Model answer
A high band model answer to a real Task 2 question, with the task it answers. 40 minutes, at least 250 words.
This is a model answer to a real Task 2 question. Read the task first, write your own answer, and only then read the model. Reading it first tells you very little about your own writing.
A model answer shows you the target. It does not show you the gap between your answer and that target, which is why the band sample answers with corrections are worth reading alongside it.
The task
Write your own answer before reading the model.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Drug addiction is becoming an increasing problem. In order to reduce this problem, caught using drugs should be automatically sentenced to time in prison.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
The answer
Written at the length the test actually asks for.
When considering what punishments should be delivered for certain crimes, there are a number of factors that need to be considered, such as the extent of an individual's involvement in drugs, as will now be explained.
Drug addiction can begin for a number of reasons, and although drug abuse is illegal, the factors which cause the addiction need to be considered. Young people may find themselves pressured by their peers into experimenting with drugs, or some may even seek the narcotic value of the substance as an escape from a particularly harsh reality.
If the only intention was to remove anyone guilty of a crime from society, then this could be considered effective. Yet in cases where there are extenuating circumstances, prison is unlikely to offer a true solution to the problem. and can often be a regressive step as the cause of the drug abuse is not addressed. The solution is more likely to lie in education and support, not prison.
However, for those who have been offered rehabilitation but continue to abuse drugs, a jail term needs to be considered, not only as they are breaking the law but also to act as a deterrent for future potential addicts.If the abuser is also engaged in supplying drugs to others, then a prison sentence should be required.
In conclusion, if it can be be ascertained that the person caught using drugs has a reasonable chance of being rehabilitated without resorting to prison, then this is the route that should be taken.
253 words
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