Band 9 model answer
Competitive video gaming has exploded into a billion-dollar industry, filling vast arenas and crowning highly paid professional champions. Whether this phenomenon genuinely deserves the title of 'sport' is contentious, and while I readily recognise its considerable merits, I only partially agree that it truly qualifies.
The case for recognition is surprisingly strong. Elite gamers train for gruelling hours each day, honing reflexes, strategy and teamwork to a level that demands genuine expertise. Major tournaments are governed by strict rules, fierce competition and fiercely dedicated audiences, closely mirroring the structure of conventional sport. Moreover, the mental discipline and split-second decision-making required arguably rival the cognitive demands of chess, which many people already comfortably accept as a sport.
Nonetheless, one crucial element is conspicuously missing: meaningful physical exertion. Traditional sports test the human body through strength, stamina or agility, whereas e-sports primarily engage only the mind and fingertips. Critics reasonably contend that without this athletic dimension, gaming is closer to a competitive pastime than a sport in the fullest sense. There are also legitimate concerns that elevating sedentary, screen-based activity could worsen the very inactivity that public health campaigns strive so hard to reverse.
In conclusion, I believe e-sports occupy a distinct category of their own that overlaps with sport without ever fully belonging to it. They undeniably involve real skill, competition and professionalism, yet the conspicuous absence of substantial physical effort sets them apart from athletics as traditionally understood. Rather than forcing the term to stretch awkwardly, society would do better to respect e-sports as a distinct and legitimate discipline, judged on its own considerable merits rather than against a definition it was never designed to fit.
Examiner’s notes
- Task Response: the 'to what extent' prompt is answered with a precise partial-agreement stance, defended consistently and refined in the conclusion rather than simply restated.
- Cohesion: logical connectors 'Moreover', 'Nonetheless' and 'Rather than' structure a genuine debate, while 'this phenomenon' and 'this athletic dimension' maintain reference cohesion.
- Lexical resource: confident expressions like 'gruelling hours', 'split-second decision-making' and 'competitive pastime' demonstrate range and collocational accuracy.