Essay writing…hmm. I’ve gotten stuck. The brainstorming time was supposed to help me focus my thoughts but it didn’t. Now what?
Time to start a body paragraph. Skip the topic sentence and just go for a reason. I need to pass this test. And, for my example… a high score is going to help me get into a better school. But, that’s not enough. I actually need to learn English!
How am I ever going to do that? TED.com … On the other hand, perhaps this paragraph should be about money. Scholarships! Sure… just write another perfect essay. But, that’s got to be about me, and what have I got to say that is going to really make my application stand out?
I’ve been writing a standard five-paragraph essay, and the best part is yet to come! The easy thing about writing an application essay is that it’s all about myself… j/k. What can I say about me? OMG, as if this essay hasn’t been challenging enough already!
Practice! I probably should stick to what I know. I could do a little research if I get stuck. But, the most important thing is just to get started. I’ll check my work when I’ve finished. All the spelling and punctuation has to be perfect. Is it long enough? Are my ideas well-connected? Have I used paragraphing adequately?
Yes! That means this is my last paragraph. And it only took me twenty-five minutes. So, just get started and let it flow!
This 15-minute recording contains model answers to the IELTS Speaking Test questions below. The topic is particularly relevant to this coming academic year when so many students will be studying online for the first time as a result of the pandemic.
Useful vocabulary found in the audio recording above:
The playlist of videos below contains four segments with model answers to IELTS Speaking Parts 2 and 3 on the topic of art, photography and artists. The total time is approximately 14 minutes.
Click forward/back to move among the four videos.Leave a Comment
Related to the previous post with model answers to IELTS Parts 2 and 3 on the topic of Stars and Planets, here is a video with vocabulary and phrases that I used.
I suggest using a dictionary for new words. Practice repeating the words and phrases for pronunciation practice. And, listen again over the model to hear them in context.
Try recording your own original responses with an audio recorder. Listen to your recording, and take note of your speed and pronunciation.
“Some scientists believe that in the future computers will have more intelligence than human beings. While some see this as a positive development, others worry about the negative consequence. Discuss both views and give your opinion.”
This prompt was found on an IELTS preparation blog. A follower of the blog reported that this was the topic they’d received as the Task 2 prompt in July 2020. I made these videos with a free version of Screencastify, which only allowed for recording five-minute segments at a time. I accidentally deleted the first segment in which I had recorded myself typing the introductory paragraph. Oops!
For anyone interested in seeing the commentary on writing process, view the last video. Here also is the full text of my essay, to which I made a change at the end of the third paragraph after completing the videos.
Some believe that artificial intelligence will outperform human intellectual capacity at some point in the future. Although there are clear benefits to working with smarter machines, there are many drawbacks. The greatest benefits include the aid that we as a society will get, but we must neither become overly reliant on the technology nor sacrifice individual liberty for the sake of our non-human counterparts.
As for the drawbacks, we can see how our peers, family members and perhaps, if we are reflective enough, ourselves interact with digital devices. We already employ lots of artificial intelligence in our computing systems, but the likelihood that AI will surpass our intelligence is not far off. The computer, however, is not all-knowing. The real beauty of the intelligence is not in its replication of human ability but rather in the fact that it can learn. We would hope that computers could learn all the positive traits that we possess. However, our best minds do not presently populate the internet with ideas. Hence, as AI attempts to replicate authentic human communication, it has demonstrated the more obnoxious end of the online chat world. This was not such a problem when it was easy to distinguish bots from real users, but it has become harder to pick the two apart in recent years. This, unfortunately, is the most divisive element of the fake posts that have been aimed at political discourse. Our imagination is the limit as to what possible negative outcomes of AI may arise as it gains on us.
The positive aspects of artificial intelligence lie not in the system’s ability to recreate a virtual world, but rather in its implementation in public policy. Using AI to model outcomes and make predictions would help policy makers “see the future.” This does not mean that computers will actually make the decisions, but rather that their human operators will seek their guidance. Again, the machine is not all-knowing but will have greater capacity for knowing without being swayed by intuition or ‘gut feeling.’ The fear of a cold-hearted AI is misplaced, as what we avoid in its implementation are the biases and misconceptions of even the most adept among us in their inherently limited scope. The abilities of high-achieving, powerful businesspeople and technocrats are aided in many ways by teams of assistants and subordinates. Even still, these teams of managers and political operators are prone to error and are swayed by emotion. That is not to say that they are always misguided, but rather that their abilities would be aided by AI to the benefit of all people.
In conclusion, the benefits to the population are outweighed by the drawbacks when we consider the greatest tool AI provides. The technology would seem to grant a supernatural power—the power of seeing the future through modeling and algorithms. Employing this tool at the highest levels of business and government would give us all an upper hand since there would be no need to second guess ourselves. (499 words)
This is the 8-video playlist. At the start of my first video, I am reading my introductory paragraph. Click forward to move to the next video in the playlist.
