ILETS Writing Topic: Some people think you will be more successful if you have a university degree, but others thing that going straight into work experience will make you more successful. Discuss and give your own opinion. Although money has become the main basis of measuring success in this day and age, there are other aspects that cannot be ignored. Success in society is determined by wealth, job title, and relationships. On the other hand, success in family life is determined by the strength of bonds within a family and how well the needs of the family are met. When a person has a university education, they are more confident in themselves as their qualification is evaluated by a recognized body. Therefore it can be easier to for a person with a university qualification to secure a job than a person who only has work experience. However, someone who started to work without a university education has to generate their own knowledge by trial and error. They have been performing the tasks for a long time and know exactly how the job works. With a university degree, even if the person is recently hired, he can learn the task quicker as he has learned the concepts and theories of the area of the work. He can also explain his tasks and technical details to others easily with the help of his theoretical knowledge. When it comes to careers such as medicine, the qualification or the university degree is one of the most important factors as these jobs are highly regulated by the government. On the other hand, there are many entrepreneurs who have become successful in their lives without university degrees. Their key to success is risk-taking. Since they have started to work earlier, they have more money at an earlier stage of their lives where they are not afraid experimenting. Well-known philanthropist Warren Buffett started his businesses in an earlier stage as 11 years old. He had not have completed any formal education to support his career at that time. I personally believe that education and experience are equally important for a person to be successful. I completed my university education part time while working full time for a company, so by the time I got my university degree, I had four years of experience as well. The qualification and the experience I had helped me to stand out above others who only had one or the other.

Living in a house vs living in an apartment House is usually a private building built for a family to live. It often comes with a small garden and is single or two storied. An apartment, on the other hand, is a public or company-owned building with multiple houses. Almost all of the apartments are multi-storied massive buildings. Since a house can be purchased as a whole unit, the owner can enjoy more flexibilities than in an apartment. The owners of a house can alter the building as they want or even can demolish the whole building and re-build. The children can play in the garden and the whole family can enjoy gardening if live in a house with a garden. Apartments would be more affordable than a landed house if it's in a city. They also very accessible for offices, schools and markets. Living on a high floor apartment can give the residents an unblocked view of the area or the city. When living in a house, a family is more isolated than in an apartment. The residents usually have to maintain the building and clean up the garden. If the house needs more security, the owner has to arrange it at his own cost. In contrast in an apartment, the maintenance of the building is managed by the owning company and often has occupied security guards for the security of the building. My personal preference would be to live in a house with a large garden as I enjoy g​ardening and appreciate a calm and peaceful life for my family.

Letter to a friend to tell about my new job Dear Denis, I hope this finds you and your family well, I'm sorry that I couldn't keep in touch with you for a while. I'm writing now to tell you about my new job. I think you can remember how frustrated I was when we met for the last time with my boss at office. The boss was not flexible and was a perfectionist. I had to work long hours and rarely had enough sleep at night. As I was saying you, I wanted to escape from this trap as soon as possible. So that I kept applying to almost every job suits me. One thing led to another and finally I'm working here at Google as a project manager. I'm very excited about working for this reputed company and there are many benefits associated with my designation. You guess what? I don't have to work extra hours anymore, and we even can take Friday off if we don't have much work! I would love to catch up with you very soon. Maybe I can come round sometime? Let me know a suitable time for you. Regards, R Can someone please correct?

The scariest moment in my life When I was around 10 years old, my mother and I visited my aunt and her family. Her house was located in a remote and old city. It was looking like a Maison built a couple of centuries ago. As I heard from my cousins, a local noble family made it their home for many generations. By the noon, my mother left me with my aunt's family and went back home. My cousins and I spent the whole evening playing and soon it became dark. After our dinner, my aunt showed me the visitor's room which was arranged for me to sleep. I bid my cousins a good night and stretched my legs on the bed. As I close my eyes, I could hear the story my cousins told me in the evening about a suicidal of the previous house owner and the house is haunted by his ghost. I tried my best to get rid of this thought and spent around an hour praying god to give me the strength to overcome this fear. But unfortunately, the fear was kept growing strong inside me to the point that I jumped off my bed and ran screaming to the room where my cousins were sleeping. My aunt came to the room and asked my cousins to give me some space in their bed to sleep. In the next day early morning, I left my aunt's house and headed back home as I didn't want to spend another night at this haunted house.​

Teaching children at home vs Teaching children at school The child who goes to school gets the opportunity to socialize with other children which benefiting them to improve their team and interpersonal skills. On the other hand, the child who learns at home gets the sole attention of the teacher/ parent which can help him or her to grasp lessons quickly and correctly. Schools are built to create good learning environments for children. At a school, there are specially trained professionals who are with a deep knowledge of the subject they are teaching. Some schools are equipped with modern laboratories for the children who are learning science and gymnasiums for the children who are doing sports. The children learn at a school may have varieties of subjects to choose for their interest. Group activities are a major advantage for a child study at a school as most of the work environments today are team based. The home taught child gets more opportunity to interact with the teacher. Especially if the c​hild is with special needs, such as autism or down syndrome can be very slow in learning compared to other normal children. They require more attention and patience in teaching where a school may not be able to accommodate. Also, home teaching would be a good option when a family lives in a very remote area and it’s taking hours to reach a school.

Letter to a friend who has agreed to look after your house and pet while you are on holiday Dear John, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to look after my house and pet. This is my long waited holiday to visit Japan with my wife. I will pass you the key of my main door on the way to airport day after tomorrow. You should be able to contact me on my usual mobile number as I'm going to activate roaming while I'm overseas or you can always contact me on whatsapp. I will also share with you the address and the contact details of the hotel we are going to stay to contact us incase of an emergency. We have prepared all the meals for the dog in advance and you can find them in the fridge. You can just heat them using the microwave oven. But please keep it to be little cool down before giving him. Please make sure the living room windows are closed if it's raining. For security, I would like you to keep the front light on at night. If you want to use wifi, the password is written on the router itself. See you after the holidays! Yours, James

English idioms I learnt * To get the wrong end of the stick I think you must have gotten the wrong end of the stick. That wasn't what I meant at all. You completely misunderstood what I was saying. * To wear your heart on your sleeve My sister really wears her heart on her sleeve. She gets so emotional about every little thing. * The be-all and end-all I can't understand young people who think playing computer games is the be-all and end-all of everything. I think there's more to life than sitting in front of a computer screen. * To throw in the towel Although learning a new language is frustrating, I never considered to throw in the towel, because quitting is not an option for me. * In this day and age In this day and age it's hard to imagine our lives how without Facebook and Twitter. * To go round in circles The discussion kept going round in circles, because some of the students could not agree, so it took about two hours before a decision was made. * To be on the same wavelength My sister and I have always been really close. We have so much in common and I can instantly tell when she is upset because we are on the same wavelength. * One thing that strikes me about One thing that strikes me about is this whole issue of being in fashion is that young people are spending way too much money on clothes. It's almost becoming a negative obsession. * To read between the lines You mustn't take anything he says at face value because he is very good at hiding his feelings. The only way is to read between the lines to find out what the truth is. * To be part and parcel Making mistakes is part and parcel of the language learning process but, it is only by correcting their mistakes that learners can move to next stage. * To call the shots To a large extent, it's the bigger multi-national companies that are calling the shots now, especially when it comes to influencing which products will dominate the international market.