IELTS Writing 2 Practice Test 26 Topic: Museum

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Updated On Oct 20, 2021

Outline
Sample Essay
Band 9 Sample Essay

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Some people think that museums’ main function is to educate people, the others suggest that they can also serve for entertainment purposes. What is your opinion?

Outline

Essay type

Opinion Essay

Introduction

Sentence 1: Introduce the given topic

Sentence 2: Clearly and directly state your point of view with one short and simple sentence

Body

Paragraph 1: Museums impart knowledge to visitors through various methods. One of them is collecting and displaying objects of historical, scientific or artistic value from a particular site.

Paragraph 2: Museums are usually not-for-profit. An admission fee is charged only in some selected museums. It barely targets any specific visitors. Instead, it is supposed to be open to the general public.

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Conclusion

Restate your opinion with a clear and direct sentence

Sample Essay

Museums have been centers of education and research for long. Through the activities of acquiring, conserving, researching and exhibiting a myriad of tangible items like artefacts and specimens, we can confirm that museums are of great educational value. Of late, this notion has been challenged by some people, who think that museums are operated for recreation as well. From my point of view, a museum can serve multi-purposes, although education seems to account for a substantial part.

No one can deny that museums impart knowledge to visitors through various methods. One of them is collecting and displaying objects of historical, scientific or artistic value from a particular site. People working for museums are usually trained to interpret those collected specimens to the general public. Viewing these items allow visitors to acquire knowledge of a specific subject, such as art, history, technology and environment. Another approach that can be taken by a museum is to invite specialists to lecture regularly about various fields, which is instructive as well. An entertainment business, by comparison, hardly serves such educational purposes.

In addition to the way it operates, a museum is distinguished from any other operator in the entertainment industry in various aspects. First and foremost, museums are usually not-for-profit. An admission fee is charged only in some selected museums. It barely targets any specific visitors like an entertainment business usually does. Instead, it is supposed to be open to the general public. Besides, the criteria for selecting displayed items is not based on their commercial values but is per the line of items they mainly concentrate. For instance, a history museum would focus only on those items that are of historical importance, although those items might not have significant market value.

However, to some extent, the remarkable development of museums lately can be attributed to some entertainment purposes to recoup their budget. But at the end, the objective of providing knowledge is far bigger than the entertainment.

As outlined above, there are many benchmarks against which a museum can be distinguished from a recreation provider. They are more of educational value than just being places of amusements.

Vocabulary

Centers of education and research
Acquiring
Conserving
Exhibiting
A myriad of
Tangible
Artefacts
Specimens
Of late
Notion
Interpret
Remarkable
Attributed
Recoup
Benchmarks
Amusements

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Museums are an important part of the culture of a community or the location where it is situated. They are also consequential in keeping the memory of our predecessors and their achievements alive in the minds of the present generation. Although many surmise that the primary purpose of museums is to educate, others believe that they are also facilitators of recreation. In my opinion, the intent of visiting a museum has shifted from gathering knowledge to leisure over the past few years. In the following paragraphs, I will elaborate on the topic in detail and justify my views.

It is a well-known fact that museums serve as a centre for rare artefacts and antiques from different eras. Information regarding every aspect of a subject, especially historically significant ones can be found at these exhibitions. Thus, these places are considered ideal for research purposes for several students and scholars. That being said, with the advent of the internet, nearly all kinds of relevant information on a subject matter can be found online, including data that is unavailable even in many major museums. Thereby, touring a museum for educational exploration is slowly going out of fashion.

Moreover, with time, museums themselves have also evolved and adapted to the changing preferences of the people. These days the quality of services like a cafeteria, gift and souvenir shops and the general ambience of a museum is as significant as the exhibits themselves if not more. Presently, the popularity of a museum is not solely dependent on the uniqueness and rarity of the relics showcased; rather, the appearances and the presentation are also influential factors in attracting visitors.

That being said, learning about historical facts, traditions and conventions is still a prime reason for visiting a museum. There are still a considerable amount of people who are driven towards these places more out of curiosity than anything else. However, societal trends are changing with time and museums are gradually shifting from a scholastic to a recreational system of operations.

Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that the nature of the audience is diverse and there can be several reasons for going to a museum. Nevertheless, it is evident that recently the number of people visiting museums for amusement has increased to a great extent.