ESSENTIAL WORDS FOR THE IELTS

UNIT 1 – THE NATURAL WORD

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF LOGGING
Deforestation caused by human activity is happening in many parts of the world, with serious
results for the environment. What do you think can be done to solve this problem?
Deforestation is a serious problem, and finding a solution to it will not be simple. It involves a
lot of different countries and many political and economic factors. However, as individuals we can
make our contribution to the solution. It involves being more responsible about our use of products
that come from logging.
Logging companies fell trees so that we can have wood to make a lot of useful products:
houses, bags and boxes, writing paper, furniture. We all use these things in our daily lives and would
not want to give them up. We can, however, be less wasteful in the way we use these things. Paper
products, in particular, offer many opportunities for reusing, recycling, and reducing our use of them.
Many paper products can be reused. We tend to go shopping, carry our purchases home in a
paper bag, and then throw the bag away. That means the bag is used only once, when it really has
enough life in it to be used several times. We can take the bag with us on our next shopping trip or
find other uses for it around the house. This is just one example of a paper product that can be reused.
Recycling is another important part of being less wasteful. Most kinds of household and office
paper can be recycled, and these days most cities have recycling centers. Recycling paper is so easy
that there is really no excuse not to do it.
Reducing our use of paper might be the most effective action of all. Electronic technology
makes a lot of uses of paper unnecessary. We can create documents and read news articles on a
computre without using paper. There are many other things we can do in our lives, such as using cloth
napkins and towels instead of paper ones, to reduce our use of paper.
These actions may seem small compared with the terrible impacts of deforestation. However,
they are things that we can each do and that when added up, really can make a difference.

What kinds of natural environments do you enjoy spending time in? What do you think can be
done to solve the problems caused by environmental pollution?
I enjoy spending time in the mountains. Last year, my family and I went to Mount Bromo which
located in East Java. We spend several days in Malang, a city in the south of Mount Bromo. We left
Malang and started our trip to Mount Bromo in the middle of the night. The trip took several hours.
When we arrived at a village near the mountain, we rent an offroad car to continue our trip to the top
of the mountain. There were a queue because it was very crowded with other visitors. Luckily, we
made it on time to see sun rise. It was an amazing view. Minutes before the sun rise, the air was very
cold, but as soon as the sun light touch our skin, it felt warm.
There are several things that we can do to solve the environmental pollution problem. The
first one is to reduce our usage of plastic bag. Plastic is the main pollutant found on the sea. Some
news media reported that there is a big island of plastic floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. By
bringing our own bag when shopping, we help to slow down sea pollution. Another thing that can be
done is to reduce electricity usage, for example switching the lights off when we left a room, or setting
the air conditioner to automatically turn off in the middle of the night. Most of electricity in Indonesia
is produced by burning coal. Those coal power plant produced a lot of CO2, NOX, and SOX which is the
main cause of air pollution, acid rain, and ozone depletion. By reducing our electricity usage, we can
lower the coal power plant burning rate, or even better, we can install a solar panel and battery in our
home to produce electricity on our own.
BIRD MIGRATION
The chart below shows information about different species of birds observed in Woodchuck
County at different times of the year. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
information and making comparisons.
The chart compares different types of birds found during winter and summer in Woodchuck
County. There are eight species shown in the table. The number of observed species is higher during
the summer compared to the winter.
In the summer, almost all species of birds can be found. There are seven species observed
during this season, bluebirds, cardinals, crows, mockingbirds, orioles, vireos, and woodpeckers. The
only species that can’t be found during summer is only juncos.
There are several birds that can be found during summer but can’t be observed during winter
season. Those species are bluebirds, mockingbirds, orioles, and viroes. They can only be found in
Woodchuck County during the summer. However, cardinals, crows, and woodpeckers stay not only
during the summer, but also during the winter in Woodchuck County. There is one species that only
appear during the winter but not in the summer. That species is juncos.

Many people enjoy observing birds because they find them fascinating. Why do you think
people are fascinated by birds? Are you fascinated by birds? Why or why not? Whare animals are
fascinating to you?
Birds is fascinating to people maybe due to the fact that they can fly, while human cannot. In
fact, birds are the reason behind the invention of airplane. As I remember, before Wright Brothers
invented airplane, people have been trying to strap a wing made of clothes to their body and arm.
They tried to fly by flapping they improvised winged arm but to no avail, it failed. I’m personally not
really fascinated to birds in general. But I found some species very fascinating. For example is the
eagle. I’m fascinated by their ability to catch their prey with such speed and accuracy. Other animals
that is fascinating to me is cheetah. I’m really fascinated by their leg structure that made them able to
run at a really fast pace.

PLANT LIFE IN THE TAKLIMAKAN DESERT

The charts below show information about three different deserts around the world. Summarize
the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making comparisons.
The charts show several information such as size, average annual rainfall, average
temperatures, and temperature extremes of three different deserts in three different continents. All
three deserts have extreme difference of temperature between its summer and winter.
Sahara Desert, located in Africa continent, has an area of 9 million square km, the largest of
the three desert shown in the charts. Taklimakan Desert and Great Basin Desert have a significantly
smaller area size, both about 300,000 sq km. Taklimakan Desert has a lowest average annual rainfall,
while Great Basin Desert’s average annual rainfall can reach as high as 51 cm. Great Basin Desert and
Taklimakan Desert have a similar average temperature in both summer and winter. It is averaged 20 -
30oC in the summer and -8 to -9oC in the winter. Sahara Desert has a warmer winter compared to the
other two, averaged 13oC in the winter. It also recorded the highest temperature between the three
deserts, one degree higher than the higest temperature recorded in Great Basin Desert. Meanwhile,
Taklimakan recorded an extreme temperature in the opposite end. It lowest temperature ever
recorded was -26.1oC.

Are you interested in visiting extreme environments, such as deserts or high mountains? Why
or why not? Why do you think people like to visit extreme environments? When you travel, do you
adapt easily to new climates?
 Yes, I’m interested in visiting a place with extreme environments. I want to visit South Pole
which famous with its extremely low temperature. My interest is due to my curiosity on how people
survive in those conditions, where for half a year there are no sunlight. I think most people who like
to visit extreme environments do so because of their curiosity. I don’t find any problem adapting to
new climate. I can endure extreme temperature swing.

UNIT 2 – LEISURE TIME

PERIPHERAL VISION IN SPORTS
Do you believe that professional athletes make good role models for young people? Support
your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
I believe that professional athletes have many great aspects that make them good role models
for young people, especially kid. Example of those characters are determination and competitive
spirit. These two things are the key that makes them become professional athletes.
Determination in one of the key characteristics a great professional athletes must have. It is
generally assumed that most professional athletes was born with natural gifts. However, people tend
to forgot that those natural gifts need to be refined further to shape them into what they are now. It
needs long and hard process. Therefore, only athletes with great determination can reach the very
top of professional world. Determination is also needed by young people. They just started their life
and may found hurdle along their life. Determination is needed to help them solve every problem they
might face.
The second characteristic of professional athletes that is important for young people is
competitive spirit. Recent research by UNICEF in various school around the world shows that
competitive environment will produce more incredible individual compared to the uncompetitive one.
To make a competitive environment, every member of the community must be competitive so each
people will encourage others to achieve more. In the end, the world will benefit from this competitive
behaviour.
In conclusion, young people can take a professional athlete as their role model. Professional
athletes have great characteristics, such as determination and competitive spirit that can be made as
a role model and might beneficial for youth generation development.

Do you focus better on your studies or work when you are in a quiet environment, or do you
prefer to have activity going around you? What kinds of things are distracting to you when you study
or work? Do you anticipate any major changes in your work or study situation in the next year?
I better focused on my studies and work when I’m in a quiet environment. However, to be
honest, loud environment doesn’t bother me because I can just simply plug my earphone and play
soothing music that helps me to focus on my work. However, I can be distracted if there are many
people trying to talk with me when I’m trying to focus on my work. That’s why I prefer to study in a
place with no one I know, such as café or library. I don’t plan any major changes in my work or study
situation in the next year because I don’t have any problem with my current method. However, I plan
to use podomoro method while working or studying. Podomoro method is a method where we set an
interval between working and resting. For example, we can set a repeated 25 minutes working and 5
minutes resting for 4 hours of work. Research shows that this method can increase productivity by
over than 20%.

HISTORY OF THE CIRCUS

In your opinion, why is the circus still a popular form of entertainment in the modern electronic
age? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
 Circus is still a popular choice of entertainment even in this modern electronic age. This maybe
due to the fact that circus has several unique quality that other entertainment might not able to
provide. Two of circus’s special feature are its unique human and animal interaction and its grandeur
performance.
Almost all circuses all around involve animals in their show. Animals are trained to perform
various tricks such as a lion jumping into a ring of fire, an elephant standing with two feet, or even a
monkey riding bicycle. Moreover, those performance are mixed together with human performance to
create a spectacular show. Even though in the past few years multiple cases about animal cruelty and
abuse in circus arose, it is undeniable that people, especially children, love to watch animal doing
tricks. A research from National Animal Protection Organizations shows that 70% of circus visitor
consider animals as the main thing that they like from the circus.
Another circus feature that can not be found in electronic entertainment is the grandeur
feeling of the show. A circus show often employ over than a hundred human performer and tens of
animals of numerous species. All of them moving in a synchronized fashion creates a grandeur feeling
about the show. This feeling is further enhanced with its lighting show, uplifting music, smoke, and
even pyrotechnics. This feat still can not simply be matched by a form digital entertainment such as a
3D movie or virtual reality games.
In conclusion, circus stays competitive in modern electronic age due to its special
characteristic that can not be imitated by electronic entertainment. However, in the future, electronic
entertainment might advanced further to provide an experience similar to circus.

What forms of entertainment are popular in your city? Do you prefer to watch TV and movies
or to see live entertainment? Are you talented in any performing arts? What talents do you have that
you would like to develop more?
There are several option of entertainment in my city, but I think live concert is the most
popular one. There is a concert almost everyweek. The performer are not only local musicians,
international musicians also often come to perform in Jakarta. Even tough it is very popular among
Jakarta people, I personally have never come to a concert. It’s not because I don’t like music, I just
hate crowded place. I prefer to listen to music in a quiet place, with my books or laptop and a cup of
tea. If I have to choose between watching TV and movies or seeing live entertainment, I prefer to
watching TV and movies. The reason is like I said before, I simply hate crowded place. I’m not really
talented in any performing arts. However, I learned to play guitar when I was in Junior High School. I
can play many popular songs but I don’t feel confident enough to perform in front of a lot of people.
I would like to develop my music skills further and if I can go back in time, I’ll learn to play piano. I
think people who can play piano is very cool and classy.

USES OF LEISURE TIME

The bar graph below shows basic information about uses of leisure time among different age
groups. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making
comparisons.
The bar graph shows how three dfferent age groups spend their free time in weekend day.
There are three types of activities shown in the graph; reading, computer, and sports and exercise.
Each of those three age groups spend more of their time in a different category of activity.
The first age group which consists of 13 to 19 years old people spends only 5 minutes per
weekend day. That is very little time compared to the time they spend on computer uses and physiscal
activities, 75 minutes and 60 minutes respectively.
People in the age of 20 to 65 years old, which grouped to the second age group, spend 30
minutes of their time in the weekend for reading, the same amount with what they spend for
computer uses. Interestingly, this age group spend 120 minutes on physical exercise, the most
between the other age groups. The last age group which consists of people over 66 years old spend
more of their time for reading compared to computer uses and sports.

What are some of your favorite pasttimes? Why do you enjoy them? Do you prefer physical or
intelectual activites for relaxation?
My favorite passtimes are reading books. If I have a slow and easy week, I can finish reading
one 300 pages book. But I always dedicate at least 4 hours on the weekend to read books. I enjoy
reading books because the pace is slower compared to movie. Therefore, I can enjoy every moment
described in the book and let my imagination run wild. I often find that movie adaptions fall short to
the original book. It may be due to the fact of my high expectation. For relaxation, I prefer intelectual
activities. However, I still find that physical activities is important. Therefore, I always try to get some
exercise, even a small exercise such as walking in the morning or taking a stair instead of lift.

UNIT 3 – TRANSPORTATION
FIRST HEADLAMPS
In your opinion, what has been the most significant transportation innovation of the past 200
years? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
In the past 200 years, transporation technology has advanced very far and there are a lot of
important innovation. In my opinion, the most significant innovation is the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX
built. The impact is really great. It revives the space travel ambition that peaked when human landed
on moon in 1969. It also reduce the satellite launch cost because of recoverable main rocket.
The human’s space travel ambition peaked in 1969 and has been on declined since then.
Fortunately, SpaceX innovation has made a mark of the beginning of a new space race era. SpaceX has
successfully engineered new efficient and reliable rocket. After Falcon 9 Rocket, their next ambition is
Big Falcon Rocket that can go to mars and back to earth, a hope for possibility of human interplanetary
travel.
Falcon 9 recoverable main rocket has made satellite launch, and commercial space travel in
the near future, more affordable. A report by NASA in 2017 shows that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is
80% cheaper than other comparable conventional rocket. This makes gigantic project such as a swarm
of satellite for internet coverage possible. In fact, SpaceX is planning to launch such project in a
multiyears project that involves hundreds of rocket launches. The implication of this project is very
large, starting from 5G connection even in the deepest jungle to internet of things economy.
In conclusion, SpaceX’s rocket has made a revolution in space travel due to its cheap and
reliable rocket technology. I believe that SpaceX’s rocket will make human an interplanetary species
in the future.

What modes of transportation are commonly used in your city? Which do you think are the
most efficient? What do you think are some of the advantages of train travel? What do you think are
some drawbacks of train travel?
The most common transportation in my city is car and motorcycle. However, the rise of ride
hailing app makes a big amount of people starting to switch to public transportation such as train,
metro, and transjakarta. You might ask why. That is because ride hailing app made people easier to
go to public transport station from their home or office. Most people don’t want to walk far in Jakarta
because of bad air quality and inadequate sidewalk. I think the most efficient, in term of cost and time
of travel, is to use train. Unfortunately, the train station is inadequate. They don’t cover all places, for
example is my house. The nearest train station from my house is about 7 km, while my office is locate
14 km from my house. So If I use train, I will spend half of my trip just going to station. That is stupid
and inefficient. The advantages of train travel are traffic free and the estimated arrival time is
predicted. It is very efficient. The drawbacks are it is usually very crowded and packed during rush
hour and the area coverage is not enough.

MAJOR SUBWAYS OF EUROPE

The chart below shows information about subway systems in three major European cities.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making comparisons.
The table shows informations such as total track length, number of operating station, and
number of daily passengers of three subways systems in London, Paris, and Moscow. Each metro
systems serve millions of passenger everyday. However, the number of daily passengers doesn’t
correlate with the total track length and the number of operating station.
From the three subway systems shown in the table, London Underground has a longest total
track length which is 408 km. That is almost double the length of the shortest one shown in the table,
which is Paris Metro with 214 km total track length. However, London Underground serves the lowest
number of daily passengers with less than a half of Moscow Metro serves everyday. Moscow Metro
serves 6.5 million passengers everyday. Although it has most daily passengers, Moscow metro has the
least number of stations in operation, with only 182 stations, whereas Paris Metro operates 300
stations, the largest between three subway systems shown in the table.

Are there any subway or train stations or other buildings in your city that have especially
beautiful architecture? Describe them. Are there any public spaces in your city that are used to
showcase the work of local or national artists? Do you think it is a good idea to use public plcaes in this
way? Why or why not?
Unfortunately, there is no subway or train stations that have beautiful architecture. However,
there is one beautiful cathedral in the center of Jakarta. You can guess it, the name of the cathedral is
Jakarta cathedral. It has a similar beautiful architecture that can be found around Europe. One of its
characteristics that stands out is its towering top. Another thing is its wall drawing and carving. I don’t
know any public spaces that are used to showcase art from local or national artists in a regular basis.
Almost all arts in Jakarta are showcased in a museum or gallery. However, the governor of Jakarta has
made HI Roundabout as an art showcase place. Until last month, the place was used to show an art
called Getih Getah, a sculpture made of bamboo. Recently, the art has been disassembled due to its
deterioating condition. After that, new art installation is installed at that place. It’s called Gabion which
is a metal bucket filled with rocks. Personally, I think that the art is very bad and there are many better
art that should be shown there. I think it is a good idea as long as the art is good and is not a way for
money laundering.

ELECTRIC CARS AROUND THE GLOBE

In your opinion, what incentives could be offered that would persuade more people to embrace
electric cars? Support your answer with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or
experience?
Electric car is increasingly popular, especially for rich people who care about environment.
However, because of its high price compared to gasoline car, electric car hasn’t been able to penetrate
lower to middle class market. Several incentives could be offered to persuade more people to use
electric cars, such as electric car tax exemption and electric power subsidy for electric car.
Price has always the main obstacle that hinder people from switching to electric powered car.
Tax exemption may help to reduce electric car price and persuade more people to adopt
environmentally friendly electric car. Even though the tax exemption may reduce government income
in short term, it will help to reduce government expense in environmental related issue cost.
 Another hindrance of electric car adoption is the price of electric power. Currently, Indonesia
government is heavily subsidizing gasoline and diesel. It makes electric power price can not compete
with oil-based fuel. A step that can be taken by government to make electric cars more attractive to
people is to subsidized electricity price. An opposite measure can also be taken by erasing gasoline
and diesel subsidy. If electricity and oil-based fuel stands on the same ground, electricity will always
be cheaper in this current economy.
In conclusion, most of the problem that makes people hesitate to shift from gasoline cars to
electric cars is related to its economic aspect such as price of cars and price of electricity. By adressing
this economic related problems, I believe that a lot of people will switch to electric cars considering
its environmentally friendly aspect.

What kind of car is appealing to you? Why? Do you prefer to live in a rural, suburban, or urban
area? Why?
I think electric car with sporty look is very appealing. One example is Porsche Taycan that have
already been announced but haven’t been released already. It looks very cool and can go very fast.
Moreover, because of it is electric powered, it has a very quick acceleration. I read it somewhere that
it can reach 100 kmph in just under 3 seconds. Another reason is because it is environmentally friendly
without sacrificing performance. I prever to live in suburban rather than rural or urban area. The
reason is suburban has the best of both world. It is near the urban area so it has good and adequate
facility. It only takes a short time to reach most of the entertainment or business center. On the other
hand, it doesn’t have the same level of noise and air pollution problem with the urban area. So there
it is, it has the best of the both world.

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UNIT 4 – CULTURE
ORIGINS OF WRITING
The chart below shows literacy rates in several different countries around the world.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making comparisons.

The table shows comparison of percentages of people over age of 15 who can read in four
different countries around the world and the world itself. Overall, male adult has higher literacy rates
compared to female in almost every country shown in the table.
Country A has the worst literacy rates compared to the other countries shown in the table
with only 47,8% of their adult can read. In Country A, the percentage of literate male is almost double
than the literate female. Even though it is still lower than world average, Country B has a slightly better
literacy rates than Country A. Similar to Country A, the percentage of man who can read in Country B
is double than their female.
Both Country C and D has a very high literacy with over 90% literacy, higher than the world
average of 82%. However, percentage of literate male population in country C is higher then their
female counterpart. In Country D, the percentage is the same between man and woman.

Do you believe that it is better to have a teacher who specializes in the subject he or she teaches
or a teacher who is highly skilled at teaching? Why? What skills do you think necessary to teach today’s
children to help them function in a society where technology is changing so rapidly?
It depends on the level of education they teach. For kindergarten and elementary school, I
think it is better to have a teacher who is highly skilled at teaching and knows how to motivate
students. At young age, it is very important for teacher who knows how to approach their student and
increase their interest to school subject. However, for junior high school and high school teacher, I
think having a teacher who specializes in the subject they teach is better. It is because at this level
students already know their responsibilities and interests. But having a teacher who is highly skilled at
teaching and specialized at their subject will be very excellent. One skill that I think is very important
for teacher to have in this digital age is knowledge of pop culture. Teacher may integrate pop culture
to school subject and makes it more interesting and stay relevant. It can increase student engagement
and may improve their motivation and morale.

HULA DANCING IN HAWAIIAN CULTURE

Most countries have traditional celebrations that occur annually. In your opinion, what
benefits do these celebrations have for society? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from
your own knowledge or experience.
Almost every countries have traditional celebrations that they celebrate every year. I believe
that these celebrations has many benefits for people. Two of these benefits are traditional
celebrations can act as a reminder of their tradition or history and as a medium for bonding and
spending time together with family and friends.
Most countries have traditional celebrations that related to their history, such as
Independence Day and historic national event. These celebrations can act as a reminder for the people
of that nation. In Indonesia, Independence Day is celebrated by flag ceremony and reiteration of
proclamation text. National TV also often play movies about the fight of Independence Day. By
remembering fallen hero during independence fight, people can pay respect and love their country
more.
The second benefit of traditional celebrations is that it can act as a mutual activities and
strengthen the bond between family and friends. One example of these traditional celebrations in
Indonesia is Lebaran which usually happens for a week every year. During this holiday, most people
will travel to their hometown to visit family. They will have a feast and spends time together. For most
people who work far from their hometown, this holiday is their only chance to spend time with family.
So, this celebration is the most waited holiday in Indonesia.
In conclusion, annual traditional celebrations has many benefits such as reminding people of
their nation’s history and as a way to spends time together with family. Therefore, people should
continue to celebrate this tradition and preserve it.

What are some important traditional celebrations in your country? What are some rituals connected
with traditional celebrations in your country.
 Majority of Indonesia population is Muslim. Therefore, Idul Fitri is one of the most important
and waited traditional celebrations in my country. The duration of the celebrations is usually a weeks.
The rituals of this celebrations is called Mudik. During this celebration, most people, especially who
work far from their hometown, go back to their hometown to spend time with their family. They will
have a feast which usually consists of chicken opor and ketupat. I rarely go back to my hometown
because I’m not a Muslim. However, I really happy with this celebration because I get a long holiday
and the city will be empty. There will be no traffic in the city. I can get to anywhere in the city in a very
short time compared to the usual day.

THE ART OF MIME

The chart below shows information about ticket sales for performances at the National
Theatre over a six-month period. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
information and making comparisons.

The chart shows the number of tickets sold for each performer and performance title at the
National Theater between January and June. Every performance managed to sell over 2,000 tickets.
“Humorous Situations”, performed by National Mime Troupe, gained the most views with
5,000 tickets sold. Tied for the second place, Swan Lake by City Ballet and “Rock Stars Live!” both
attended by 4,750 viewers, slightly lower than “Humorous Situations”. The next place was filled by
National Symphony Orchestra whose performance titled “Works of Beethoven” which managed to
sell 3,000 tickets during that six-month period. The worst ticket sales performance was done by City
Opera who performed Carmen. They sold only 2,500 tickets, half of the amount National Mime Troupe
sold during the same period.

When you see a live performance, do you prefer humorous types of performances or more
serious types? Why? Who are some of the more renowned performers in your country? Do you enjoy
movies that portray real people and events, or do you prefer movies with made-up stories?
When I see a live performance, I prefer humorous types than serious types. The reason is
because I find most of serious performance is boring. I can’t stay focus for long on the performance if
it is boring. They need to inject some comedy to the stories so it can keep people like me interested.
One of the more renowned performers in my country is Raditya Dika. He was a writer but in
recent years he perform as a stand-up comedian and a movie director. I’ve never seen him perform
live, but I would love to. That is because the tickets is really quick to be sold out. So, for the time being,
I’ll just stick to watching him in Youtube.
 I enjoy a movies that portray real people and events, especially movie with war theme. My
favorite movie, which actually is TV series, is Band of Brothers which portrays a squad of American
soldier in World War 2. The director, actors, and production team did a really good job that I can feel
the war atmosphere from my living room. However, I also like movies with made-up stories, especially
superheroes movies. It’s fun and there’s a lot of comedy in the movies.

UNIT 5 – HEALTH
NURSE MIGRATION
The chart below shows information about wages for health care professionals in four different
countries. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making
comparisons.

The chart shows comparison of average monthly salaries of nurses and doctors in two source
countries and two destination countries. Overall, qualified health care professionals in destination
countries are paid more compared to the ones in source countries. In every country shown in the
chart, doctors earn about double or more compare to nurses.
Country A and B are source countries which supply health care professional to destination
countries. Nurses and doctors in Country A are paid the least compared to all other country shown,
$35 and $64 respectively. Country B nurses and doctors earn significantly more than Country A’s, but
it is still very low compared to Country C and D which are destination countries.
Country D’s nurses and doctors are the best paid health care professionals between the four
countries. Their nurses earn almost a hundred times more than nurses in Country A and their doctors
earn more than a hundred fifty times of Country A’s. Country C’s salaries isn’t as good as Country D’s,
but it is still significantly higher than Country and B.

What profession do you work in or plan to work in? What were your primary reasons for
choosing this professions? What are your professional goals for the next decade? What kinds of
opportunities does your profession offer for working abroad?
I work in engineering field, chemical engineering specifically. My responsibility as a chemical
engineer is to evaluate chemical process in a chemical plant. If a problem happen during plant
operation, operation division will ask a chemical engineer to troubleshoot the problem. I, as a chemical
engineer, will be tasked to find the root cause of the problem and provide a solution for them.
My primary reasons of choosing a career in chemical engineering is my love to physics. There
is a common misconception around chemical engineering. Most people think that you have to be
excellent at chemistry. In fact, chemical engineering is mostly physics and math. Chemistry in only a
small part of it. Another reasons is the salary of chemical engineer. It is relatively higher compared to
other engineering discipline.
My professional goals for the next decade is to be an engineering consultant. I want to work
at a big EPC or licensor company, such as Neste Oyj, UOP, Lurgi, or Toyo Engineering. Beside that, I
aspire to be an expert stock trader. Nowadays, I learn a lot about stock trading from books. However,
I believe that good stock trader will emerge not only from his knowledge but also his experience.
Yes, there are a lot opportunities to work abroad. For example, my current company, Rekayasa
Industri, has several project abroad in the recent times. One of the project was Sabah Ammonia Plant
in Malaysia. With time, I believe that Rekind will broaden their reach to most Asia countries and
probably also Europe and America.

AEROBIC EXERCISE AND BRAIN HEALTH

The charts below show changes in mental capacity in patients who have been given a diagnosis
of mild cognitive impairment, a condition that can develop into Alzheimer’s disease or other types of
dementia. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making
comparisons.

The chart show comparison between two group of patients who have been diagnosed with
mild cognitive impairment that can develop to worse disease such as Alzheimer’s or other types of
dementia. The first group (group A) is enrolled to program of daily 1 hour aerobic exercise for six
months, whil the other group (group B) followed a program of daily 1 hour non-aerobic exercise, such
as stretching and balancing, for the same duration.
Group A patients showed improvement in almost every criteria shown in the chart. Their
thinking speed and fluency has improved, while their memory stays the same as before the program.
On the contrary, patients of Group B performs worse than group A. Their memory, thinking speed,
and word fluency didn’t show improvement. In fact, their memory, thinking speed, and word fluency
declined and became worse than their condition before the program. The non-aerobic exercise
program has an adverse effect for them.

Do you find that exercise improves your mood? What other things do you do to feel better
when you are in a bad mood? Now that researchers have found links between exercise and improved
brain capacity, do you think exercising will become more popular? Why or why not? What can be done
to stimulate people to exercise more?
Yes, I find exercise improves my mood. It is very often I feel reluctant to exercise because of
work related fatigue or simply because I sleep late the night before. When that happens, I told myself,
“C’mon, let’s start exercising. Let’s go for 2.4 km jogging”. After I started running, I usually feel more
energized and eventually I went for 5 km or more.
Another thing I usually do to feel better when I’m in a bad mood is drink a cup of tea, listening
to music, and just doing some relaxing activities such as reading books or surfing the internet. It usually
makes me forget about things that makes my mood bad. After a while, I will feel relaxed and ofcourse
feel better.
Yes, I think exercising is becoming more popular nowadays. There are a lot of my friends who
take on a challenge to run a marathon. The amazing part is they rarely run before. Marathon is one
form of exercise that I find increasing in popularity. This maybe due to the fact that marathon event
usually has an instagrammable spot. People loves to show off their achievement in instagram. They
took a photo with their marathon medal. Personally, I understand them. Running a marathon is an
achievement, beginner runner usually takes 6 hours or more to complete a marathon. In my opinion,
marathon is more of mental exercise than physical exercise. Most people will give up because their
mind refuse to endure the physical strain eventhough their body is actually able to endure it.

HOW DRUGS ARE STUDIED

Modern medical science has made it possible to combat many diseases. This is one reason that
people are living longer lives now than they did in the past. Discuss the effects this might have on
society. Support your answer with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
People living longer lives now compared to what they did in the past due to modern medical
science affects society in a great way. It has its benefits but also has disadvantages. Longer lives gives
people chance to live happier, while on the other hand it become a strain to the economy.
Research by UNESCO shows that happiness has a correlation to life expectancy. A country with
longer life expectancy has a happier population compared to the one with shorter life expectancy.
This maybe due to the fact that older people has more time to spend with their family after they
retired. They also has a chance to pursue their personal interest and achieve more goals with the time
they have.
Despite the positive effect to the society, longer lives expectancy has also an adverse effect
to society. Over time, the number of elderly population will increase and closing the gap with the
number of people in the working age group. Elder people usually needs support from the younger
member of their family. When the ratio between the senior citizen and the youth is increasing, the
youth will have to spend more of their time caring for their elder. This might limit young people
productivity at work and therefore straining the economy.
In conclusion, people living longer lives has both positive and negative impacts to societies.
However, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages that might arise. Furthermore, the negative
impacts can be mitigated by various means by government and societies.
 A lot of money is spent on investigating drugs. Do you think it is desirable to spend so much
money on developing new drugs, or should more money be spent on other areas of health care? What
do you think are some of the most important health issues to target? What do you think is the best
way to combat common but potentially dangerous diseases such as influenza?
Even though research and development of new drugs is important and the cost is justified,
there are another areas of health care that also need attention. One of the area that I can think of is
disease prevention. As and old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Government and pharmacy
companies also need to focus and spend money on disease prevention. For example, pharmacy should
develop a new kind of vaccine that is cheap and works great to eradicate disease. On the other hand,
government should make a policy that supports the vaccination.
One of the most important health issues that should be targeted is heart disease. Heart
disease may occur because people rarely get exercise or they may be eating too much junk food that
contains a lot of fat. Exercise can be incorporated since childhood by including it in the school
curriculum. While the problem of eating too much junk food can be resolved by doing a massive
campaign in social media.
Influenza is a very common disease that spread through the air. However, influenza is easily
treatable. So, the best way to combat influenza is containment. A person who infected with influenza
should separate themselves from public society to prevent virus spread. If they must get into contact
with healthy person, they should wear facemask to contain the virus.

UNIT 6 – TOURISM
HIKING THE INCA TRAIL
Large numbers of visitors can endanger ancient archeological sites such as Machu Picchu. In
your opinion, is it more important to try to preserve such sites or to allow public access to them?
Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Opening public access to ancient archeological sites such as Machu Pichu will attract a large
number of visitors and may potentially endanger them. Some people argue that it is more important
to try preserving such sites than allowing public access. I believe that allowing public access has more
benefits that outweigh the drawbacks.
The first benefit of allowing general public to visit ancient archeological sites is it can increase
awareness and interest of people to history and archeology, especially for young student. Research
by UNICEF shows that children tends to be interested in a subject after they experience it themselves.
The second benefit is visitors might donate money to the sites and that money can be used to finance
an effort to preserve the ancient sites.
Despite the benefit, allowing people into ancient archeological sites also has an adverse effect.
The sites may become vulnerable to vandalism as happened at Borobudur Temple in Indonesia. Some
unresponsible people often try to break the stone and bring it home. In another case, there were some
people that paint over the sacred sample. Fortunately, this issue can be simply resolved by limiting
the number of visitor who can enter the sites and also enforcing strict rules to every visitor. These
solutions can help to eliminate any attempt to ruin ancien archeological sites.
In conclusion, ancient archeological sites should be open for general public because the
advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Moreover, the disadvantages can be resolved by using
some measures such as limiting the number of visitors and enforcing strict rules rather than
completely banning public access.

What kinds of adventures are attractive to you? What kinds of luxuries do you enjoy? Is it
important to you to have luxuries? Why or why not?
 I’d like to go to adventure in Europe, visiting many cities and landmarks such as Eiffel Tower,
Big Ben, Sagrada Familia, and many more. It might seem like ordinary travel for other people who
prefer more extreme adventure. But exploring Europe is an adventure on its own way. Beside visiting
European landmarks, I would also love to try authentic European food such as Italian pizza, Dutch
stroopwafel, and France croissant. I know that they are also available in Indonesia. However, the taste
is not authentic. It has been modified to fit Indonesian tounge.
I enjoy luxuries where the internet connection is very fast. I don’t really care where it is as
long as the internet is fast. Even the internet is a luxury for most people in Africa. Even though luxuries
are nice, it is not that important to me to have luxuries. Luxuries, as its name implied, is not a necessity.
We can survive without luxuries, but I must agree that luxuries makes our life better and easier.

WHAT IS ECOTOURISM?
The charts below show information about environmentally friendly practices followed by three
different cruise ship companies in two different years. Summarize the information by selecting and
reporting the main information and making comparisons.
 The chart compares three different cruise ship companies’ efforts in environment
preservation in year 2000 and 2010. Overall, all companies has improved their environmentally
practices from year 2000 to 2010.
In the year 2000, the only company that recycles at least three quarter of their waste was Sea
Advent. In that same year, none of the three companies shown in the charts has a system to reduce
air pollution. There are also none of them make an effort to avoid destinations with delicate under
ecosystems. Sea adventure was the worst company in 2000 because they have no environmentally
practices whatsoever.
All companies showed improvement in year 2010. Both Sun Cruises and Water World Tours
has implemented a system to reduce air pollution and an effort to avoid destinations with delicate
underwater ecosystems. Sea adventure has also improved by recyling at least 75% of their waste and
avoid dumping waste water into the sea. However, they haven’t got a system to reduce air pollution
and still going into delicate underwater systems.

When you travel, do you enjoy going to wilderness destinations, or do you prefer visiting cities
or some other kind of place? What kinds of places do you avoid visiting when you travel? What kinds
of accommodations do you like? Is luxury important to you when choosing accommodations?
I prefer visiting cities with beautiful architecture. Wilderness destinations are fine to me, as
long as it has adequate facilities and infrastructure such as water supply, phone signal, and food. I
don’t feel like going for a survival journey for a vacation. I prefer relaxing vacation in cities such as
going to a landmark, theme park, museum, or that kind of thing.
I avoid visiting places where there was no one there. I can get anxious and overthinking what
will happen if I got an accident, will there anyone available to help me, and such thing. In my opinion,
that kind of places is prone to criminal activities such as robbery, thief, or a scam.
I don’t really care about accommodations as long as it is clean and of course has a wifi. If I’m
travelling alone, I prefer cheap accommodations. The last time I went into Singapore, I stayed at a
hostel which cost about 18 SGD per night. It is very cheap by Singapore standard. Although it is cheap,
it has a comfortable bed, clean bathroom, fast wifi, and even a breakfast. I always recommended it to
my friend if they are going to Singapore with low budget.

LEARNING VACATIONS
The chart below shows information about enrollment in courses at an adult residential college.
Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and making comparisons.
 The chart shows comparison of enrollment by subject area at Barkford Adult Residential
College between summer 2012 and summer 2013. Overall, there was a decline in the percentage of
student enrollment at art department between summer 2012 and summer 2013, while there was an
increase at academic department.
In summer 2012, over than half of students chosen art department. A quarter of all students
enrolled in photography, while 40% of them took painting classes. Science courses in academic
department is the least popular subject with only 5% of students enrolled in that courses. A fifth of
students chosen history and only a tenth picked philosophy.
In summer 2013, there was an increase of percentage of students who enrolled in academic
department compared to the same period the year before. The percentage of students in science
courses was tripled, while philosophy students increase slightly. On the other hand, the percentage of
painting students declined by 10% from the previous summer and the photography students also
declined slightly.

What are some dishes that are typical of the cuisine of your country or region? What are some
common ingredients in your country or region’s cuisine? How has the cuisine of your country or region
changed over the past century? How do you think it will be different in the future?
There is a very famous dishes called Rendang. It is basically a beef stew with special ingredients
for its sauce. If I remember correctly, Rendang has been included in a list of top 100 food you must try
before you die.Naturally, rendang tastes very good. However, there are some restaurant that isn’t
good at cooking Rendang. Their rendang is hard to chew and taste bland. We have to be picky for a
good rendang restaurant.
I think the most common ingredients in my country is chili. Indonesia people loves spicy food.
It is the reason why almost every food has chili as its ingredients. I also likes spicy food, but my spicy
tolerant is less than most people. There are some food that I prefer to eat without chili.
I think most traditional foods stayed the same since long ago. That’s the point of the world
traditional. However, there are more foreign food in Indonesia now compared to in the past. For
example, boba milk tea is increasing in popularity. There are also japanese ramen noodle everywhere.

UNIT 7 – BUSINESS
WHAT MAKES A SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL
In many places, large chain stores are taking over the market place, making it impossible for
small businesses to compete with them. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this situation?
Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
In recent years, large chain stores have sucessfully driving small businesses away and taking
their market share. This condition has its advantages and disadvantages for the community. One of
the advantages is large chain stores drive the price down because of the competition, while the
disadvantage is closing down of small businesses who can compete.
Large chain stores usually have a lower prices of goods because they are more efficient. They
have an optimized supply chain which enable them to cut many third parties. Their scale also help
them to get lower price from producer, which commonly known as economy of scale. This will benefit
consumer who can get things cheaper. Consequently, people will consume more and producer will
produce more, benefitting the whole economy.
On the other hand, the edge that the large chain stores have may force small businesses such
as traditional market to close down. Small businesses simply can’t compete to their price and they
who have a high operating cost will be the first one to bankrupt. Small businesses must find something
that large chain stores can’t have. One example is accessibility. Small store doesn’t need large area,
which means they have more flexibility to open a store near consumer.
 In conclusion, the benefit of large chain store taking over the market far outweigh its
disadvantage. The benefit impacts more people and economy as a whole, while the disadvantage can
be mitigated by small businesses who must find their own niche to survive this fierce competition.

Think of a store where you enjoy shopping. What characteristics draw you to it? What kinds of
products do you feel are worth spending a lot of money on? What tips do you have for someone who
is planning to buy an expensive products?
Actually, I don’t enjoy shopping especially shopping at physical store. Nowadays, I’m more
often to buy things from online store than from offline store. Nevertheless, the only offline store I
enjoy shopping at is Gramedia Book Store. I think the characteristics that draw me to it is because it is
clean, kinda comfy, and you can read book for free there. The latest is the most important
characteristics. Periplus book store is also great, they provide a wide variety of import books. However,
the store usually kinda small so it seems very crowded in there. Therefore, I prefer Gramedia than
Periplus.
I think the kind of products that I feel are worth spending a lot of money on is the product
that will be used a lot of time and can increase our productivity. One example is laptop. Small high
performance laptop is usually more expensive than the basic one. However, we can bring it easily to
everywhere because it is lightweight and we can do so much thing with shorter amount of time
because it has a high processing capability. On the other hand, phone is not the product I will spend a
lot of money on. Yes it is used very often. However, phone is a distraction and may decrease our
productivity. Moreover, phone technology is advancing very fast that if you buy phone this year, it will
be obsolete by the next year. That’s why I prefer to buy cheaper but adequate phones so I can upgrade
anytime needed.
One great tips that I read on the internet is if someone planning to buy expensive products,
they should first put in on the shopping list for at least 3 to 7 days. If at the end of those 3 to 7 days
they still want it, then they should buy it. This trick objective is to prevent people from impulsively
buying expensive products. It actually saves me a lot of money. For example, I want to buy a new
running shoes because I saw an ad on instagram even though my shoes is still fine. So in those 3 to 7
days, I contemplate whether I need it or not. Eventually, I decided that I don’t need it and I save about
1 million rupiah.

BRAND LOYALTY
The chart below shows information about consumer decisions regarding mobile phone
purchases in two different countries. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
information and making comparisons.
 The chart compares factors that impact the decision making of customers in two different
countries in choosing a mobile phone. The factor distribution in those two countries is very different.
However, friends’ recommendations play a big part in both countries.
In Country A, half of the consumers say that price is the most important factors in choosing a
mobile phone. The second most important reason is friend’s recommendations with about a third of
consumers say so. Design and brand only played a small part in the decision making of Country A’s
mobile phone buyer with the percentage of 10% and 7% respectively.
Country B has a different characteristic from country A. While Country A think that price is the
most important aspect, Country B suggest it is the least important one. Country B regards Design as
the most important aspect, followed by friends’ recommendations in the second place and brand in
the third place.

Are you loyal to any particular brands? Why or why not? Why do you think celebrity
endorsements convince people to buy certain brands?
No, I’m not loyal to any particular brands. The reason is I’m consistently looking for best priced
product. I always compare specification and price of each product from different brand and I will
simply buy the one who gives best price-quality ratio. One example is I was loyal to Samsung phone.
However, when Xiao Mi enter the Indonesian market and they offer better product or at least the
same quality of product with far better price, I swiftly move on to Xiao Mi and currently never look
back.
I think celebrity endorsements is effective to convice people to buy certain brands because
people want to be like their idol. People like to associate celebrity as the pinnacle of human
preference, and that what celebrity chose to use are the best product of all. It is like social standard.
I’m personally not affected by the celebrity endorsement. I have my own preference and I chose
independently.

GLOBAL OUTSOURCING
There has been some controversy about the practice of companies in wealthy countries
outsourcing labor to countries where wages are lower. What do you think are the advantages and
disadvantages of this practice? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own
knowledge or experience.
 Some people think that the practice of job outsourcing from businesses in developed country
to another countries where salary are lower is controversial. While this practice has its advantages
such as opening new jobs in developing countries, it also has drawbacks.
Outsourcing practices have benefited many developing countries around the world. Job
availability is the main challenge many poorer countries face and it is hindering economic growth. The
job which provided by companies from wealthy countries has helped many people to earn a stable
income and finance their daily life. In return, companies can get their hand on cheaper labor which
consequently lower their overall operating cost. This enable those companies to compete with other
businesses by providing goods and services with lower prices than their competitor who doesn’t
practice job outsourcing.
However, outsourcing also has many drawback. For instance, by moving jobs outside
countries, companies often get under fire by the people of their origin country. Those companies will
be seen as not supportive to national economic growth and the cause of unemployment in the origin
country. Moreover, people may start boycotting those companies’ product which in turn affect their
profitability. Companies must try to balance their outsourcing practices so it will not cause unrest to
local citizen.
In conclusion, outsourcing has many benefit, especially for the poorer countries who receive
the outsourced jobs. However, it also has its drawbacks that needed to be adressed by the companies
doing the outsourcing practice so it will not cause severe adverse effect in the future.

Describe a decisive moment in your life. What are some difficulties you confront in your daily
life as a professional (or student)?
The decisive momen in my life is when I decided to pursue a chemical engineering major for
my bachelor degree. Life may be very different from today condition if I choose other major. My
mother wanted me to enroll in medical school. However, I hate biology and I can’t remember all those
Latin name. I’m happy that I choose the right major, and if I had to choose again, I will definitely choose
chemical engineering.
Difficulties that I confront daily when I was a student is managing my time. Chemical
engineering students is widely known to have the busiest curriculum. It is like jugling three balls with
one hand. It is doable but need a lot of concentration and sacrifice.

UNIT 8 – SOCIETY
SOCIAL NETWORKING
The statistics below show basic information about users of three different online social
networking sites. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main information and
making comparisons.
 The table shows user distribution of three age groups in three different online social network
sites. Overall, each group has different preferences of social media.
The first group is adolescents who age thirteen to seventeen. Their most favourite site is Site
C with over than a half of them is a member. Site A is in the second place with 20%, while Site B is the
least favourite of this age group with only 7% subscription.
The second group which comprise of younger adults who age eighteen to twenty five has a
different distribution than the first group. Almost half of them are using site A. Site C is slightly behind
with 35% of total membership. However, just as like adolescents group, Site B is the least popular
social media for younger adults.
The last group is older adults who age over twenty five. For this age group, Site B is the most
used social media with almost two third of them have membership in this site. Site A comes in the
second place with 33%. Unlike the previous age group, Site C is very unpopular with only 10% market
share for older adults.

What kinds of information do you generally exchange with your friends online? Do you feel
that parents should impose any kinds of limits on their adolescent children’s use of internet? Why or
why not? Do you believe that the online social networking trend will continue in the future? Why or
why not?
I personally often exchange meme with my friends online. Sometimes, the memes are
inappropriate for Indonesian culture but completely fine by western standard. It is usually contains
some satire, pop culture joke, or criticism towards government.
I feel that parents should impose some kind of internet use limits on their adolescent children.
But, don’t stop at that, adult people should also be limited especially uneducated one. I often come
across hoax online that I believe only stupid people will believe it. Unfortunately, a lot of people is
stupid enough to believe and share it to another stupid people. Lies that is spread and telled over and
over will become truth that many people believe. It is very dangerous to give people like this an
internet access. There should be a certification test where people will be judged whether they deserve
to be given internet access or not.
I believe that online social networking trend will continue in the future as long as internet is
available. There may be an upgrade of social network site in the future, for instance, built-in social
media in brain where it is almost like a telephaty. Yes it is far fetched, but with current rate of
technological development, nothing is impossible. And it may happen in our lifetime.

WHY ARE WOMEN LEAVING SCIENCE CAREERS

 Modern professional women confront a difficulty that men don’t generally face: the struggle
to balance pressures of work and home. In your opinion, how can this difficulty best solved? Give
reasons for your answer and include examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Modern career women often face a challenge to achieve a balance between office work and
house chores, a different challenge that most men rarely meet. In my opinion, there are several
solution to this problem, such as hiring domestic worker and improving time management.
Hiring a domestic worker is the quickest and easiest solution to help relieving women’s
pressure of home affair. Domestic worker can switch the burden of working women by doing most of
time consuming house chores, such as laundrying the clothes, cooking dinner, cleaning the dishes, and
sweeping the floor. By removing this chores from their to do list, professional women can have more
time for themselves and for their family. Their mood will improve significantly, which in turn gives
better performance at work.
The second solution that can help to solve the problem is improving time management skill.
Most of house chores are time consuming. Bringing unfinished work from the office to home increase
the stress faced by these women. By having a good time management skill, more work can be finished
at the office so there is nothing to bring home. This way, career women can separate office related
work and house chores. It is a very important thing to do to keep the pressure at not too high level.
In conclusion, for professional women, balancing the pressure of work and home is a very
difficult challenge. However, this problem can be solved by hiring domestic worker to do some or even
almost all of time consuming house chores. A good time management may also help keeping the
pressure not too high. Career women need to be respected because they are able to thrive under this
kind of pressure.

What career advice have you received that you feel is invaluable? What are some of the
common pressures of your profession or of being a student?
One thing that I learn from my career so far is that most people don’t know what they are
doing and that they are improvising along the way. This makes me think that I shouldn’t be worry to
make some mistake because every person, even the most senior and experienced, can make mistakes.
I just need to improvise along the way so the final objective still can be achieved.
The common pressure of my profession is being right even though I’m not sure what or how
to get it right. Fortunately, my co-worker is very supportive and helpful. I can learn a lot from this
experiences and makes me ready if I face a similar problem in the future.

WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBILITY ISSUES
The graphs below show basic information about employment among people with and without
disabilities in a certain country. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
information and making comparisons.
 The graphs show employment rate and average monthly salary of non-disabled people, non-
severe disabled people, and severe disabled people in a certain country. People that require assistance
for personal activities are classified as severy disabled people. Overall, people without disabilities are
employed more and earn more compared to people with disabilities.
From employment data, it is shown that about 90% of non-disabled people is employed. The
employment rate of non-severly disabled is slightly slower with about 85% employment. However,
the employment rate of severy disabled people is very low compared with the other group. Only a
quarter of them have jobs.
Similar to the employment data, people with no disabilities also earn more compared to the
other groups. They earn slightly over than $2,000 a month. People with non-severe disability earn
about $500 a month less than the non-disabled. Meanwhile, severy disabled people earn significantly
lower than the other group. Their monthly income is only about half of people with no disabilities.

Are there laws in your country that require public buildings to be accessible to disabled people?
Do you think such laws are a good idea? Think about the building where you work or study. Is it
accessible to people in wheelchairs? In what ways could accessibility be improved?
I don’t know whether there is a law in my country that requiring public buildings to be
accessible to disabled people or not. But I know that there is many non profit organization that
promotes this and asking government to enforce it to every public buildings in the city.
I think that’s a great idea. I hear from somewhere that the advancement of societies in a
country can be judged by how they treat the disabled.
Disabled people access is available at the building where I work. However, it is a old building
which was built almost 40 years ago. So, the access for disabled people is located on the other side of
the building because it is simply impossible to build it at the main entrance. The space is just not
enough.

UNIT 9 – EDUCATION
LEARNING STYLES
Confidence in oneself is an important part of learning. What factors in a classroom can
contribute to a student’s feeling of confidence? Give reasons for your answer and include examples
from your own knowledge or experience.
It is widely suggested that confidence in oneself played a big influence in learning process.
There are several aspects in the classroom that can affect student’s confidence, such as compliments
from teachers and study environment that involves many group activities.
 Compliment is the simplest form of reward and can be given easily by teachers. Study from
Harvard University shows that when people complimented, their brain responded by releasing a
hormone that induce the feeling of self confidence. Compliments can make people feel appreciated.
They feel that their effort is acknowledged and meet the expectation placed on them. In turn, people
will believe more in themselves and become more confidence in everything they are doing. Moreover,
compliments make a positive study environment for all students involved.
The second factors that can help to build students’s confidence is a study environment that
promotes team work by incorporating many group activities. Teacher should promote brain storming
activities where every students has to throw in their ideas. One rule that teacher must enforce to
students who are working in a group is that they must listen to and appreciate other student’s opinion
or idea. Research by UNICEF shows that constructive social interaction in childhood will impact
student’s self confidence significantly and even further shape how they will grow in the future.
In conclusion, confidence is very important in every students’ learning process and its
development must be supported by providing adequate studying environment such as compliments
by teachers and group activities that promote positive social interaction between students. So,
teachers are the most responsible person in class to build students’ confidence.

Think about the three learning styles – visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Which do you think is
your dominant style? Why? Would you describe yourself as a solitary learner or a social learner? What
things hinder your learning?
I think my dominant style is visual, however kinesthetic method also help me studying. That
is because I enjoy reading more than listening to lectures. I also enjoy looking at graph which increase
my study effectiveness considerably. The method of kinesthetic learning style that I mention earlier is
writing. By re-writing something, I can remember it easier and faster.
I would describe myselft to be solitary learner. I prefer studying in a quiet place with only
music as a companion. That is because I don’t like to be disturbed by other people when I’m
concentrating. Once distracted, I need time to regain my concentration and it is a waste of time to be
constantly interupted. However, when I finished studying by myself, I love to join the others and study
together. That is because I have already undestand the main point of the subject and by studying with
others, I can effortlessly absorb other small details that I might have missed during my solitary study.

THE HOMESCHOOL OPTION

Interest in homeschooling is becoming more widespread around the world. In your opinion,
should school be compulsory for all children, or should families be allowed the right to choose to
educate their children at home? Support your opinion with reasons and examples from your own
knowledge and experience.
In recent years, more and more people around the world starting to embrace the concept of
homeschooling. While some people believe that formal school should be compulsory for all young
children, I believe that families should be allowed to choose homeschooling as a method to educate
their children.
The first reason is every children has their own talents and interests. School curriculum is very
general and often doesn’t give a room for children to explore their interests. For instance, academic
curriculum in Indonesia generally doesn’t provide art class such as music, dance, and theatrical course.
This might hinder students to reach their full potential on those subjects. Parents who homeschooled
their children can make a learning program that fit better to their children talents. Moreover, young
children will have more time to explore what they like the most and eventually focus on those area.
The second reason why homeschooling might be superior to formal school is that students
can spend more time with their family. A research by UNICEF shows that the kid who spend more time
with their family is happier and quicker to learn new thing than the one who spend less time. By being
close with their family, students will feel comfort and in turn more eager to study. However, this
situation might possibly make the students afraid and hard to communicate with other people.
Therefore, parents should also provide their children with a chance to play and interact with another
kid at the same age.
In conclusion, homeschooling has many advantages that can’t be provided by formal school
such as tailored study program and special attention by parents. However, it could possibly create a
problem if not handled well. So, parents should look for professional advice before taking their
children to homeschool.

For what ages should education be compulsory, in your opinion? Which subjects do you think
should be obligatory in high schools? What concerns do you have about education in your country?
I believe that Scandinavian country, such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark has the best
school system in the world. If I’m not mistaken, children in Sweden start to go to school at the age of
7. Before that age, it is the responsibility of their parents to teach their children about moral, how to
behave, and discover their talent. In my opinion, Indonesia should take Sweden as an example to
improve our curriculum.
The subjects that I think should be obligatory in high schools is a subject about tolerance and
how to respect other people who maybe are different from them. Indonesia is in the state of
emergency because there more and more people who can’t tolerate and respect people who are
different from them.
My concern about education system in my country is that teachers aren’t paid enough,
especially teachers who are not a permanent staff. This low wage impacts overall teaching quality.
This may be due to the fact that teachers often must do a second job to make their ends meet.
Therefore, teachers energy will be drained and they can’t focus on teaching.

EDUCATING THE GIFTED

The charts below show information about the percentage of first-year students enrolled in
remedial education courses at two different universities. Summarize the information by selecting and
reporting the main information and making comparisons.

The chart shows the percentage of freshman year students who took remedial classes at two
different universities. Overall, there is a higher percentage of students in University A took remedial
courses compared to University B. In every courses, there are higher percentages of University A
student who took that courses compared to University B.
 Almost half of University A first-year students enrolled in remedial classes. The most taken
remedial class in University A is math with over a third of students enrolled in it. Remedial writing class
was taken by slightly lower percentage of students with about 26%. The least taken remedial class in
University A was remedial reading.
University B has a significantly lower overall attendance of remedial classes compared with
University A. The most attended remedial class in University B was remedial reading. However, it is
still significantly lower than University A. In fact, it is only half the percentage of University’s A. The
enrollment of remedial writing was slightly lower at 10%. The percentage of students who took
remedial math was the same with remedial writing.

If you could choose to have any extraordinary talent, what would you choose? What programs
for gifted children are there in your country? How do you think education for gifted children will be
different in the future?
I would like to have photographic memory as my extraordinary talent. Could you imagine the
possibility oneself can achieve with photographic memory? I can learn new languange in an instance.
Heck, I can even learn a whole field of study in one sit.
I think there are no special programs for gifted children in my country, unless if what you mean
as gifted students are students with mental disorder. In the future, education for gifted children will
be more advanced with tailored curriculum made specifically for them. With this curriculum, I hope
gifted children can reach their full potential and change the world. To become a better world of course.

UNIT 10 – TECHNOLOGY/INVENTIONS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIGHTBULB
In your opinion, what has been the most important invention of the past 100 years? Support
your opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
There has been several invention in the past 100 years that change the world. In my opinion,
the most important invention was world wide web, or commonly known as internet. Internet has
changed the way how we acquire information, how we interact with other people, and how the
economy is run.
The biggest benefit of internet is it changed how we acquire information and how fast the
information spread. Internet makes us able to know almost everything about an event on the other
side of the world in an instance. Before the internet, news about a disaster, international conflict, or
scientific achievement needs days or even weeks to spread around the world. Now, with a device that
fit on our hand, we are just one tap away from that information.
The second benefit of the internet is it made us possible to talk with people on the other side
of the earth at a very low cost. Nowadays, about 70% of people all over the world have access to the
internet. Through social media or messenger application, we can interact with them at virtually zero
cost. This is very contrast to the time before the internet. International call may cost up to several
dollar per minute, while a letter may take months to arrive to its destination.
The internet also change the global economy. Nowadays, more and more company shift their
businesses around the internet. For example, in financial services, bank is starting to provide online
services to open a new account.
In conclusion, because of its benefits, internet is arguably the most important invention of the
past 100 years. People should embrace it to be able to thrive in this modern world.

Who was an inspiration to you when you were growing up? Who is an inspiration to you now?
Do you find any type of music or art inspiring? How does it inspire you?
 My inspiration when I was growing up was my father. He is very patient and provide me with
everything. He took me to school every day, even though it means that he must leave home earlier
than if he didn’t take me to school.
Beside my father, an inspiration to me now is Elon Musk. He is a very visionaire guy. I always
admire his risk taking appetite. I’ve read his biography. In that book, there is a story how Elon Musk
started SpaceX company. From the money he got from selling PayPal, which was about 100 million
dollar, he took half for SpaceX, just under a half for Tesla, and the rest for Solar City. Everything went
well and he is now a billionaire with rocket industry and futuristic electric car company.
Not literally inspiring, but I like listening to music while studying. It helps me to focus and
understand the course quicker. Music or art aren’t inspiring to me maybe due to the fact that I don’t
work in creative industry. I work in engineering industry where I think there are no correlation with
with music or art.

THE INVENTION OF VARIABLE-PITCH PROPELLERS

The charts below show basic information about different models of light sport aircraft and very
light jets for aviation enthusiasts. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main
information and making comparisons.

The chart shows several information such as cruise speed, passenger capacity, and price of
several aircraft in two types of class which is light sport aircraft and very light jets. Overall, very light
jets are faster, have more passenger, and more expensive compared to light sport aircraft.
In light sport aircraft class, the aircraft manufactured by Airways is the slowest with cruise
speed of 75 mph. It also has the smallest passenger capacity. Therefore, it is the cheapest with $39,000
price tag. Tiger Inc and McGregor’s aircrafts has the same passenger capacity. However, McGregor’s
aircraft is slightly faster with cruise speed of 130 mph. Hence, it is more expensive than Tiger’s.
Aircrafts in very light jets class has a variety of capacities. Airways has the smalles plane with
maximum only two passengers. It is also the slowest and the cheapest between other very light jets.
Tiger’s plane has a double passenger capacity of Airways’. It is also faster and cost more than double
of Airway’s. The largest plane of all is McGregor. It can fit a maximum of six passengers. It is also the
fastest. Therefore, it comes with a hefty price tag of $3,650,000.
 Do you prefer to work (study) with a group or in isolation? Why? When you run into a problem
with work (studies), do you confer with others or do you prefer to find your own solution? What makes
you feel enthusiastic about your work (studies)?
I prefer to study work or study in isolation. The reason is because I easily distracted by other
people. Once distracted, I need some time to get back my focus. This situation can hinder my study
effectiveness. That’s why I like being by myself when working or studying. I only need music and a cup
of tea to accompany me studying or working.
When I run into a problem with my work or studies, I will try to find the solution by my own
first. I will look up the answer in the internet or books. If I find the solution then it is great. But if after
hours of searching I still can’t find the answer, I will turn to other people who might know the solution,
such as friends, supervisor, or family.
I will feel enthusiast about my work or studies if there are a clear goal I want to achieve.
Another thing is if the work or studies is my personal interest. I can spend hours reading about the
topic I love.

THE TRANSATLANTIC CABLE

In your opinion, which is more important for success, perseverance or good luck? Support your
opinion with reasons and examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Some people suggest that perseverance is more important for success, while the others think
that good luck is the one which makes difference. In my opinion, perseverance is more important for
success than good luck. This is due to the fact that perseverance shapes a character that is built for
success and it is possible to control.
Perseverance played a big part in every successful people because it shapes their character.
Failure is part of the journey to success and it is inevitable. Perseverance people knows how to handle
failure. They know how to get back up to their feet and keep trying. By keep trying over and over again,
they will accumulate experience and eventually find the formula to success. However, people without
perseverance will give up easily once they fail. People like this are very unlikely to be successful.
Another reason why success is determined by perseverance not good luck is because we can
control perseverance. Good luck is likely only happen once or twice. Some people might have a good
fortune once and become successful. However, once they achieve success, their motivation will wane
and their success may fall apart. For instance, founder of WeWork got lucky by being financed by
Japanese investor. Unfortunately, the business fell apart due to his negligence and being easy to give
up. Persevere people will not give up this easily. They will thrive under pressure and keep trying to
innovate.
In conclusion, good luck can be a factor in a person’s success. However, perseverance is more
important because it is not only bring success to people, but also create a character that can keep
their success from falling apart.

What profession do you work in or do you plan to work in? What are the usual requisites for
entering this profession? In you opinion, what personal qualities are indispensible for success in your
profession?
I’m working as a chemical engineer, or often called as process engineer. My responsibilities in
work are troubleshooting operational problem, designing a new production facilities, and make
improvement to existing facilities.
The usual requirement to enter this profession is to have a chemical engineering degree of
course. Another thing that is an usual requisites are logical thinking, analytical skills, and adaptability.
We also need to be fit because we often have to work at the field. At the field, we do a lot of physical
activities such as lifting a heavy industrial equipment, climbing a ladder, or walk a long distance.
 In my opinion, personal qualities tha are indispensible for success in this profession are
analytical thinking skills. Most of engineering problem is logical. All of it has a cause and effect relation.
We need to think critical and analyze what thing that might cause this problem. Once we found the
root cause, we need to apply our knowledge to tackle the problem. At the very least, we can make
simply fix the immediate problem. Great engineer may make some change or improvement to the
system to solve the problem once and for all.