Professional athletes are paid far more than their contribution to society deserves.
A full IELTS Writing Task 2 answer to this question, with a paragraph plan, ideas you can use, and the vocabulary that fits this topic.
The question
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Professional athletes are paid far more than their contribution to society deserves.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
How to read this question
The phrase to interrogate is "contribution to society deserves". It smuggles in an assumption — that pay ought to track social value — which is not how any labour market works. You can accept the assumption and argue about whether athletes meet it, or challenge it and argue that pay tracks scarcity and revenue instead. The second route is harder but produces a much stronger essay, because it disputes the question rather than merely answering it.
Paragraph plan
Introduction — Paraphrase, then reject the premise: pay reflects revenue and scarcity, not desert, so the comparison is misconceived.
Body 1 — Concede the intuition — the gap against nurses and teachers is genuinely jarring and worth taking seriously.
Body 2 — Explain the actual mechanism — athletes are paid from money they generate, and the alternative is not redistribution to nurses but retention by owners.
Conclusion — The complaint identifies a real problem but misidentifies its cause: the issue is how essential work is funded, not how athletes are paid.
Model essay
Band 8.5–9.0 model essay
324 words
It is often claimed that professional athletes receive remuneration far exceeding their actual contribution to society. In my view, while this may be true when measured against athletes' direct social impact, it overlooks the substantial economic and cultural value that elite sport generates.
To begin, when compared with professions such as nursing or teaching, whose direct contribution to public welfare is undeniable, the salaries of top athletes can appear grossly disproportionate. To clarify, a footballer's weekly earnings often exceed a nurse's annual salary, despite the latter's role in directly preserving human health and life. Moreover, the disparity becomes particularly stark when considering that a nurse's contribution can directly determine whether a patient survives, whereas an athlete's role, however entertaining, carries no comparable life-or-death consequence. This disparity understandably fuels the perception that athletes' compensation bears little relation to their genuine value to society.
However, athletes' salaries are largely determined by the immense revenue they generate for their clubs and broader industries, rather than by any measure of moral or social contribution. To illustrate, elite athletes attract millions of viewers, drive ticket and merchandise sales, and secure lucrative broadcasting deals, all of which sustain thousands of jobs in the entertainment and sports sectors. For instance, a single major football match can generate hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales, sponsorship, and broadcasting rights, revenue that funds employment across an entire supporting industry, from coaches and physiotherapists to stadium staff. Moreover, successful athletes often inspire physical activity among the public and contribute significantly to national pride and unity, particularly during major international competitions, indirectly benefiting society in ways that are difficult to quantify. Consequently, athletes' pay more accurately reflects market demand for entertainment than any deliberate societal judgement about relative worth.
To conclude, although athletes' pay appears excessive when measured against essential public service professions, I believe this reflects the substantial economic and cultural value they generate for their industries, rather than a straightforward societal injustice.
Created by a Band 8.5–9.0 IELTS Writing achiever — Premium. Sign up free to read the rest of this essay and unlock every model on the site.
This is an opinion (agree / disagree) question. The essay above shows you what a strong answer looks like when it is finished. What it cannot show you is how to get there from a blank page in forty minutes.
That is what our Writing Study Library is for: the structure we teach for this exact question type, the paragraph pattern that goes with it, and the sentence openers for each stage — so the essay is planned before you start writing rather than assembled as you go.
Introduction: Paraphrase the claim that athletes are overpaid relative to their social contribution, giving a nuanced answer that weighs direct social impact against economic and cultural value.
Body 1: Argue the pay gap looks unjust compared with essential workers like nurses whose direct contribution to survival and welfare is undeniably greater than an athlete's.
Body 2: Argue athletes' pay reflects the enormous revenue and employment they generate through broadcasting, sponsorship and ticket sales, plus intangible benefits like national pride, making it market-driven rather than a moral judgement.
Conclusion: Restate that high athlete pay reflects real economic and cultural value rather than a straightforward societal injustice.
Word or phrase
Meaning
Used in a sentence
remuneration
payment for work or services
professional athletes receive remuneration far exceeding their actual contribution to society
disproportionate
too large or small in comparison with something else
the salaries of top athletes can appear grossly disproportionate
compensation
payment given in recognition of loss, suffering, or service
athletes' compensation bears little relation to their genuine value to society
disparity
a great difference between things
this disparity understandably fuels the perception
lucrative
producing a great deal of profit
secure lucrative broadcasting deals
sustain
to maintain or keep in existence
all of which sustain thousands of jobs in the entertainment and sports sectors
quantify
to express or measure as an amount
indirectly benefiting society in ways that are difficult to quantify
injustice
unfairness
rather than a straightforward societal injustice
Created by a Band 8.5–9.0 IELTS Writing achiever — Premium. Sign up free to see the ideas and vocabulary for this topic and unlock every model on the site.
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Common questions
Is it safe to argue against the assumption in the question?
Yes, and it is often the strongest route — provided you say clearly that this is what you are doing. Examiners reward engagement with the exact wording. What fails is appearing to have misread the question, so name the premise you are rejecting in the introduction rather than leaving it implied.
Should I still discuss the other side if I disagree with it?
Yes. The Band 8.5 model gives the opposing intuition a full paragraph and calls it reasonable before answering it. Refuting a view you have first stated fairly is far more persuasive than refuting a weak version of it, and it demonstrates the range that Band 7 and above require.
Do I need economic terminology for this topic?
No. The argument works in plain language — pay follows how much money you bring in and how hard you are to replace. Reach for a technical term only when you are certain of it; a mishandled one costs more under Lexical Resource than a precise everyday phrase ever would.
Can I mention specific athletes or salaries?
You can, but there is little advantage. IELTS does not verify figures, and a named salary you half-remember adds risk without adding marks. A described comparison — a week's pay against a career's — makes the same point safely.
