Culture & SocietyAgree / DisagreeIntermediateHigh Frequency

IELTS Essay: Whether or not a person achieves their aims in life is mostly related to luck...

Prompt

Whether or not a person achieves their aims in life is mostly related to luck. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

#success and fortune#determinism vs. agency#hard work and achievement#meritocracy#life outcomes

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Band 7 → 9 — Band 7 argues luck or effort dominates and provides examples, while Band 9 deconstructs the false dichotomy, explains that effort and circumstance interact multiplicatively, and acknowledges how systemic factors create unequal baseline probabilities.

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Key concepts in this essay

Definition of luck versus circumstance versus effort
Interaction between individual agency and factors beyond control (family background, health, economic conditions)
Survivorship bias and how we assess luck in successful people
Role of privilege and structural opportunity in outcomes

Pitfalls the model essay avoids

Treating luck and effort as entirely opposed when they interact (effort increases probability of benefiting from luck)
Anecdotalizing with one success or failure story as evidence of universal truths
Ignoring systemic advantages (education access, family wealth, health) that function like luck

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