Technology and the Gap Between Rich and Poor

Some people believe the range of technology available to individuals today is increasing the gap between poor people and rich people. Others think it is having an opposite effect. Discuss both of these points of view. What is your opinion on that issue?

Annotated response

12 correction notes

Showing 12 correction notes.

There have always been considerable discussions in terms of the influence of technology on human beings. It is argued by some that the advent of technology is responsible for expanding the gap believe that technology is an ideal vehicle for people to get closer to each other.

On the one hand, I understand why some people think that technological devices increase the gap between rich and poor people. They argue that technological advances have led to the appearance of various luxurious products which are so costly that only the rich are able to afford. Take supercars as a cars are often equipped with and other state-of-the-art equipment. Also, they rigorous safety tests to customers, and therefore they are too expensive in the market. It is impossible for poor people who live on a small salary to buy this kind of cars which may many rich people buy exorbitant cars to .

On the other hand, I believe that there do exist many technological inventions which reduce the differences between wealthy and poor people. The advancement of technology has brought many opportunities for most people from a variety of backgrounds to of technological products which are affordable in the market. It is exemplified by a high proportion of families in Vietnam who use air conditioners and washing machines on a daily basis. In the past, it was difficult for impoverished people to possess these products in numbers and expensive. However, not only well-off households in cities but also rural families in the countryside can buy them to improve their living standards as they are not only diverse in size and quantity but also cheap.

In conclusion, there are some high-tech devices which are prohibitively expensive for poor people, but I believe that many low-cost technological products help to reduce the gap between rich and poor people.

Overall assessment

Why this response received Band 7.0

The response's strongest aspect is its clear, balanced structure: both viewpoints are presented with developed explanations and concrete examples, including a localized Vietnamese illustration. The main limitation is recurring grammatical inaccuracy and occasional awkward phrasing, particularly in the first body paragraph, which slightly weakens precision despite generally clear communication.

IELTS criteria

How each score was decided

Task Response

7.0

The response addresses both perspectives fully, states a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion, and supports each side with developed explanation and relevant examples such as supercars and household appliances in Vietnam.

Coherence and Cohesion

7.0

Ideas progress logically across well-organized paragraphs with appropriate linking devices like 'On the one hand' and 'However', though some connections within sentences feel mechanical or slightly forced.

Lexical Resource

7.0

Vocabulary is sufficiently flexible and shows awareness of style, with items like 'state-of-the-art', 'impoverished', and 'prohibitively expensive', despite occasional unnatural collocations such as 'separate them from their society'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

6.5

A range of complex structures is used, including relative clauses and inversion ('there do exist'), but frequent errors such as 'must under rigorous safety tests', 'before delivering to customers', and inconsistent articles reduce accuracy to a mixed level.