Some people believe that smartphones should be banned in secondary schools. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
4 IELTSbiz learners have answered this Task 2 question and had it marked on the four official criteria; bands ranged from 5.5 to 6.5, with a median of Band 6. Compare the answers below to see exactly what the higher bands did differently.
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These are learner answers, not model answers — including the ones that scored well. Read them for what the criteria reward and punish, not as text to copy. A memorised essay attached to a slightly different question scores worse than an honest attempt, and examiners recognise recited material quickly.
Some say that secondary students should not be allowed to use smartphones at school. I strongly agree with this view because smartphones can be highly disruptive to students' focus during class and also make them spend less time on physical activities during free time.
The first reason why electronic devices such as iPhones or iPads should be prohibited in secondary schools is that they are highly distracting and can deprive students of their attention while studying. Most pupils at such young ages have yet to be fully developed in regard of cognitive ability as well as be able to understand the negative effects of smartphones; Therefore, they will be easily distracted and not be able to resist the urge to pick up their phones, distracting themselves from the lessons being taught in class. For instance, after the Covid-19 pandemic, many students adopted the habit of scrolling their phones even during class, and this has led to the prohibition of mobile phones at school in many countries because they couldn't keep students focused while studying.
Another reason why secondary schools should ban smartphones is that these devices make students become lazier and also more sedentary. That is to say that if smart devices are allowed at schools, many pupils will spend more time scrolling social media and playing video games instead of engaging in physical activities such as playing sports or doing exercises. As a consequence, students will become lazier and less active over time, developing a sedentary lifestyle without even noticing. Before the ban of smartphones at school, many students in Vietnam were reported to be highly inactive and the number of individuals participating in sporting events was also surprisingly low compared to that of after the ban, showing how letting pupils use smart devices can bring such a negative effect to their lifestyles
In conclusion, I totally support the prohibition of smartphones in secondary schools because these young individuals haven't learnt how to control their inclination to use these devices, following the concern of them becoming inactive and not participating in sports or other physical activities.
Some say that secondary students should not be allowed to use smartphones at school. I strongly agree with this view because smartphones can be higly disruptive to students' focus during class and also makes them spend less time on physical activities during free time.
The first reason why electric devices such as iphone or ipad should be prohibited in secondary schools is that they are highly distracting and can deprive students of their attention while studying. Most pupils at such young ages have yet to be fully developed in regard of cogtitive ability as well as be able to understand the negative effects of smartphones; Therefore, they will be easily distracted and not be able to resist the urge to pick up their phones, distracting themselves from the lessons being taught in class. For instance, after the Covid-19 pandemic, many students adopted the habit of scrolling their phones even during class, and this has led to the prohibition of mobile phones at school in many countries because they couldn't keep students to focus while studying.
Another reason why secondary schools should ban smartphones is that these devices make students become lazier and also more sedentary. That is to say that if smart devices are allowed at schools, many pupils will spend more time scrolling social media and playing video games instead of engaging in physical activities such as playing sports or doing exercies. As a consequence, students will become lazier and less active over time, developing a sedentary lifestyle without even noticing. Before the ban of smartphones at school, many students in Vietnam were reported to be highly inactive and the number of individuals participating in sporting events were also suprisingly low compared to that of after the ban, showing how letting pupils use smart devices can bring such negative effect to their lifestyles.
In conclusion, I totally support the prohibition of smartphones in secondary schools because these young individuals haven't learnt how to control their inclination to use these devices, following the concern of them becoming inactive and not participating in sports or other physical activities.
There is indeed a huge population of people who are against smartphones for their kids who are studying in primary and secondary schools. I completely disagree with this ,because by the usage of smartphones students are highly exposed to the new technologies that are being implemented if they use it in a right manner . By smartphones students can have knowledge of what's going on in the world rather than sticking to the textbooks or school curriculum. Parents should understand the perks of using smartphones , but thinking from parents perspective banning the smartphones would not solve the problem of students getting addicted to smartphones or misusing smartphones for wrong purpose, rather than that parents should first understand the benefits of smartphones and further guide their kids in a right way to use it. For example one kid has access to smartphone and uses it in a right way by keeping up on all the daily updates , news , technology and so on whereas another kid without a smartphone lacks the knowledge about all the current news and updates . The kids while they are in secondary school are very vulnerable , things they learn in that age shapes their brain to who they wanna become or what they are interested to study in further classes , hence having knowledge about everything plays a very crucial role on their brains in that age . In conclusion, I would suggest people to get more knowledge about the positive effects of smartphones and technology on kids rather than just looking into the negative side of it, in fact every matter on this earth has both positive and negative sides hence looking both sides plays a very notable role.
A certain category of people hold onto the notion that high school learners ought not to be given access to mobile devices. Students often direct all their attention to these gadgets thus forgetting about their schoolwork, this eventually leads to poor school perfomance. I strongly agree that the use of mobile phones by learners should be halted.
time,come across harmful content, loose interest in school wopork
To begin with, various technological applications are commonly immersive in terms of focus and touch with reality. People frequently find themselves sinking deep into different content posted online subsequently loosing track of time, and in worst scenarios neglecting responsibilities. School going children are not an exception and considering the fact that they spend a lot of time in school, content on the internet masks itself as a form of brain relaxing activity. This, unlike actually playing outside has no limiting signs like getting tired, leading to long hours of scrolling. For example, a student who spends most of the holiday on apps like Tiktok and Instagram will most likely forget to study because these apps have a unique topic every day. When schools reopen, the student will undoubtedly have poor scores as compared to when schools were closing. This could form part of the broader range of factors contributing to poor grades in school examinations neccessiating the ban of these devices.
Additionally, the internet has millions of unrestricted sites some of which are harmful and degrading and when minors are exposed their moral compass gets interfered with. Teenagers are still familiarizing with basic moral principles and so are not in a position to absolutely differentiate right from wrong. When they come across pornographic films, they would normalize the acts and even incorporate them in their lives. For instance, when an adolescent boy stumbles upon a pornographic website online, he will assume that that is what adulthood is about consequently emulating the acts. These fosters bad societal morals thus mobile phones which expose children to these items should be prohibited.
In conclusion, social media and the internet distances school goers from their books and also introduces rotten information such as pornography to them thereby scraping them off their routine would be beneficial.
What band do answers to this IELTS question usually get?
Across 4 graded answers on IELTSbiz, bands ranged from 5.5 to 6.5, with a median of Band 6. Each was marked on Task Response, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range & Accuracy.
What separates the Band 6.5 answer from the Band 5.5 answer?
The largest difference is Task Response: 7 in the Band 6.5 answer against 6 in the Band 5.5 answer. Open each answer to read the examiner's reason for every criterion.