IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Learning about the past has no value for those of us living in the present.
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.
Sample Answer:
In many circles, it is argued that the past has no worth for those of us living in the present, while others oppose the notion. In the case, I wholeheartedly disagree with the idea that the past has no value for us. I believe that history is a great teacher and source of wisdom. Studying past helps learn about present and how can we ensure a better future for us.
There is not a single shade of doubt that historical events always teach us valuable lessons. From history, we can learn of a nation’s independence, wars, how a nation rose and tumbled into time. We can follow good approach while discarding bad things. For instance, in the past, people tended to solve problem by force. However, the violent ways did not function solving the problem. That is why nowadays we hardly use the violent means to solve problems. We always try to solve a problem in a peaceful way and this is the lesson of history. Our past experience teaches us not to use violent means because it escalates only tension. On the other hand, history also shows that a peaceful solution can ensure a durable peaceful condition. Thus, the past ameliorates the mistakes so that we can take the right decision to make a better future.
Similarly, history inspires us to take action against all the injustices in the society in order to regain social justice. We can learn many things from history of social justice movements. Investigating the past successes and failures of those movements can help us decide how we want to shape a more just society. Take French Revolution for an example. The event set the stage for the people who want to change an autocratic government or reign of terror in order to ensure a just society based on liberty, equality and fraternity.
In fine, present is the consequent of the past. We cannot comprehend present being bereft of the past knowledge. So, denying past means confused about present which may harm our future. Therefore, we should study past to learn the present and how we can attain a future we want, both as a community and as individual.