IELTS Essay Bank · Task 2 Academic · Positive or negative
Automation of Factory Work: Band 7 Sample Essay
307 words · Topic: Technology, Work & careers ·
The question
Robots and automated machines are carrying out an increasing share of the work in factories that was once done by human hands.
Is this increasing automation of manufacturing a positive or negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Band 7 sample essay
Highlighted = useful vocabularyOver the past few decades, robots and computer-controlled machines have taken over a growing proportion of factory work, from welding car bodies to packing goods for delivery. Although this trend has caused real hardship for some workers, I believe it is, on balance, a positive development.
The most obvious benefit is a rise in productivity. Machines can operate around the clock without breaks, and they perform repetitive tasks with a level of precision that human workers cannot maintain over a long shift. As a result, manufacturers produce more goods at a lower cost, and these savings are often passed on to consumers. Electronic devices and household appliances, for instance, has become far more affordable over the last twenty years, partly because they are assembled on highly automated production lines.
Automation has also made factories safer places to work. Tasks such as handling toxic chemicals, operating heavy presses or working in extreme heat used to cause serious injuries and long-term health problems. When robots take over these jobs, the remaining staff can focus on supervising and maintaining the machines, which is both safer and more skilled work.
On the other hand, the human cost cannot be ignored. Workers whose jobs are replaced, particularly older employees with few qualifications, often struggle to find new employment and suffer a big lost of income, while whole towns that depended on a single factory can fall into decline. However, this problem is not caused by the technology itself but by a lack of support. If governments and employers invest in retraining schemes, displaced workers can move into roles in maintenance, programming or logistics, which is growing sectors.
In conclusion, the automation of factory work brings significant gains in efficiency, safety and living standards. Its negative effects are serious but manageable, so long as societies take responsibility for the people who's jobs disappear.
Word count: 307
Write your own answer → get an AI band score
The same question is ready on its practice page, with a Band 8–9 model answer to compare.
Why this is Band 7: criterion by criterion
Task Response
Band 7The question is answered directly and the position — a positive development "on balance" — is clear in the introduction and maintained throughout. The main ideas are extended and supported: productivity is linked to lower prices, safety is illustrated with specific hazardous tasks, and the negative side is both explained and answered with a solution. Some support over-generalises, however: the claim that savings "are often passed on to consumers" is asserted rather than demonstrated, and the solution in the fourth paragraph assumes that older workers with few qualifications can easily move into programming. This lack of depth in places is what separates it from Band 8.
Coherence and Cohesion
Band 7The essay is logically organised and each body paragraph has a clear central topic (productivity, safety, job losses). A range of cohesive devices is used appropriately, including "As a result", "for instance" and the reference "this problem", and the fourth paragraph moves smoothly from the problem to the writer's response with "However". There is some reliance on familiar signposts ("On the other hand", "In conclusion"), but progression is clear throughout, which fits Band 7.
Lexical Resource
Band 7There is a sufficient range of vocabulary for flexibility and some precision, including good topic collocations such as "a rise in productivity", "retraining schemes" and "displaced workers", and the idiomatic "around the clock". The writer uses less common items with awareness of style ("fall into decline", "on balance"). There are occasional errors in word form and spelling: "a big lost of income" should be a large loss of income, and "who's jobs" should be whose jobs. These occasional slips are consistent with Band 7.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Band 7A variety of complex structures is used with good control: a concessive opening ("Although this trend…"), non-defining relative clauses, a conditional ("If governments and employers invest…") and a cleft-like contrast ("not caused by the technology itself but by a lack of support"). Most sentences are error-free. There are a few agreement errors — "Electronic devices and household appliances … has become" (have become) and "logistics, which is growing sectors" (which are growing sectors) — but they do not affect meaning, so Band 7 is appropriate.
Useful vocabulary and collocations
- a rise in productivity
- precise way to say that more is produced per worker or per hour.
- around the clock
- idiom meaning 24 hours a day; natural in essays about technology and work.
- serious injuries
- accurate collocation for workplace safety arguments.
- retraining schemes
- programmes that teach workers new skills; a key term for automation topics.
- displaced workers
- people who have lost their jobs because of economic or technological change.
How this essay could reach Band 8
- 1Support each claim with the mechanism behind it — for example, explain why price savings reach consumers (competition between manufacturers) instead of simply stating that they do.
- 2Make the solution in the fourth paragraph more realistic by showing how it would help the specific group you mention (older workers with few qualifications), not only younger, more adaptable ones.
- 3Remove the remaining slips (have become, which are, whose, loss); at Band 8 the majority of sentences must be completely error-free.
This is an original sample essay written by IELTS-Bank to illustrate Band 7 against the public IELTS Writing band descriptors. The band scores are our assessment, not an official IELTS result. IELTS-Bank is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, or Cambridge University Press & Assessment. "IELTS" is a registered trademark of its respective owners and is used here for descriptive purposes only.