The Gold Medal IELTS Final

In the final of our contest matching Team Myanmar versus Team World,  our two candidates answer this question:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Do the advantages of this practice outweigh the disadvantages for young people who decide to do this? Give reasons for your answers and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge. 250 words+

I make lots of commentary inside the videos themselves, so before I announce the judge's decision, here are the two essays.  Please feel free to add your comments before we have a winner.


From Team World:

The study gap between high school and the university is a common practice in some states of the World as this time can be utilized in working or traveling. I believe that there are more advantages than disadvantages. Although lose of interest in studies due to traveling and financial stability due to working are some of the drawbacks of this ritual, benefits like exposure to the world and exploration outweigh the disadvantages. 

As far as the side effects of a gap year are concerned, as the teenagers are in the developing years of their lives and this difference in the study may pose a loss of interest in studies. For example, moving away from the homeland gives them the idea of exploring mother nature in detail that is why the engrossment for further education. Meanwhile, if someone secures a job that fulfills his basic financial requirements so this may also retaliate them from further studies. Henceforth, the dangers of gap year include losing attention due to curious nature and financial stability.   

Conversely, there are several benefits of traveling and working after finishing high school such as tours may provide substantial information of surroundings which could be helpful in further studies and the hands-on experience is beneficial to understand the practical concepts of the lab. For instance, mechanical engineering demands practical knowledge of machinery components and those students who have worked on mechanical equipment perform better than others. Therefore, It is a need of time to give a break from studies to youngsters to inspect the World through traveling, and minor jobs which provide sufficient aid for their practical studies.

In conclusion, some countries encourage their young ones to participate in different activities before starting their graduate studies. Even though this exercise may lead to a loss of attentiveness towards studies, and money may divert them from their goal of studies, I support that there are advantages like gaining worldwide experience with traveling and hands-on practices through job override the disadvantages.

From Team Myanmar:

People of young age in some countries are strongly supported with the idea of taking a gap year
between the end of high school and the beginning of university. In this essay, it will be discussed
what the advantages and disadvantages are and why the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 

 There are several advantages for taking a year off to work or travel between finishing high school
and starting university. Firstly, it will hugely benefit young people by giving work experience before
starting their university life. When they start university most students have to take a part-time job to
pay for their studies. If they take a gap year and work it will help with their future careers. Secondly by
traveling, it enables those students to experience a diversity of people. Since they get to learn about different people, they will be more likely to come up with alternative strategies to deal with diverse personalities which will later become essential in their future when they have to work with various types of people. If young people  from some countries were majored in the studies of language and culture, traveling in a gap year would be a great help before they start their studies. enter enter

Despite having many advantages, there are some disadvantages. Taking a gap year delays the total
university time because people will not be able to start their university immediately after finishing
High School and one year is not a short time. But most students do not mind  extending their university
time. As another disadvantage, those young people might get into some accident while travelling which
would make them take more time before university. However, accidents are very rare.

In summary, there are more advantages of people taking holiday for a year before university there are
some downsides but they do not outweigh the advantages for young people who decide to take a
gap year.  

The Team Myanmar entry is still processing.  The background music got it slapped with a full ban on
YouTube.

I've put it on an alternate service.
https://screencast-o-matic.com/u/lck8/TeamMyanmar




So, which essay do you think is stronger?