Advantages and disadvantages of watching television
This is a model answer written to show what a Band 7 response looks like against the marking criteria. It is a worked example, not a graded submission. To see your own band, paste your writing into the free checker.
The prompt
Watching television remains one of the most popular leisure activities around the world. What are the advantages and disadvantages of watching television?
Band 7 model answer (260 words)
Despite competition from the internet, television is still the main source of entertainment and news in many households. This essay will look at the benefits it brings and the problems that come with heavy viewing.
The clearest advantage of television is cheap access to information and culture. A single documentary can take viewers inside a rainforest or a war zone that they will never visit, and news broadcasts keep even isolated communities informed about the wider world. Television is also a shared experience: families gather for a favourite programme, and major events such as sports finals give whole countries something to talk about together. For older people who live alone, it is often the main company they have in the evening.
However, the disadvantages appear when viewing becomes a habit rather than a choice. The most obvious harm is physical, because hours spent on the sofa replace exercise and contribute to obesity, especially in children. Heavy viewing is also passive. Unlike reading or conversation, it asks nothing of the audience, so people can absorb opinions and advertising uncritically. In addition, broadcasters compete for attention, which pushes them towards sensational content instead of balanced reporting.
On balance, I believe television remains valuable when it is watched with some purpose, but harmful when it simply fills every free hour by default.
In conclusion, television educates, informs and brings people together, yet excessive and unthinking viewing damages health and encourages a passive attitude to information. The benefits therefore depend less on the screen itself than on how deliberately people choose to use it.
Why this reaches Band 7
-
Task Response
Advantages and disadvantages are both developed, and the answer goes beyond listing by explaining mechanisms, for instance why passivity matters ("people can absorb opinions and advertising uncritically").
-
Coherence and Cohesion
Clear paragraph roles and natural signposting such as "However" and "On balance". Each paragraph opens with a sentence that states its central idea.
-
Lexical Resource
Precise topic language such as "shared experience", "sensational content" and "unthinking viewing", with no repetition of a single word like "watch" doing all the work.
-
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Confident variety, including cleft-like emphasis ("The benefits therefore depend less on the screen itself than on...") and conditionals, with only rare slips.
The one fix to reach Band 7
Band 6 versions of this essay tend to describe what people watch instead of arguing effects. To reach Band 7, make every paragraph answer "so what?": state the advantage or disadvantage, then show the consequence it has for viewers.
Now check your own answer.
Paste your own attempt at this prompt and Examinerly names the single criterion keeping you below your target band, and shows the sentence-level fix. We never inflate your band.
Check your writing free