Onterra TutorShould manufacturers be required to sell spare parts and publish repair manuals?
TOEFL iBT writing question in the official format, with a full model answer and notes on why it scores. Write your own version below it and get an instant rater-style score.
The question
Your professor is teaching a class on consumer policy. Write a post responding to the professor's question. In your response, express and support your opinion and add to the discussion in your own words. A strong response has at least 100 words.
Professor Karim: Should manufacturers be legally required to sell spare parts and publish repair manuals for the products they make?
Beatriz: Yes. A device that cannot be opened is designed to be replaced, and the buyer pays for that decision twice, first in money and then in waste.
Sven: Requirements like that raise prices and constrain design. Engineers would be building around a regulation instead of building the best product they can.
Model answer
I support Beatriz, and I think Sven's cost argument works against him. He warns that repairable designs raise prices, but the present arrangement only hides the cost somewhere else: a phone that cannot be opened is not cheap, it is temporary, and the buyer pays again in two years. A repair requirement converts an invisible cost back into a visible one, which is uncomfortable for sellers rather than expensive for buyers. Sven's stronger point is about design freedom, and I would grant him a narrow version of it. Rules should require that parts and manuals exist, not dictate how a product is assembled, because engineers designing around a regulation really do produce worse products. The test I would apply is simple: if a trained repairer holding the manual still cannot open the device, the design has failed the person who bought it.
Why this answer scores
- Turns the opposing argument around rather than dismissing it, which is the hardest move to do well.
- Concedes the part of Sven's case that holds and narrows the proposal accordingly.
- Finishes with a usable test, so the position is specific enough to argue with.
Do not memorise model answers; raters recognise recycled essays instantly. Study the moves, then make them with your own ideas, and check where you stand with a scored practice.
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