TOEFL, iBT, Independent Writing, Which would you choose: a high-paying job with long working hours or a lower-paying job with shorter working hours? - rewrite -

Working hours and pay

Wring Topic

Which would you choose: a high-paying job with long working hours or a lower-paying job with shorter working hours? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

☆Let’s think:

When you look around you and try to see which of these two working conditions most people choose, the answer seems to be easy. Most people want to be hired as a full-time worker for regular income.

Students and housewives prefer part-time jobs to study or raise children respectively. Jobs that they can find are usually not high-paying.

Actually, the real employment patterns are not so simple. Trying to cut costs, companies do not raise regular workers’ salaries and many non-regular workers are becoming the working poor, whose wages are so low that they have to work more than ten hours a day or work at two different places a day to make ends meet.

Be that as it may, the essential quality of this question is two-alternative―it asks you which of the two you prioritize, money or time, and why.

☆Hints for Points

I choose a high-paying job with long working hours because …

1.    It seems that it is common sense to choose a job with regular working hours. I would like to be a respected citizen. I would like to wear a business suit and work from 9 to 5 on week days and enjoy leisure time spending some money on my favorite activities on weekends.

2.    I like working. I would spend as much time as I can to learn the job, expand my knowledge, and improve my skills.

3.    I need money. Some people might view my desire as materialistic, but I would like to live in a safe and comfortable place, wear decent clothes, and eat as much safe food as possible to live a long healthy life. I think this desire of mine is rather humble.

I choose a lower-paying job with shorter working hours because …

1.    I would like to continue my study over the next ten years. I would like to pass a few tests. I also would like to see the world.

2.    I just cannot work regularly. I am not inclined to long working hours. This does not mean that I am lazy. I have a strong power of concentration, while my body clock is just not attuned to the so called regular life pattern.

3.    Even if you have a lot of money, if you do not have time to spend it to make you feel you are alive, your life is a failure.

☆Essay Structure

Sample 1

【Introduction = Outline】I would like to be wealthy.

【Point 1】I have a hard-working nature.

【Point 2】A respectable person makes a lot of money by working energetically.

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】Although the saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, I would like to enjoy a high standard of living.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】Children play and adults work. I will work and enjoy life to the utmost when I graduate.

Sample 2

【Introduction = Outline】I would choose a lower-paying job with shorter working hours because time is life as the author of Momo says.

【Point 1】I do not want to be a cog in a machine.

【Point 2】My lifestyle does not require a lot of money.

【Point 3 / Counterargument-treatment】Life of part-time workers is precarious, but the situation which current regular workers face is not so different from that of part-time workers. The company can go bankrupt or they can lose their job if they become seriously ill. Unless you become a millionaire, you cannot have a safe and secure life, and I have no will to join this jungle-law game. It is better for me to be eaten than to eat someone else.

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】To stay as human as possible in this modern world of insanity, I would be happy to be less paid and have more leisure time.

Your sample essay structure

Introduction

Your choice Reasons: 1) 　　　　　　　　　2) 　　　　　　　　　　3)

Body

About Reason 1)   e.g.

About Reason 2) e.g.

About Reason 3) or Counterargument Treatment e.g.

Conclusion

Note: What you write in the introduction and the conclusion are the same. Also, the reasons you provide in the introduction are the same that are dealt with in the body. Although you could use exactly the same words and expressions, using different words and expressions for the same idea is preferable. The Introduction is the outline of the whole essay. The body is the detail of the introduction. The conclusion is the sum-up.　You could make a full introduction, which is complete with the hook, background, and the thesis, but sticking with writing at least the thesis is enough since you have only thirty minutes to finish the essay.