Write an IELTS-style essay considering whether a person’s family financial circumstances influence how well they are prepared for adult life. Explain your position and support it with relevant reasons and examples.
Published prompt from: IELTS · IELTS Academic Writing sample tasks ↗ · Academic Writing Sample Task 2A, PDF page 6
Family finances influence how well young people are prepared for adult life, but they do not decide their character or future. Resources can affect access to education, time for study and opportunities to practise independence. Personal effort, supportive adults and public institutions also matter. The important distinction is between ability and the opportunities available to develop it: money may ease or constrain preparation without fixing the outcome. A fair answer must recognize both the influence of circumstances and the agency of individuals.
In the margins Why this passage works +
“The important distinction is between ability and the opportunities available to develop it: money may ease or constrain preparation without fixing the outcome.”
This sentence states the essay’s qualified position and previews how its examples will support that position.
Education illustrates how resources and public policy can shape opportunity. Transport, a computer or the ability to continue studying may help a young person prepare for employment; financial pressure can instead make paid work a priority. The National Archives explains that the Morrill Act of 1862 helped establish colleges emphasizing agriculture and mechanic arts, opening higher education to farmers and working people previously excluded. This shows how public institutions can widen access beyond what families alone can provide. Yet the grants relied on land taken from Native communities, a serious injustice accompanying that expansion.
In the margins Why this passage works +
“This shows how public institutions can widen access beyond what families alone can provide.”
The sentence connects the historical example to the argument about how opportunities for education are shaped.
Technology can support learning, but owning a device is not enough. UNESCO’s 2023 Global Education Monitoring report identifies access to technology, governance and teacher preparation as conditions for technology to reach its potential in education. A family with limited means may find devices or connectivity harder to afford, while a school can help reduce that barrier. The example shows why finances matter without making them destiny: learning tools are useful only when young people can access them and receive appropriate guidance.
Some argue that persistence, good judgment and supportive adults matter more than wealth. These qualities do matter: money cannot guarantee maturity, and determined young people can make constructive use of limited resources. However, effort is harder to sustain when someone has little time to study or unreliable access to learning. Family finances can also affect time for practising responsibility, from managing money to exploring work. Overall, finances influence preparation by shaping opportunities, while individual choices and public support can lessen—but not erase—some disadvantages.
In the margins Why this passage works +
“However, effort is harder to sustain when someone has little time to study or unreliable access to learning.”
This response recognizes individual persistence while explaining why unequal resources can still affect preparation.
How the argument works
The essay advances a qualified position: family finances influence preparation by shaping access and time, but do not determine outcomes. Its examples develop specific mechanisms rather than listing advantages and disadvantages. The Morrill Act illustrates public efforts to broaden educational opportunity while also exposing the injustice behind the land grants. UNESCO’s report supports the narrower point that technology’s educational value depends on access and system-wide support. The final paragraph acknowledges personal persistence, then explains why unequal opportunities still matter.
The revision, explained
Money determines whether young people are prepared for adult life.
Family finances influence preparation by shaping opportunities, but do not determine a young person’s future.
The revision replaces an absolute claim with a more defensible distinction between access to opportunities and individual outcomes.
Try the idea.
Write a 120–150-word paragraph extending one reason from the essay. State a clear claim, explain how family finances affect preparation for adulthood, include a concrete example, and explain how that example supports the claim. Avoid implying that income determines every individual outcome.
See the self-check +
A strong paragraph focuses on one mechanism, such as access to learning. It explains how resources may affect a young person’s opportunities to practise adult skills, gives a concrete example, and connects that example to the claim that finances influence preparation without deciding it.
Sources and evidence
- The Morrill Act of 1862 · National Archives
- UNESCO’s 2023 GEM Report on Technology in Education · UNESCO