Band 8 model answer
A model answer written to illustrate a Band 8 response to this question, with the rubric breakdown and what carries it. Written by us as a teaching example, not a verified exam script.
“Some governments invest huge sums in space research while others say the money should be spent on Earth-bound problems. Discuss both views.”8
Overall
8
Task response
8
Coherence & cohesion
8
Lexical resource
8
Grammar
The allocation of substantial national budgets to space exploration is a source of persistent controversy, particularly given the scale of unresolved problems on Earth. Some defend such investment as visionary and ultimately beneficial; others regard it as a misplacement of resources that should address immediate human suffering. On balance, I believe a modest but sustained commitment to space research is defensible.
Sceptics make a powerful moral argument. Millions of people globally lack access to clean water, adequate nutrition, and basic healthcare. Against this backdrop, spending vast sums on missions to distant planets or hypothetical asteroid-deflection programmes can appear morally difficult to justify, particularly when many beneficiaries of these programmes are wealthy nations already able to meet their citizens' basic needs. Critics contend that equivalent investment in renewable energy, disease prevention, or agricultural development would produce far greater and more immediate reductions in human suffering.
Defenders of space investment counter that the research is rarely as removed from everyday life as it seems. Technologies originally developed for space programmes, including satellite navigation, water purification systems, and advances in materials science, have found widespread terrestrial applications. Space-based satellites now underpin global communications, weather forecasting, and climate monitoring, all of which are directly relevant to managing earthly challenges. Furthermore, the long-term survival of humanity may genuinely depend on developing the capacity to inhabit other worlds or deflect threats from space.
The most defensible position recognises that governments can pursue both goals simultaneously, provided space budgets are proportionate and the research is designed with dual-use applications in mind.
In conclusion, space research need not compete with addressing earthly needs when it is conducted efficiently and its terrestrial applications are prioritised. A modest, well-targeted investment in space science is justified.
- •Both sides are argued with equal seriousness; neither is dismissed.
- •Effective use of specific spin-off technologies to ground the pro-space argument in concrete evidence.
- •The moral framing of the sceptical view is engaged with respectfully, which strengthens credibility.
- •The conclusion largely restates the penultimate paragraph's point; a fresh closing observation would add more impact.
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