TASK 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the
following topic.

Whoever controls the media also controls opinions and attitudes of the
people and there is little can be done to rectify this.
To what extend do you agree or disagree?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with
examples and relevant evidence.

Write at least 250 words.

model answer:
In some countries the media is controlled exclusively by large companies; in other it is the
government that has this control. Often, in war situation, one of the first casualties is the media,
which is seized by one group or another. This gives some support to the idea that the media is a
source of power and control.

Whoever controls the media also has ultimate control over what is published or broadcasted
and what is omitted. They can also add a certain prejudice or bias to their coverage of certain
news stories depending on their own feelings about the matter. This is not a new problem,
although the issue is perhaps more pressing now that the Internet and play-TV have enabled
these messages to be disseminated even further.

However, we should remember that readers have their own ideas and opinions. You can control
what is printed but you cannot control the opinions of your readers. I think the only positive here
is that, nowadays, people seem to be much more cynical about what they read in the press or
hear on the television. In particular, when it comes to the tabloid press, people know that they
have to take what they read with a grain of salt. In other words, they read knowing they may be
being lied to. Perhaps it is even greater concern that we have become so accepting of this form
of censorship.

The only thing that can be done to alter this situation is for the government to regulate the
industry so that there is no longer a monopoly on media ownership. This also means that they
have to allow and support a totally free press, even if this means the government may be
criticised or ridiculed within its pages.

(295 words)
 TASK 1
The graphs below show the numbers of male and female workers in
1975 and 1995 in several employment sectors of the republic of
Freedonia.
Write a report for a university teacher describing the information
shown.
You should write at least 150 words.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

Sample Answer 1:
The diagrams compare the male and female employment status in six different job sectors in two different
years 1975 & 1995. As is seen from the given illustration, men were well ahead of women in all the job
sectors in Freedonia in 1975. However, the scenario changed in the 1995 and women did a remarkable
progress in their professions.
According to the given diagrams, men in Freedonia were well ahead of female in manufacturing,
finance/banking, wholesale & retail trade, defence and non-defence sectors. In manufacturing more than 600
male employees could be seen against only 300 female employees out of a thousand employees. Except in
communication sector, the proportion of male employees was far greater than that of females. Among the given
job sectors, the public /non-defence sector had the highest number of employees while the defence sector had
the least number of employees.

After 20 years, women showed an outstanding advancement in the job sectors and they went well ahead of
men in communication, wholesale & retail trade sectors. They become almost equal in number in finance and
banking jobs while the gap between male and female employees numbers reduced in defence jobs. The only
sector that was still male dominant was manufacturing and the job ratio in this sector remained almost same as
it was 20 years earlier.