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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Some people prefer to spend more time improving their careers. Others think that it’s more important to spend time with family and friends.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
In the 21st century, time is more important than money. Utilisation of time is one of the key factors in this important aspect of life. There is a fundamental debate going between two mindsets of people. The first group is of the opinion that careers are more important than family and friends, others who refute this theory say that, family and friends should be given more priority than work and career. We will do a comparative analysis of both views before reaching a conclusion.

Firstly, the people who give more weight to their jobs and careers tend to believe that improving their careers will automatically reflect positively in the lifestyle of their families and friends. For instance, a man who has a good career will be able to support his family in a much better way compared to the person who is earning very less amount of money. Also, he will be able to save enough amount of money in case of unforeseen circumstances due to which he loses his job. Consequently, the family will compromise on this time factor as they are enjoying a life with all facilities with bearing in mind that whatever a person is doing ultimately will be fruitful for his family & friends.

Now, we will examine the other side of the story in which people who tend to believe that giving too much importance to their work and careers will affect negatively the mental and social behaviour of their family and friends. They will feel neglected and sidelined and consequently they can suffer from problems like depression etc. These types of people are ready to compromise their careers, salary, perks and benefits by allocating more time to their families and friends. The families are also happy to reduce their unnecessary expenses to relieve any sort of pressure on the person who is earning. Subsequently, he enjoys the life in the normal way.

To recapitulate, both the mindsets have their own priorities and goals according to which they decide which one to prefer over other either family & friends over careers or vice versa. But I tend to believe that families and friends should be weighed more in comparison to career and work. It is recommended that this decision of time, career and money should be taken by mutual consensus by all stakeholders i.e. a person family and his friends.

[ Written by - Mubashir Noorani ]

Sample Answer 2:
In the modern era, time is considered as the most precious commodity. While some people wish to devote their time enhancing their profession while others choose to spend it with their relatives and friends. As far as I am concerned, there are merits and demerits to both opinions as improving your careers helps provide for your family, on the other hand, it might drive you away from your relatives. We will further investigate this below.

Firstly, some people are born ambitious and they want to be successful in their professional life, so they thrive to achieve more success which benefits their families as they are able to provide them with better quality life. For instance, a research conducted in the US suggests that children's who studying in top private schools have higher IQ and are more confident than the pupil studying in public schools.

Secondly, individuals who strive to improve their careers are actually helping their employers and companies their work for to be more successful. For example, in healthcare, there are many employees in research and development departments who have helped their companies develop, test and launch different life-saving drugs thus, enabling their companies to be successful.

On the contrary, some people are too busy in their work and are unable to give quality time to their families and friends which might alienate them. An illustration of this would be, research conducted in the UK suggests that children whose parents are more involved in their life, live a happier and healthier life then children's without parents or if their parents are unable to give them time.

In conclusion, many people may disagree with me; it appears that both profession and relatives are important parts of an individual's life. Hence, a balance has to be struck in order to be maintained and become successful in both of these relations.

[ Written by - Haris Shuja ]

Sample Answer 3:
People have different priorities in life, as some choose to focus more on their works while others prefer to have more time with their family and relatives. The following essay will discuss both opinions, but I personally feel that we should have a balanced view regarding the discussion.  

On the one hand, some people choose to spend more times in career development. These people believe that career would be the most important aspect of their life, as a successful career would change their life. They would be able to earn handsome money, drive a luxurious car, live a big house, travel overseas or wear fancy clothes. Therefore they choose to focus more on their career improvement. One of the ways would be by working longer and more dedicatedly than what an average employee would do. Then, they also would take additional courses and training which correlate to their work during the night or in the weekend. As a consequence, they do not have time for themselves and for their family and friends as well.  

On the other hand, other groups of people believe that family, relatives and friends are more important than works. They believe that spending more times with the family would have a positive effect on children's mental development. They also believe that that people should be close to relatives and neighbours, as they are the first one who will help during financial difficulties or natural disasters. Consequently, many of these people cannot improve their careers, because they do not want to spend some of their times for self-development.  

In my opinion, I personally believe that people should have a balanced life. It means that people must develop their potential and should also have targets and ambitions in their career life, but they should not sacrifice the socialisation time as well. People should learn more about time management such as setting priorities at work, therefore they could work more effective and efficient. As a result, they do not have to work overtime and they could some spend some time with their family and friends.

[ Written by - Darwin Lesmana ]

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