IELTS Essay Bank · Task 2 Academic · Discussion (both views)
Surveillance Cameras in Public Places: Band 8 Sample Essay
341 words · Topic: Crime & law, Technology ·
The question
Public spaces in many cities are now monitored by large numbers of security cameras. Some see this as an effective way to prevent crime, while others regard it as an invasion of privacy.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Band 8 sample essay
Highlighted = useful vocabularyWalk through the centre of almost any large city today and you will be filmed many times over. Supporters of this blanket surveillance regard it as a practical tool against crime, while critics see it as an unwarranted intrusion into private life. Having considered both positions, I believe that cameras in public places are justified, but only if their use is tightly regulated.
Those who favour cameras point first to their deterrent effect. A potential thief or vandal is less likely to act if he knows he is being recorded, and this effect appears strongest in enclosed spaces such as car parks and stations. Perhaps more importantly, footage is invaluable after a crime has been committed: it can establish the sequence of events, identify suspects and clear people who have been wrongly accused. After the 2005 London bombings, for instance, CCTV images helped police identify the attackers within days.
Opponents, however, argue that the cost to privacy is substantial. People in a public street have always accepted being seen, but being seen by passers-by is quite different from being recorded, stored and analysed indefinitely. With the spread of facial recognition technology, cameras can track a person's movements across an entire city, revealing where they worship, which clinic they visit or whom they meet. In the wrong hands, such data could be used to monitor journalists or discourage protest, and even well-intentioned authorities may extend the system far beyond its original purpose, a process often called function creep.
In my view, both arguments has merit, and the answer lies in regulation rather than in choosing a side. Cameras are reasonable where crime is concentrated, but footage should be deleted after a short fixed period unless it is needed as evidence, and facial recognition should require clear legal authorisation and independent oversight.
To conclude, security cameras can help prevent and solve crime, yet their capacity to erode privacy is real and growing. Societies should permit them only within strict legal limits that protect citizens from the very power intended to keep them safe.
Word count: 341
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The same question is ready on its practice page, with a Band 8–9 model answer to compare.
Why this is Band 8: criterion by criterion
Task Response
Band 8Both views are discussed in depth and the writer's own opinion — cameras are justified "only if their use is tightly regulated" — is clear from the introduction and developed in its own paragraph. Ideas are relevant, extended and well supported: the crime-prevention case distinguishes between deterrence and investigation, and the privacy case explains precisely why recording differs from simply being seen. The London example is accurate and used cautiously. For Band 9, the writer's proposed safeguards would need slightly fuller justification, for example how independent oversight would work in practice.
Coherence and Cohesion
Band 8Information is sequenced logically: each view is given its own paragraph before the writer's position is set out. Cohesion is managed well through reference and contrast ("Those who favour cameras", "Opponents, however", "such data", "a process often called function creep"), and the conclusion's closing phrase ties back to the introduction's concern about intrusion. Paragraphing is sufficient and appropriate. The opinion paragraph is somewhat shorter than the others, which makes the overall balance slightly uneven, but cohesion is managed in all respects at Band 8.
Lexical Resource
Band 8A wide range of vocabulary is used fluently and flexibly to convey precise meanings: "blanket surveillance", "unwarranted intrusion", "invaluable", "erode privacy" and "function creep". Less common items are used skilfully and in appropriate collocations ("establish the sequence of events", "clear people who have been wrongly accused"). There are no spelling or word-formation errors. The range is slightly less adventurous in the conclusion, which is why this is Band 8 rather than Band 9.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Band 8A wide range of structures is used with flexibility and accuracy: an imperative opening ("Walk through… and you will be filmed"), a perfect participle clause ("Having considered both positions"), gerund subjects ("being seen by passers-by is quite different from being recorded"), embedded questions ("which clinic they visit or whom they meet") and a colon introducing an explanation. The majority of sentences are error-free. There is one agreement slip — "both arguments has merit" should be have — which is the kind of very occasional error Band 8 allows.
Useful vocabulary and collocations
- blanket surveillance
- monitoring that covers everyone and everywhere, not just suspects; precise and slightly critical in tone.
- deterrent effect
- the power to discourage an action before it happens; essential for crime essays.
- facial recognition technology
- software that identifies people from images of their faces.
- function creep
- the gradual use of a system for purposes beyond those originally intended.
- independent oversight
- supervision by a body separate from the one being supervised; key for accountability arguments.
How this essay could reach Band 9
- 1Develop the solution paragraph to the same depth as the two views: explain who should provide independent oversight and why a fixed deletion period protects privacy without harming investigations.
- 2Remove the one grammar slip ("both arguments has merit" → have); at Band 9 errors are only rare, minor slips.
- 3Keep the vocabulary as precise in the conclusion as in the body — "help prevent and solve crime" repeats earlier ideas in plainer language.
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