Plan this positive or negative essay about science with the ideas and outline below, write it on a 40-minute timer, then compare it with a band-8 model answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Scientists are now able to clone animals, and some believe that cloning could eventually be used for humans.
Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
GoPrep wrote this practice question in the style of the exam. It is not an official IELTS question.
Pick two or three points from one or both columns. You do not need all of them, and your own examples score better than memorised ones.
Spend the first few minutes planning, then write.
0 words of 250 minimum
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Write your own answer first, then compare: how it answers the exact question, what each paragraph does, and which phrases you could borrow.
Scientists can now clone animals, and some believe the technology could eventually be applied to humans. In my opinion, animal cloning has limited value, while human cloning would be a negative development.
There are some arguments in favour of cloning in general. Cloning could preserve endangered species by producing new individuals when natural breeding has failed, and it can create genetically identical animals for medical research, which makes experiments more reliable. In agriculture, farmers might clone exceptional livestock to improve quality. Supporters of human cloning add that it could provide a way for infertile couples to have children, or produce tissue and organs that match a patient's body exactly and are therefore not rejected.
Nevertheless, I believe the risks and ethical problems far outweigh these advantages, particularly for people. The process is still highly inefficient: Dolly the sheep was the only success among hundreds of attempts, and many cloned animals suffer from deformities or die early. Applying such a technique to humans would mean accepting unacceptable suffering. There are also profound moral questions about identity and consent. A cloned child would be created as a copy of an existing person and might feel burdened by expectations to resemble the original. Furthermore, if the technology became available, it might be misused to create children with chosen traits, creating a society in which wealthy parents buy genetic advantages and inequality deepens.
For these reasons, most countries have banned human reproductive cloning, and I believe this is the right approach. Research on animal cloning, however, can continue under strict welfare rules where it has a clear scientific purpose.
In conclusion, while cloning animals may offer limited benefits, extending the practice to humans would be a negative development because of the suffering, ethical dilemmas and social risks it would involve.
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| cloning | making an identical copy of a living thing |
| organ transplant | replacing a body part |
| ethical debate | discussion about right and wrong |
| genetic material | DNA |
| reproduction | producing offspring |
| scientific regulation | rules controlling research |
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