You should spend about 40 minutes on IELTS writing task 2.
To succeed in a business, one needs to know maths. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1
People have regularly shared their ideas for success in business. Many individuals feel that mathematics is essential for commercial success. In my opinion, I disagree with this concept. I believe that in order to thrive in business, one must have proper managerial skills. In the forthcoming paragraphs, I shall explain my point of view.
Many people believe that it is essential to excel in maths to be a great businessman. Math aids in gaining a good understanding of computations and figures. However, it’s not true. One can always hire employees like accountants and financial experts to manage the business flow. The recruited personnel are specialists in their professions and can assist owners in predicting future earnings and losses.
Additionally, business owner who does not even understand basic math can avoid being duped by their staff by purchasing business plan software. Entrepreneurs just have to put in the appropriate numbers and the software will generate professional results. Besides that, the success of the firm is determined by the owners’ managerial abilities, organizational skills, and capability to use employees for maximum efficiency. Furthermore, entrepreneurs must possess excellent leadership qualities, such as the ability to establish a clear company strategy and vision. Above all, an entrepreneur should be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as what they can contribute to the table.
However, it might be true that the nature of business involves calculations for monetary transactions. Therefore, all the activities in a company are indirectly related to maths, and not having the basic knowledge of maths is a significant disadvantage. Irrespective of this common belief, the recent technological advancements do not allow maths to impede anybody’s success. To sum up, commercial success is based not only on math but also on proper resource management in organizations.
Structure of the essay
You were given an opinion essay which means you had to pick a side. So,
- Do you agree that if a business wants to succeed, they need to know maths?
(or)
- Do you disagree that if a business wants to succeed, they need to know maths?
Once you pick a side, you can start planning your essay and then writing it.
Don’t forget to state your opinion on it.
Question Paraphrased – Many individuals feel that mathematics is essential for commercial success.
Opinion – Though I don’t agree with this concept, I believe that in order to thrive in business, one must have proper managerial skills.
A thesis statement – In the forthcoming paragraphs, I shall explain my point of view.
Body Paragraph 1:
Topic: Ways additional resources besides maths can help to run a business.
Supporting points:
- Using additional help like hiring experts
- Recruiting specialists
Body Paragraph 2:
Topic: Requirement of additional skills for business
Supporting points:
- Business software that helps
- Importance of managerial and organizational skills
- Leadership qualities that help
Conclusion:
Reiterated that success of the business is not just based on math but also on proper resource management of resources and supported the side taken in the introduction.
Sample Answer 2
It is undeniable that math is essential when it comes to the business industry. I partly agree with the previous-mentioned assertion as I think that math is by far not a single skill that future entrepreneurs need to develop in order to succeed.
To begin with, there is one main reason why I think that math is one of the main subjects, but not the dominant; it is an indispensable tool for annual accountings and analytics, which in its turn is extremely crucial in every business structure. If the employees of the particular campaign are not simply able to deal with mathematical bases like multiplying or dividing so how they are going to make complex reforms or make an economical predictions without implementing functions and probabilities. Furthermore, knowing the initial theories will, perhaps, help future businessmen and businesswomen to not be fooled by their own staff by monitoring the process of accounting company’s expenses and income. Thus, it is important that employment owners have minimal awareness of algebra and geometry.
Despite the knowledge of elementary numerical elements, good business owners should have other merits to guarantee that their employees might take off. Leadership skills, in fact, are a powerful instrument for both gaining market share and being on good terms with team members. It is horrible to imagine a company, where the leader is inadequately behaved but perfectly educated. Moreover, it is not surprising that in some well-known campaigns like Apple or Facebook, employers and managers are equally valued simply because their bosses make a tranquil environment for their workers by giving them a great motive to be inspired and to achieve their best. This is what a great leader is all about; the more chiefs will support their employees, the more the company will be flourished in the future. This is why modern business owners should be provided with management skills as much as calculation.
To conclude, I still believe that math has a pivotal role to play in the company’s development, but people need to have other life-enhanced privileges not to be bankrupt by running their own business.
Sample Answer 3
Many people claim that a key ingredient to success in the business world is a firm understanding of math. In my opinion, although there is some truth to this, it is not a crucial factor.
Proponents of the importance of math argue its usefulness in a variety of business contexts. For all business majors, mathematics courses in university are a requirement for graduation. This is because it is essential not only for those running a small business or shop to be able to do good book-keeping but also as a foundational skill for Wall Street brokers, bankers, entrepreneurs, accountants, and marketers. Without a solid understanding of the mathematical principles underlying the decision-making in those fields, it is difficult to truly innovate and excel.
Nonetheless, there are more vital elements to business success. The math a business needs to prosper can be handled by dedicated specialists. It is more important for a potential business person to understand the nuances of the market, display leadership qualities, be decisive, and possess generally above-average intelligence. A good example of this would be an entrepreneur like Steve Jobs. He famously only hired quality specialists and prioritised for himself learning how to be an effective leader and motivate his employees well. The key to success is therefore segmenting a business into different areas all under the capable hands of a visionary leader.
In conclusion, mathematical ability can help inform businesses but it is not as essential as other management qualities. The ideal business person has an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and brings together a team of strong complements.
Vocab Highlights
key ingredient essential part
business world where business people work
firm understanding of math know math well
crucial factor important element
proponents supporters
usefulness practicality
variety of business contexts many different jobs
majors studying
requirement must do
graduation finishing school
running a small business having your own business
book-keeping keeping track of your earnings/spending
foundational skill needed
Wall Street brokers people who trade stocks
bankers people who work in banks
entrepreneurs people starting their own business
accountants people working with finances
marketers people working in advertising
solid understanding good grasp
mathematical principles underlying the math that underpins/supports
decision-making making decisions
fields jobs, areas
truly innovate think of new ideas
excel do better than others
nonetheless regardless
vital elements key parts
prosper do rewally well
handled by dedicated specialists dealt with by people who know it well
potential business person will get into business someday
nuances complexity
display leadership qualities are good leaders
decisive can make decisions
possess generally above-average intelligence are smart
entrepreneur person who starts a business
famously well-known
hired quality specialists employed experts
prioritised placed value on
effective leader good boss
motivate his employees well encourage those who work for him
key to success ingredient to doing well
segmenting a business dividing up a company
under the capable hands of under good leadership
visionary leader boss who can see the future
inform contribute to
not as essential as not as important as
management qualities leadership qualities
ideal perfect
strengths and weaknesses what you’re good and bad at
brings together combines
strong complements those who can support you
Sample Answer 4
Some people argue that maths is an essential skill in order to do well in business. I partly disagree with this notion because although basic maths is required to properly run a business, more complex maths can be outsourced.
Basic maths is an integral part of running a business. Success in business requires a broad range of knowledge including finance and accounting which both use maths. Business owners should have a solid understanding of basic arithmetic as well as algebra in order to run their business effectively. In addition, maths is required when performing business operations like accounting, inventory management, and forecasting sales.
However, strong maths skills are not required to do well in the business field. While maths is undeniably an important part of running a business, it is possible to outsource this skill. This includes hiring an individual skilled in the financial side of the business as well as using spreadsheets and computer programs that will do financial models for business owners. Though using spreadsheets does require a basic understanding of the principles of finance and maths, it does not require a high level of math skills in areas such as calculus. Moreover, maths is a broad field that encompasses a number of subtopics such as geometry, calculus, algebra, and statistics. Not all of these areas are required when running a business.
In conclusion, I partly disagree with the notion that business success requires strong maths skills. While many aspects of business do require basic maths skills such as finance and accounting, being good in all types of maths is not a requirement. Furthermore, many higher-level maths skills can be outsourced.
Sample Answer 5
Many people regard math skills as a key factor to achieving success in business as it facilitates the decision-making process. However, I believe it is only one out of various factors that contribute to business success and therefore non-essential.
On the one hand, math enables key people to make better decisions. One application of business mathematics is to provide statistics that can predict future scenarios. These predictions might lay a firm foundation for more informed and evidence-based decisions, replacing biased ones based on managers’ gut feelings. For decades, Unilever has utilised a statistical model that can forecast the supply and demand of fast-moving consumer goods, allowing the company leaders to promptly plan the production and sales of each product category.
On the other hand, I believe that one can run a business successfully without excellent math skills. In fact, many entrepreneurs have built billion-dollar enterprises thanks to great personal qualities. A good example, in this case, is Nguyen Thanh Duc, the chairman of NTD Group. He was known to be a disruptive student that failed almost all school subjects including math, yet he rose to become an inspirational leader who could motivate his employees to strive to gain collective success for the corporation. In addition, his success is attributed to the courage to take the risks that rational calculations, such as those that guide Unilever, would rule out. As these leadership qualities concurred with a good fortune, his startup has evolved into a multinational business empire, becoming market leaders in many industries including real estate, fishery and forestry.
In conclusion, although statistical math could help make better decisions, I am of the opinion that risk-taking, inspirational personality traits and luck are crucial to driving an enterprise to success. That is why business schools should focus more on honoring interpersonal skills including leadership and communication.