IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer :
It goes without saying that we are learning and developing ourselves throughout our life. We gain knowledge not only from books but also from our daily experience. While knowledge from books is important, I believe knowledge that we gain from our empirical experience is more important. Following reasons could explain why.
To start with, experience is a stunning tool with which we can judge the knowledge gained from books is authentic or not. However, books are wonderful source of knowledge. It provides us with essential knowledge that is crucial for living a better life. The most significant feature of books is that they accumulate all the knowledge gained from generation to generation. We can gain myriad knowledge from books including science, math, history, physics, literature, philosophy, and so on. We can understand and justify what the books really mean through our own experience and practice. For example, once people learnt from books that our planet is flat, but the scientists found it wrong later through measurement and observation.
In contrast, I believe that “the truth comes from practice and experience”. We can accomplish knowledge from our experience as much as those from books. For example, a few hundred years ago, people thought that the sun travels around the earth, but later Nicolaus Copernicus proved that was wrong through his experience and observation. He concluded that the earth goes around the sun. Knowledge is being producing incessantly through our daily experience and practice, and some of the knowledge could never be found in books. Books have limitations that they only confine to past issues, but our experience and practice produces cutting-edge knowledge that leads to further development of mankind.
However, we can gain knowledge mainly from two channels, books and experience. Each plays different roles for us. In my opinion, I believe that knowledge from experience is more important than from books. This is because it not only tailors current demands, but also corrects previous mistakes.
In pithy, experience helps us discovering new things and assessing the trustworthiness of a phenomenon. I, therefore, believe that knowledge from experience is more significant that those from books.