Questions 1-10

Useful strategy: improving coherence with clear links 
between different parts of the essay
1 b
2 e
3 d
4 a 
5 f
6 c
c, b, d, a
Exam Practice
Action plan reminder
1  a   It tells you to spend 40 minutes answering the task.
b  Discuss both views and give your own opinion
c yes
d  Give reasons and any  relevant examples.
After you write
2 1 Yes. Leave about five minutes for this.
2  No. This wastes time – you won’t be marked down 
for having some crossing-out as long as your 
writing clear.
3  Overall structure; Paragraphing; Signposting; 
Verb forms; Formal or neutral style; Linking 
between ideas; Subject-verb agreement; Capital 
letters at the beginning of sentences and full stops 
at the end 
Sample answer
It is widely agreed that governments of all countries 
need a stock of money to draw on to pay for 
infrastructure such as roads and services such 
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as education, defence or waste disposal. A more 
contentious issue is whether people should be taxed 
heavily to pay for these.
Many people feel that all these areas of public life are so 
vital that we must have high taxes to ensure that services 
are of the highest standard. If taxes are too low, the 
quality of the provision declines and eventually systems 
begin to break down and the only people able to manage 
are the wealthy. Proponents of high taxation also argue 
that in principle it is a good thing to make the wealthiest 
in society bear the biggest burden of paying for services 
for the good of everyone, including the poorest.
On the other hand, if too high a percentage of salaries is 
taken in tax, it is argued that people lose the incentive to 
work hard. Another drawback of high taxation is that it 
builds resentment and people start to look for strategies 
to avoid paying it. 
I believe that taxation, managed sensibly, is a good way 
of redistributing wealth and I am in favour of the rich 
supporting the less well off. In the end, this equalising 
benefits everyone because if there is too great a gap 
between rich and poor, resentment develops. However, 
I feel hard work should be rewarded so the threshold 
above which people start to pay tax should be quite high.