Planning for the Future vs Living in the Present

Some people believe that planning for the future is a waste of time because they think that focusing on the present is more important. To what do you extent agree or disagree?

Annotated response

4 correction notes

Showing 4 correction notes.

It is generally argued that spending time on future planning is not and rather, people must give precedence to working for their present. I entirely disagree with this perception and will discuss the same in the forthcoming paragraphs.

To begin with, planning for the time to come is nothing less than giving a direction to life. If you don’t spend time setting goals and objectives, it is almost equivalent to living a life that is meaningless. The present activities are highly dependent on what somebody wishes to accomplish for the future. For instance, students with the objective of securing admission to one of the medical institutes must begin the preparation in advance. Hence, it is conclusively evident that spending time on planning for the future is imperative.

In addition to this, investing time in planning for what is ahead in life is quite crucial. In the present era, the conditions and situations are extremely uncertain. People require stability in life, both health-wise and financially. Failure in planning the future can be detrimental to somebody’s life. For example, when the pandemic came into the world, a lot of daily wage earners suddenly lost their jobs, impacting not just their living but also the capability to spend more on their health. Conversely, people who invested money and time in savings gained benefits from cautiously made decisions. Thus, it is essential to allocate time for future planning.

Although it is true that planning doesn’t help every time and it is difficult to chalk out a few future , being prepared all the time helps always.

To sum it up, calling future planning a is inappropriate as it offers direction to life and . Thus, I am a supporter of investing time in planning the future.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The response presents a clear, consistently maintained disagreement with well-chosen supporting examples, including a relevant pandemic illustration. Its main limitations are occasional imprecise or unidiomatic word choices and some awkward phrasing that slightly weakens the polish of an otherwise well-organized argument.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Response

7.0

The essay presents a clear position of complete disagreement, develops two relevant main ideas with concrete examples, and reaches a consistent conclusion, though the fourth paragraph is underdeveloped.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.0

Ideas progress logically through clear paragraphing and appropriate linking devices such as 'to begin with' and 'conversely', although referencing like 'the same' is occasionally mechanical.

Lexical Resource

6.5

The response shows adequate range with topic-appropriate vocabulary like 'giving a direction to life' and 'detrimental', but imprecise items such as 'not prolific', 'chalk out a few future incidences', and 'helps always' reduce precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

6.5

A variety of complex structures including conditionals and relative clauses is used with generally good control, though awkward phrasing such as 'planning doesn't help every time... helps always' shows some inaccuracy.