did ! suddenly reali+e that time had passed e&tremely swiftly and that ! had
totally failed to e&ploit it. nderstandably my results where disappointing and
! failed to obtain the re)uired grades to pass the year. ! was forced to re$sit the
e&ams over the summer period at great inconvenience and personal
embarrassment.
#bviously it is not always convenient to achieve one4s goals without effort. ia
similar e&periences each and every one of us can benefit by analy+ing
profoundly his7her mistakes which should have a great influence so as not to
repeat them.
Topic: Some people prefer to multitask. They often do more than one thing at
the same time whether it4s listening to music and doing homework or working
on two or more task at the same time in the office. #thers prefer to 2ust focus
on one thing at a time without distractions. *onsider one of the two styles
and discuss why that style works or doesn4t work for you.
There can be little doubt that nowadays each and every single one of us is
inevitably charged with some responsibilities. %lthough a bewildering number
of people advocate that focusing on one task is beneficial others are
conscientious ob2ectors to this notion. %s far as ! am concerned ! firmly
believe that performing two or more tasks simultaneously is far more
propitious.
Working by e&ecuting many tasks at the same time is efficient. This style of
work tends to be less time$consuming and less wasteful of one4s precious and
irreplaceable time. -oubtlessly in our contemporary times our modern way of
life involves and demands too many responsibilities to be able to cope with
easily. To illustrate my point of view imagine a child whose spare time is
restricted #n a daily basis he7she is charged with tons of homework forced
to study and so on. !t would be a great deal more efficient for e&le to
have a meal in tandem with studying in e&treme cases. *onse)uently the
time dedicated to the meal and other similar activities would be accumulated
in order to devote it to something more crucial.
#ne the other hand there are some individuals who ignore this point and
subscribe to the idea that focusing completely on one task is favorable. !n my
view it is a gross misconception as they fail to perceive that time is restricted
and normally not ade)uate for one4s needs.
There is no doubt that the ma2ority of people write more than ever due to the
constant development of technology. 'orums blogs and websites where one
is able to chat with others encourage writing. Some individuals are fervent
supporters of the belief that writing under those circumstances is not
beneficial and in that way literacy will vanish from peoples abilities whereas
others are aggressive opponents of this belief claiming that writing chatting
and blogging are constructive. 'rom my point of view literacy is not at all
affected but the internet but contrarily enhanced and improved.
To begin with writing on the internet and e&changing views through forums is
undoubtedly beneficial. !ndividuals when writing for blogs or forums read first
what is published and then e&press their opinion on any given topic. !n that
way numerable ideas and beliefs can be observed and read by the user.
*onse)uently one is capable of enriching his7her knowledge on a topic and
ac)uiring information by the debate created there. !n addition to this the
diverse opinion e&pressed in blogs and forums may make the individual
consider his7her permanent beliefs and draw new and accurate conclusions.
'urthermore the people writing in serious internet pages always e&press their
view by using advanced vocabulary and literacy. %s a result the individuals
can be benefitted from the simple procedure of reading what is published.
They learn and retain the new words or e&pressions which is something that
leads them to develop their own language skills thus ac)uiring the skill of
writing proficiently.
#n the other hand a large group of people is a convinced that writing on the
internet is not only pointless but harmful. They base their arguments on the
fact that on the internet many badly$written te&ts are published which often
include contracted forms of real words and that the reader deliberately
embraces these bad e&pressions. Their ideas are flawed however because
they fail to reali+e that bad e&pression is something that repels readers from
setting their eyes on the te&t and in that way they are protected from any bad
influences.
To sum up it is a fact that more and more is written in blogs forums and
chatrooms $ media only made possible by technological advances and the
internet. Personally ! believe that e&posure and participation in such media
can only improve the level of language and literacy.
'ormula for a discursive essay
!ntroduction
6egin by redescribing the phenomenon the trend or the debate that is the
focus of the essay )uestion. !n a short /*P/ essay this might only need one
or two sentences.
eg.
!n the past it seemed obvious to many that the only reliable test of
intelligence was one which assessed a person4s ability to reason especially
the ability to see patterns in words numbers and symbols. !n recent years
however there has been a growing suspicion that those !< tests assume a
conception of intelligence that is too narrow.
eg.
%s ! see it musical and sporting abilities are two of the skill areas that deserve
to be regarded as forms of intelligence.
> stating what you are going to do in the rest of the essay.
eg.
!n this essay ! will look at two skill areas that deserve to be regarded as forms
of intelligence.
stating the two different points of view that you are going to consider.
eg.
eg.
This raises the )uestion of whether the benefits of pesticides outweigh their
drawbacks.
!f the essay )uestion specifically asks about your opinion it might be better to
briefly state this at the end of the introduction without giving any details or
arguments 0but it is not absolutely necessary especially if you don4t have a
firm opinion1.
!f you want to look at different points of view before you weigh them up and
give your final assessment it might be better to use techni)ues three and four
above.
Main body
This needs two paragraphs each of which should develop one point.
-epending on the essay task you might need to describe e&les 0as in the
)uestion about intelligence1 discuss different points of view describe causes
make suggestions and give reasons for your point of view. 6elow are
e&les of paragraphs that do each of these things.
-escribing e&les
eg.
The e&ceptional bodily control seen in some athletes and dancers could
definitely be viewed as a form of intelligence. The ability of a ballerina for
instance to maintain perfect balance and turn her movements into a work of
art can only be developed with years of strenuous training. !n a sense ballet
has its own language and it seems reasonable to compare the skill of using
this language with the skill of using the verbal language that has been
traditionally tested when measuring a person4s !<. %dmittedly performing in a
ballet does not involve as much thought as solving problems in an !< test but
that does not seem to me to be a good reason to e&clude this as a form of
intelligence.
%nother area in which people can show how smart they are is music. ...
eg.
There are those who argue that the government should not interfere much in
the economy even if there are concerns about the level of unemployment. !t
is said that the rate of unemployment will fall naturally if there is economic
growth and the best way to guarantee economic growth is to allow the market
to develop without government interference. Those with this point of view
accept that the government has a responsibility but they insist that it should
not go beyond providing a minimal unemployment benefit to those who are
temporarily out of work.
eg.
#ne of the reasons why some children fail at school is poverty. Students will
only make good progress if they do their homework well but a child from a
large and poverty$stricken family who does not have a )uiet room at home in
which to study will not be able to do her homework well. 'urthermore in poor
families the parents sometimes have a very low level of education and may
even have a negative opinion about the importance of education. !n these
cases they will not be able to give the help and encouragement that the child
needs.
%s regards the steps that need to be taken to remedy this situation the first
priority should be to...
eg.
#ne very powerful argument against pesticides is that they are harmful to
humans. *hemicals can only be used as pesticides if they are to&ic either to
plants or animals. These are poisons and it is hardly surprising that
chemicals that are poisonous to some forms of plant life for instance also
have detrimental effects on human health. /ating rice that has been sprayed
during storage and transport to prevent it being eaten by insects may not
make us ill immediately but by continually eating sprayed fruit and vegetables
it is almost certain that we increase our risks of suffering from cancer.
%nother reason for banning pesticides concerns the effect they have on the
environment. ...
'inal paragraph
se this paragraph to re$emphasi+e the main point or points you want to
make or to weigh up the opinions presented earlier in the essay. Then add a
comment about for instance why this is so important or about how difficult or
easy it will be to change things or about the likely conse)uences if we do
nothing.
eg.
!n conclusion for the sake of both the environment and human health drastic
reductions in our use of pesticides must be made. %dmittedly this will not be
easy since they have become such an important part of modern agriculture.
,owever if there is enough investment in research into alternatives ! am
optimistic that we will be able to phase out the use of these harmful to&ins.
Try to avoid simply repeating what you have already said. This can be
particularly difficult especially when the essay task merely involves describing
different aspects of something 0like the forms of intelligence1.
eg.
To sum up it is clear that the ability to do the old$fashioned !< tests is not the
only form of intelligence. "ot only are music and movement areas where we
can see how smart people are but there are also many others. !t is wonderful
that we are now appreciating this variety instead of giving a privileged place to
one narrow set of abilities.
When writing academic essays the usual advice is to avoid e&pressions that
are considered informal. 'or instance e&pressions with BgetB are considered
)uite informal so instead of saying Bkids will get bad marksB it would be
better to say Bchildren will receive a poor grade.B #ne good reason for
following this advice is that most of the language you have been learning on
your proficiency course is formal and so by choosing a formal register 0as we
call it1 you give yourself more opportunities to show what you have learnt on
the course.
,owever you may be surprised to see that the sample essay from Michigan
which was given an honors grade begins with a very informal conversational
style.
eg.
#C so your son got a low score in his !< tests. -on4t be discouraged since
this does not mean he is not BintelligentB. !t simply means they may not have
tested his main intelligence. More and more reassuring news is coming from
new research. These new studies indicate that there is more to intelligence
than the traditional mathematical and linguistic intelligence.
!n his notes the e&aminer calls this a Bstrong beginningB but not everybody
would agree. 06y the way the rest of that essay didn4t use a conversational
style.1 #ur advice is to use more formal and sophisticated language wherever
you can because this will give better proof that you have become a proficient
user of the kind of academic /nglish that makes up most of the /*P/ e&am.
• -o show that you appreciate how comple& the topic is 0vital if you want
to get a rating of % or 61
• -o make sure that each paragraph in the main body of your essay has
a clear topic.
• -o imagine that you are writing for someone who is not )uite as well$
informed as you are so that you really have to make your points clear.
• -o try to use a good range of vocabulary. -o not 2ust use the simplest
e&pressions that come to mind first and avoid repeating the same
words if you can.
• -o find ways to avoid the sort of repetition seen here: B% ma2or health
ha+ard nowadays is pesticides. Pesticides are widely used in modern
agriculture.B
• -o vary the length of your sentences. !f all your sentences are either
very short or very long the essay will be boring to read.
• -o not use phrases like B%s ! said aboveB which 2ust prove that either
you didn4t plan the essay or the plan was a bad one.
• -o not use e&tremely general sentences that say nothing about your
particular topic 0sentences such as BThere are two sides to every coin.B
B/verything has its drawbacks.B B"othing is perfect.B etc1.