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Writing Task 2: Spending money on weddings.

Writing task 2.

You should spend 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people spend a lot of money for their wedding ceremonies. However, others feel like it is unnecessary to spend a lot.

Discuss both view points and give your own opinion..

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant example from your own knowledge or experience.

Sample Answer

A weddings signifies the culture and traditions of a country. In the past few years, the wedding industry has marked a remarkable growth worldwide. Certainly, a wedding is not an unvoiced affair, but a magniloquent event. Some people believe that spending freely and lavishly on weddings is acceptable whereas, others think that it is not required at all. I will discuss about both the views in my essay.

On one hand, Indian weddings have a great contribution in generating employment. As wedding industry requires the services of other segments also like hospitality, catering, apparels, decoration and makeup etc. Additionally, an expansion of wedding industry indicates a substantial growth in other service sectors as well. What is more, marriage is once in a lifetime event. Therefore, people spend lavishly to make it a special and memorable moment. These weddings bring all family members, friends and relatives at one place. So, they get an opportunity to spend some quality time together with lots of fun and enjoyment.

On the other hand, predominantly, a tradition of grand marriages puts a burden on the people who are not affluent financially. People not only spend their lifelong savings on these weddings but also borrow lofty loans just to impress the society. In addition, varieties of cuisines are prepared and served to the guests. Many times a large portion of food remains unconsumed and is wasted eventually. This money can otherwise be invested and utilised for other productive endeavours.

To conclude, wedding is the most pious and auspicious ceremony in our life. It has lately become a subject of reputation and pride. In my opinion, in spite of spending money carelessly on these magnificent weddings, tying a knot should be a simple and private affair.

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IELTS sample essay: people now spend a lot of money on their wedding

by Manjusha Nambiar · Published April 23, 2012 · Updated October 21, 2012

Nowadays, people are spending increasingly large amounts of money on their marriage parties.  Many people feel large and expensive weddings cause problems for the bride and groom.  Do you agree?  Use personal examples in your response.

This question was asked on an IELTS writing test held in Dubai on March 2012. It is taken from www.ieltsielts.com

Lavish wedding parties are the norm in many parts of the world. For example, in India parents don’t mind spending large amounts of their hard earned money on their children’s wedding. In fact, Indian parents start planning and saving for their daughter’s wedding from the day she is born.

In the Middle East, where arranged marriages are common, the cost of wedding is borne by the entire family. In the west, where arranged marriages are uncommon, the bride and the groom bear the cost of wedding. In any case, insane amounts of money are being spent on weddings. Expensive weddings cause problems not only for the bride and the groom but also for their families. Does that mean every marrying couple should opt for simple wedding ceremonies? Well, let’s see.

There is no denying the fact that a wedding is an occasion to celebrate. After all, it happens just once in a lifetime. The problem arises when people opt for weddings that they cannot afford. Spending borrowed money on a wedding is definitely not a wise idea. It will unnecessarily put a financial burden of the new couple even before they start their life together. Worse still, in India where dowry is a huge social problem many parents don’t prefer having a girl child because they cannot afford to pay huge amounts of dowry.  In worst cases, it even leads to female infanticide. Parents abort a girl child even before she is born because they don’t want to spend millions of money on her wedding when she grows up.

After analyzing the situation, it is not hard to see that lavish weddings do more harm than good. While marrying couples should be allowed to choose the kind of wedding they should have, they should be under no compulsion to throw lavish parties that they cannot afford.

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spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

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Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

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IELTS essay, topic: Should people spend a lot on weddings and birthday parties?

  • IELTS Essays - Band 8

Some people think that spending a lot on holding wedding parties, birthday parties and other celebrations is just a waste of money. Others, however, think that these are necessary for individuals and the society. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Throwing parties can be expensive. While some people do not find these fancy gatherings worth what they cost, others believe such events are important to both individuals and the society.

People choose to throw parties for a number of reasons. For starters, they can make better teams. Project kick-off parties are good opportunities to break the ice and help team members to know each other better. Celebrating a victory create a sense of success and belonging. Companies do not see parties as of money and allocate budget to support such events; moreover, they often leave good memories. From our own experiences, we all have happy memories of our birthday parties when we were little. Every family has great photos at family gatherings in their album. In addition, contrary to what some people believe that spending on parties is a waste of social resources, they actually create value, either by employing people in the party-planning business or by offering people better experiences.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

The popularity of parties, however, causes some tension in the society. They are hard on introverted people who find themselves uncomfortable in the crowd. This is a clinic symptom which psychologists call “social anxiety disorder”. There are other ways to celebrate important events that may have greater value for their cost. For instance, companies could send out gifts after successful projects and parents could take their children on family trips to celebrate birthdays.

In my opinion, while a party is a form of social event that brings many benefits to individuals and the society, other choices should also be considered, either to cut spending or to relieve the stress of those who are not fond of crowded celebrations.

This is a very good essay. Other than minor inaccuracies there are no problems (mouse over the words underlined in blue shows corrections). Seems to be worth IELTS Band 8.

Click here to see more IELTS essays of Band 8

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1 thought on “IELTS essay, topic: Should people spend a lot on weddings and birthday parties?”

In most part of our country a wedding ceremony means a complete package of variety of food, heavy shopping of clothes and jewellery, a lot of people, loud music, hi-fi decoration and many expensive gifts. Now a days wedding ceremonies have become more of a show off than building new relationships of trust and love. Most people blame this culture of spending huge money on wedding ceremony on our bollywood movies. In these movies a wedding ceremony is exagarreted so much and most people tries to copy it either for fun sake or for following the trend. But if we look back to our history, we can find many examples of a huge wedding ceremony of kings and queens. In most culture this is continuing till date. It is fine to invest money to fulfill our desires and wishes but exaggaration in any thing leads to wastage which we often tend to ignore in the shade of our joy of fulfillment. A big fat wedding also leads to a lot of wastage of resources and money. The menu of a wedding ceremony consisits of minimum 20-30 types of variety of foods which if not consumed fully is often wasted after the ceremony is over. If we notice properly, most of the guests are unable to complete the whole food on their plate due to over availabilty of food and as a result either knowingly or unknowingly they are wasting it. Not only food, too much is spent on clothes and jewellery in these weddings for show off or to satisfy the relatives and in-laws. Often these jewelleries and clothes are so heavy and uncomfortable that it cannot be utilised by the bride in any other function or daily life. These jewelleries and clothes are not an easy means of money in need, so people can opt for light jewelleries and simple and easy to go clothes and utilise the money in many other useful and recreational activities like travelling or pursuing their common hobby. With changing time preference and traditions of people are changing also, it is the need of the hour that we understand that marriage is not a funfare or show off rather it is a starting of a new journey of two families together and the base of this life changing ceremony of two persons is trust, support and love. So it is better to utilise these money in much better ways like supporting the underpriviledged section of our society, by supporting our family and investing on children and by investing it in our own hobbies or tours rather than to waste it for an one day event which can be easily held in a much simple way.

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spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

IELTS Writing Task 2 – Band 9 Strategies – Big Wedding Party

Hi Students! Here is the Task 2 writing question that we covered recently. Remember to get editing feedback on your writing by clicking, “Task 1 or Task 2” green buttons in your My Student Account at www.gieltshelp.com/full-course/ (Use code A8TW9 to get a 10% discount when you join the Premium Package) Good studies.

IELTS Task 2 Writing

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Many people spend a large amount of money on celebrating birthdays and weddings. Discuss the views and opinions of this trend.

Write at least 250 words.

Based on the question this is clearly a third-person voice persuasive essay.

A lot of individuals pay thousands of dollars to commemorate birthdays and marriages. Explain the perspectives of this custom.

TOPIC (What are we discussing?) = Expensive weddings and birthdays Controlling idea = the views and opinions surrounding this trend.

What is an expensive wedding or birthday? (Clear qualitative and quantitative response) Spending thousands of dollars on the celebration requires a significant time to save, months or years.

What are the simplest perspectives in regards to this trend of ‘overspending’? It’s good practice vs. bad practice (it justified or unreasonable) Why is it a good idea to spend a lot of money on such celebrations? To show social status, to commemorate a once-in-a-lifetime event, to experience luxury, to create extreme happiness and motivation, to strengthen family and social bonds

Why is it a bad idea to spend a lot of money on such events? Can create debt which leads to stress. The money can be better used for other purposes like education, business, house and car which are longer lasting. Money can be better invested elsewhere.

How do I decide which point to mention first and which to mention second? *Mention the point that you disagree with, or support less, first, and the view which you support more, second because as an author you want to leave our reader with the side that you support.

What are the four standard types of essays in English literature?

  • Narrative, 2. Expository, 3. Descriptive, 4. Persuasive

Which of these four is IELTS Task 2? Persuasive Essay – you are persuading (convincing) your reader of an idea – ***If this is new information, make sure to research and Google – “Persuasive writing in English”

What voices can an author use in writing?

First-person, – the subjective personal view of the author, using “I, me, my, myself” Second-person, – the instructive voice of the author, meaning, the author speaks directly to the reader, “you, your, yourself” ***All writing is some combination of the four basic writing styles and author’s voices. Third-person voice of the author – the object voice of the author which gives a general truth and avoids using “I and you”

Golden Rule! You should never mix the voices of the author as this is very confusing and considered bad writing – if you do this, you will lose band scores.

In IELTS Task 2 questions, which voice should you use to write your essay? Either first- or third-person voice. How do you know which one to use? You should decide this based on the wording of the question.

Some individuals believe that spending much money on wedding and birthday celebrations is wasteful because it could be invested better elsewhere, but others support this practice as commemorating such important events strengthen families’ bonds and encourage people’s achievements.

INTRODUCTION (hook + background + thesis)

Millions of dollars are spent on birthdays and weddings each year. Certain people choose to spend years of savings, thousands of dollars, on a single celebration such as a marriage or birthday ceremony, and this decision has a significant impact on lives. Therefore, some individuals believe that spending much money on wedding and birthday celebrations is wasteful because it could be invested better elsewhere, but others support this practice as commemorating such important events strengthen families’ bonds and encourage people’s achievements. BODY 1 (Topic sentence + explanation + example + connecting/concluding sentence)  (Your topic sentence is a deeper definition of your thesis point 1: it’s better to invest the wedding funds elsewhere)

For long-term benefits, it is arguably more advantageous to spend large sums of money on education and business than on a single-day event such as a wedding. (Explanation) Although it is true that many people have a day filled with fun at a 50-thousand-dollar luxurious wedding, the couples being celebrated can have years of luxurious life if that money is spent on post-graduate tuition fees or establishing a business. (Example) Rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars on a destination wedding to Hawaii, with lobster for the main course, the parents could wisely choose to purchase a Starbucks Coffee shop for the couple as a wedding gift which could bring them years of passive income. This is definitely one perspective on the trend of overpriced weddings and birthdays.

Expensive marriage and birthday festivities provide unique opportunities for extended families, colleagues, and friends to gather and build mutual respect and collaboration. In addition, these events also emphasize the importance of the individuals being celebrated, thereby motivating them to build families and achieve a level of success that can continue such luxuries in the future. At weddings and birthdays, people can network and form relationships that lead to business ventures and future relationships. In addition, the individuals also desire to repeat the same for their children twenty years down the road. On a destination wedding to Hawaii, during the lobster dinner, the couple may get into a conversation with their uncle and decide to open a restaurant together in the future. Meanwhile, their cousin can meet their future husband at the same event.

CONCLUSION (restatement of my points, strengthen the argument, take-home-message)

In conclusion, certain people ascertain that expensive birthday and wedding celebrations are an unwise use of funds while others feel it is a great investment. Certainly, thousands of dollars can be put towards long-term goals, however, it can also be spent fruitfully on a single day’s event. Oftentimes, not only do people’s most memorable events originate from a wedding celebration, but also their lifelong business partner or spouse.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

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spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

ELTEC English

Teaching ielts students., ielts essay correction: spending a lot on weddings..

Many people believe that spending a lot of money on weddings is fine, while others completely disagree. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

40 minutes, 250 words at least.

The trend of spending money lavishly on weddings is increasing day by day. While a number of individuals agree since they want to show off their status, others say it is a complete wastage of money.  (Well written. Clear and crisp.)

In the modern era, lavish weddings are considered as a symbol of status. Youngsters spend huge money on fantasies  ranging from dresses and makeup artists (1)  to decorators and hotels in this way they   to show superiority among   to friends and relatives. (Poor sentence structure. You converted a dependent clause into an independent one by writing “in this way they” . Note that you can’t just connect two independent clauses in this manner. Let us keep the latter part as a dependent clause.)  It gives  not only give s happiness to them but also excitement ( excitement is not parallel to gives but to  happiness. )  for their special occasion. Moreover, rich families gift luxurious things such as jewellery and car to their daughters so that former   to show off their wealth in the front of people. For example, an Indian richest   (If he is the richest businessman, it is a specific thing. Do not use an. )   businessman ‘The Mukesh Ambani ‘spend   Mokesh Ambani , the richest Indian businessman, spent   (use the correct tense. Spend  is incorrect.) (note the modifier and the manner of its construction.)  millions of dollars on his daughter ‘s wedding and different types of   hundreds of Indian, Spanish, Italian and American  dishes were served to guest so that he can show   could display (wrong tense and word repetition)  his standard and gain publicity through social media.

1. Dresses and makeup artists are not examples of money. Wrong construction.

On the other hand, middle -class families invest money for their children ‘s education rather than wasting it   (In X rather than Y construction, let us keep both X and Y as verb phrases. Discuss in class.)  on lavish weddings so that children get a job and earn handsomely. Therefore, spending money lavishly   (This word is necessary to build context.)  on weddings is  considered as wastage of hard-earned money because a variety of cuisines and food items go wasted   since that money can be employed in more productive areas such as education, health and financial security . Moreover, they copy affluent families and borrow lofty loans for weddings which is useless. For instance, it has been  reported by a minister of Punjab that farmers commit suicide since they are unable to pay back loan s back to banks which was   were taken for their daughter ‘s lavish wedding. Furthermore, rich families should give money to poor people or   through NGO’s Non-Government Organizations  (wrong apostrophe)  instead of wasting money   it like water on weddings so that it helps the latter in growth and development   they (refers back to NGOs) can help in building a peaceful and prosperous society.

In conclusion, though rich families spend heavily on weddings to show superiority, middle families considered   consider it as an unwise decision and invest money for children ‘s education.

Numerous Grammar mistakes. You need to work a lot in this area.

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Essay of the Week: Big or small weddings

Our band nine sample essays give you the opportunity to learn from successful essays that show off the best structure, vocabulary and grammar. This IELTS essay is about weddings and if they should be big or small. This question is a good example of a 'both sides and your point of view' essay.

Some people believe it is good to celebrate a wedding by spending lots of money on a large party while others prefer a small event with family and friends. Compare both sides and give your point of view. 

For some people, throwing a lavish wedding reception is a worthwhile use of their wedding budget while others prefer a more personal ceremony. In this essay, I will compare both points of view. First, by looking at how large weddings can reunite people, and second, by exploring how saving money is important for newlyweds.

First, having a large wedding can serve as a reason for people to be reunited. Because they tend to have work and family commitments, people drift apart over time. However, when there is a large wedding, it provides a reason for those people to be reunited. For example, if a family is split over different parts of the country, it is easy for those parts to lose touch, but a big wedding gives them the chance to see each other and catch up with one another. 

Conversely, these large weddings can be an expense that can negatively impact newlyweds at an important time in their lives. When people get married, they are often also looking for a home to live in together and may also be thinking about having children, two significant expenses. As a result, spending money on a wedding can detract from their other financial goals. Because these goals are more long term, they should be prioritised.  

In conclusion, throwing an opulent wedding helps bring old friends together but is also pricey for the newlyweds at a costly time in their lives. In my view, it would be better for couples to prioritize their own needs over their acquaintances’ and hold a more pared-down event.

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IELTS Writing Band 8 – Spending for Events and Parties

IELTS essay, topic: Should people spend a lot on weddings and birthday parties?

Some people think that spending a lot on holding wedding parties, birthday parties and other celebrations is just a waste of money. Others, however, think that these are necessary for individuals and the society. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Throwing parties can be expensive. While some people do not find these fancy parties worth what they cost, others believe parties are important to both individuals and the society.

People choose to throw parties for a number of reasons. For starters, parties can make better teams. Project kick-off parties are good opportunities to break the ice and help team members to know each other better. Victory parties create a sense of success and belonging. Companies do not see parties as wastes of money and allocate budget to support such events. Moreover, parties often leave good memories. From our own experiences, we all have happy memories of our birthday parties when we were little. Every family has great photos took on family parties in their album. In addition, contrary to what some people believe that spending on parties is a waste of social resources, parties actually create value, either by employing people in the party planning business or by offering people better party experiences.

The popularity of parties, however, causes some tension in the society. Parties are hard on introverted people who find themselves uncomfortable in parties. This is a clinic symptom which psychologists call it “social anxiety disorder”. There are other ways to celebrate important events that may have greater value for their cost. For instance, companies could send out gifts after successful projects and parents could take their children on family trips to celebrate birthdays.

In my opinion, while a party is a form of social event that brings many benefits to individuals and the society, other choices should also be considered, either to cut spending or to relieve the stress of those who are not fond of parties.

This is a very good essay. Other than minor inaccuracies there are no problems (mouse over the words underlined in blue shows corrections). Seems to be worth IELTS Band 8.

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  • Essay Task 2

Guide to Advantage Disadvantage IELTS Essay Type

  • Essay Types
  • Double Question
  • Advantage Disadvantage
  • Problem Solution
  • Essay Length

ielts essay advantage disadvantage type

IELTS advantage/disadvantage essays ask you to write about the benefits and drawbacks of a topic as well as (sometimes) asking for your opinion.  This guide covers everything you need to know to complete an Academic IELTS advantage/ disadvantage essay. Let’s start preparing with Benchmark IELTS!

Table of Contents

1.1 understanding the question, 1.2 example advantage/disadvantage questions, 2.1 essay structure 1, 2.2 essay structure 2.

  • 3.1 Identify key words and phrases

3.2 Organise your ideas

3.3 identify vocabulary, 4.1 introduction, 4.2 main body paragraphs, 4.3 conclusion, 5.1 complete the sample advantage/disadvantage essay, 5.2 advantage/disadvantage sample essay, 1. advantage/ disadvantage essay overview.

This section of the guide will show you how to identify an IELTS advantage/disadvantage question.

Remember, there are five main types of writing task 2 questions:

  • Advantage/disadvantage
  • Double question
  • Problem/solution

It is very important to understand what type of question you are given in the exam so you can respond in an appropriate way: different question types will require different responses.

Advantage/disadvantage essay questions can be presented in several different ways.

Here are some examples of the way an advantage/disadvantage question may be worded:

  • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion.
  • Describe the advantages and disadvantages of _____ and give your opinion.
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of _____?

You may also see questions using synonyms for advantage and disadvantage, for example:

  • What are the benefits and drawbacks of…?

Be careful, the question itself might not always use words or phrases relating to advantage/disadvantage and they could be hidden in the statement,  as seen here:

  • Some people believe that using a bicycle as your main form of transport has a lot of advantages , whereas others believe that it has many disadvantages . Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Here is another example of a question where you are asked to give your opinion:

  • Do the advantages of … outweigh the disadvantages

After you have identified the essay type , you need to understand what you are being asked to do. To do well in the Task achievement marking component, you need to ‘ address all parts of the task’ .

This type of essay question will always be split into two parts:

  • The IELTS statement
  • The question

You must always write about both the advantages and disadvantages of the given topic. As we can see in example questions 1-6, sometimes you are asked to give your opinion on the question, and sometimes you are not. Let’s compare the following questions:

You are not being asked to give your opinion

Here are some example advantage/disadvantage essay questions:

In the past, when students did a university degree, they tended to study in their own country. Nowadays, they have more of an opportunity to study abroad.

Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?

Today children spend a lot of their free time watching TV.

Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of this practice?

Also, read the following IELTS Essay Writing Guides

  • IELTS Discussion Type Questions
  • Double Question IELTS Essay Topics
  • Opinion-based Task 2 IELTS Guide
  • Problem Solution IELTS Writing Task Statement

The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy.

The benefits of nuclear technology far outweigh the disadvantages.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In the past, when students did a university degree, they tended to study in their own country. Nowadays, they have the opportunity to study abroad.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this development?

More and more people prefer to read news online rather than on paper.

Do you think the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience.

IELTS writing correction

2. Essay Structures for Advantage/Disadvantage Essays

There is more than one way to structure your advantage/disadvantage essay. You could take a thesis-led (opinion in the introduction) or an evidence-led (opinion in your conclusion).

You could also choose to focus on one or more than one advantage/disadvantage in each of your main body paragraphs.

The next two sections will give you two possible ways that you could structure your essay using four clearly organized paragraphs.

Thesis-led approach

Evidence-led approach

3. Planning your Advantage/Disadvantage Essay

Before you start writing your essay, you should give yourself 5 minutes to analyze the question and organize your ideas . Follow the tips below to create a well-planned essay!

3.1 Identify keywords and phrases

It sounds simple, but it is very important that you read the question carefully and understand what you are being asked to write about. To analyze the question, first, identify any keywords and phrases .

You should first identify the topic of the essay. If you do not write about the correct topic, you will score poorly in Task achievement . The general topic can always be found in the IELTS statement.

Let’s take a look at one of the previous examples:

The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace . Nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy .

The topic words are underlined and show the general topic of this essay question in nuclear weapons/power/technology .

After you have identified the general topic, you need to locate other keywords that give you more detail about the topic. In this question, the words world peace and cheap and clean energy in bold give you more information about the general topic. Therefore, your essay should only relate to these aspects of nuclear weapons/power/technology .

Now take a look at the question for our model answer at the end of this guide. Can you identify the general topic?

This is an important step that is often skipped by test-takers. By quickly writing down your key ideas, you will avoid repeating or missing any points and improve your score in both Task achievement and Coherence and cohesion .

You could use bullet points , columns , or another preferred method of writing down ideas . Here is an example for our sample essay:

Take a look at our Master Guide for a more in-depth look at idea generation and organizing your ideas.

Taking a moment to write down more uncommon vocabulary related to the essay topic will not only make you feel more relaxed in the exam but will also help you to improve your score in Lexical resources .

This doesn’t have to be a long list, just a few ideas that come into your mind. Here are some examples of the topic of studying abroad:

  • Culture shock
  • Language barrier
  • Broaden one’s horizons

4. Writing your Advantages/Disadvantages Essay

Your introduction should be the shortest paragraph in your essay (about 40-60 words is perfect).

You need to rephrase the IELTS statement in your own words. This is known as paraphrasing (a key skill to develop for the IELTS exam).

Take a look at our example:

You can also briefly state what your essay will be about in one clear sentence. For instance:

This essay will discuss both points of view and then I will give my opinion.

If you are taking a thesis-led approach, you can use one of the following sentence starters to briefly give your opinion:

  • I believe that…
  • It is my belief that…
  • In my opinion,…

A note on the use of the first person ‘I’: Unlike writing task 1, it is appropriate to use the first person in your writing task 2 essay. In fact, it is unavoidable when giving your opinion. But , you should not overuse ‘I’ in your essay and we recommend you limit your use to your introduction and conclusion.

Topic sentences Usually, the first sentence of your main body paragraph will be a topic sentence . The purpose of your topic sentence is to introduce the main idea of your paragraph .

You should include one topic sentence for each advantage/disadvantage . This means that, if your main body paragraphs focus on two advantages/disadvantages , then you should have two topic sentences per paragraph.

Here’s an example: One advantage of studying abroad is that students can improve their language skills.

Here are some other sentence starters you can use for your essays (you can replace the underlined words with vocabulary linked to your topic):

  • One advantage of studying abroad is that ….
  • Another benefit of studying abroad is that…
  • One downside of studying abroad is that…
  • Another downside of studying abroad is that…

Supporting sentences You should then expand on your topic sentence with a supporting sentence/sentences . Your sentence(s) could either describe a result of the advantage/disadvantage, go into more detail , or explain the reason(s) why these benefits/drawbacks occur.

Our example supporting sentence describes a result of the advantage given in the topic sentence.

Topic sentence – One advantage of studying abroad is that students can improve their language skills.

Supporting sentence – This means that when the students return to their home countries, they will have more employment opportunities.

Here are some sentences starters you can use to begin your supporting sentences:

  • This is because…
  • The result/consequence/reason is that…
  • This means that…
  • As a result/consequence,…
  • In other words,…  

Giving examples For all writing task 2 essay types , you must support your response with examples. Do not personalize your examples and link them to your life instead, Keep your examples more general . Also, do not refer to made-up statistics .

Here are some instances of suitable and non-suitable examples:

Suitable For example, many young people who study in an English-speaking country for a few years develop strong communication skills and have the confidence to work in an international company when they return home.

Not suitable My cousin spent three years in an English-speaking country and they got an excellent job with an international country when they came back to Spain. ( this example is too personal as it refers to the writer’s family ) ❌

According to statistics, international students are 30% more likely to get a job in an international company when they study overseas. ( this example contains a made-up statistic )

You must include a conclusion to achieve a good score in Task achievement . Your conclusion does not have to be very long, but it needs to be clear and do two main things:

  • Paraphrase yourself : summarise the key points in your body paragraphs
  • Give your opinion : It depends if you have taken an evidence-led or thesis-led approach, you will either be re-stating the opinion given in your introduction or giving your opinion for the first time.

Make your conclusion easy to identify for the examiner by starting with linking phrases such as:

  • To sum up,…
  • To summarise,…
  • In conclusion,…

When you are paraphrasing the main points of your essay, you need to state that you have examined both sides of the argument (as that is what the question has asked you to do). To do this, consider using a phrase like:

In conclusion, having looked at this topic in detail, it is clear that there are both advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad .

You would need to replace the underlined section with your essay topic.

To give your opinion, you need to use a range of cohesive devices to introduce each example such as:

  • From my perspective,…
  • In my view,…

You then need to clearly state which side of the argument you agree with (advantage or disadvantage). Remember, your actual opinion does not matter, it is how you present your opinion using English that is important.

Here are some example sentences to do this effectively:

  • In my opinion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
  • From my perspective, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits .

5. Example Advantage/Disadvantage Essay and Exercise

Now you’ve taken a look at how to write an advantage/disadvantage essay, let’s look at a model answer.

We have removed some of the words so you can put your knowledge to the test.

Select the correct missing words and complete the model answer.

In recent years, it has become much more common for students to complete their degree overseas instead of their house country. Many persons believe that there are significant benefits of doing this, while others argue that there are also drawbacks connected to studying abroad. This essay will discuss both points of mind and then I will give my opinion.

One advantage of study abroad is that students can improve their employee skills. This means that when the students return to their home countries, they will have more employment opportunities. An example, many young people who study in an English-speaking country for a few years develop strong communication skills and have the confidence to work in an international company when they return home. On the other hand benefit of studying abroad is that you can develop a better understanding of other cultures, Example , learning about a country’s customs, traditions and cuisines. The consequence of this is that people become more open-minded.

In the other hand, there are some disadvantages of studying abroad. One backdraw is that students may miss their friends and family and feel homesad. They may also find it difficult to connect with other students and make friends due to a language barrier . Another disadvantage is that students can experience a real culture shock when moving to another country. This is because the culture and language may be different which could lead to frustration for the student and dissatisfaction with their study experience.

To overall , it is clear that there are both advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad. In my thought, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Although it is true that the experience may be challenging at first, on balance , if you study abroad you will have an enriching experience that will broaden your horizons and increase your future prospects.

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IELTS Essay Topics for 2021

Below is a list of predicted IELTS essay topics for Writing Task 2 based on topics that have appeared recently, current world events and common topics that frequently appear in IELTS essays. Both GT and Academic IELTS candidates should prepare all topics from this list.

On this page, you will find:

  • Tips for Preparing Essays
  • Essay Topics 2021 List

Message from Liz

Ielts essay topics – preparing ideas.

  • Be aware of the range of possible topics and prepare them all. Be aware of current world issues – IELTS likes to stay up-to-date.
  • Prepare strong main ideas for all topics. Main ideas should be ones you can easily explain and develop. 
  • Prepare supporting points. These make up the supporting sentences in your body paragraphs. The examiner will mark these carefully.
  • Practice planning paragraphing and links. See these pages:   paragraphing and  Linking Words for Essays
  • Source ideas in model essays online by google topics. You can find some model essays and free tips on this site. Click here: Free Model Essays etc
  • IDEAS E-BOOK. I wrote an e-book covering 150 essay topics with ideas and vocabulary. Get that if you need the help. Visit my store: Liz’s Ideas E-book
  • Target 7 and above. If you need more help reaching your goal for IELTS writing, I have Advanced Writing Task 2 Lessons in my online store: Liz’s Store .

Below is a list of predicted IELTS writing task 2 topics for 2021. The predictions are based on recurring essay topics, recent topics and world events which are all important in IELTS essay questions. The topics are not written as full IELTS essay questions, they are written as topics without the instructions. GT and Academic candidates should prepare all topics – even if you don’t get them in Writing Task 2, you might get them in Speaking Part 3. I’ve highlighted interesting essay topics for 2021 that are based on recent world issues that you might struggle with if you don’t prepare for them. Also note, topics change with each test, on one test day there can be a number of essay questions used, and essay topics are often recycled.

  • importance of the arts for society
  • supporting the arts – government funding 
  • theatre and live events
  • freedom of speech and freedom of expression
  • children learning art 
  • museums and galleries – importance
  • local business vs international businesses
  • supporting local businesses – buying local produce
  • business skills – important skills / learning skills
  • family run businesses
  • buying goods or saving money
  • the power of advertising in business
  • shopping online
  • businesses supporting local communities
  • how online communication has changed our lives
  • are people becoming more isolated because of only meeting online
  • face to face or online communication
  • pros and cons of meeting people online
  • has the internet brought people closer or not
  • how to stop criminals re-offending
  • fixed punishment for one crime or not
  • children – should parents be punished for their children’s crime
  • prison or rehabilitation
  • foreign cultures – learning through language, learning by travel, adapting to another culture
  • music – importance of music, international music
  • fashion – following trends and spending money
  • films – should historical films be accurate, learning about culture from films, foreign films, subtitles
  • how online media has changed local cultures
  • global warming
  • solving pollution – internationally or domestically
  • major problems and solutions
  • importance of nature for our well being
  • responsibility for problems – government or individual
  • urban nature 
  • protecting wild species / endangered species – funding, reasons,
  • why people don’t change their life styles to help environmental problems
  • air / noise pollution in cities
  • putting children into groups based on age or ability
  • importance of children reading books (types of books)
  • science or art / sciences or music
  • how children learn 
  • schools providing meals for children
  • making lessons more interesting
  • importance of science / history / technology in schools
  • disadvantages for children from poorer backgrounds
  • how to improve education in rural areas
  • what age to learn a foreign language
  • exams or on-going assessment / project work
  • university education – costs, funding, courses
  • home schooling / studying from home
  • online education
  • extra curricular activities
  • single parent families
  • importance of family for old people
  • roles of grandparents
  • supporting vulnerable members of the family: elderly, sick
  • peer pressure for children
  • children growing up in city or countryside
  • children with both parents working
  • childhood obesity – reasons, solutions
  • healthy diet
  • vegetarianism
  • junk food – problems, solutions
  • funding – prevention or cure 
  • taking care of sick people – government or family
  • funding – health care or other society problems
  • good health – exercise or diet
  • free health care for everyone
  • cosmetic surgery – reasons, value
  • mental health – stress, positive mindset, meditation
  • lack of housing – building in cities or rural areas
  • using space in cities for housing or parks
  • funding affordable housing or other problems in society
  • living in flats – pros and cons
  • importance of hobbies / free time
  • leisure time – importance, activities,
  • spending time with family and friends
  • leadership – innate or learned
  • talent – innate or learned
  • ambition – pros and cons
  • important character traits
  • famous world leaders – skills and traits
  • family, society or government – taking care of the elderly
  • the generation gap
  • city living – positive or negative
  • people moving to cities – reasons, problems, solution
  • spending money on weddings – pros and cons
  • respecting older people
  • traditions – food, clothing, festivals
  • protecting old buildings
  • isolation among people in society
  • supporting vulnerable people in society – government or community
  • roles models in society for children
  • ideal society
  • online media stars
  • reality TV stars
  • importance of charities and charity work
  • importance of green spaces and urban environment
  • exploration – funding, importance
  • communicating with other planets
  • space travel for common people
  • international sporting event – importance
  • business sponsoring sporting events – pros and cons
  • exercising and health
  • children and sport – importance, who is responsible
  • indoor sports
  • smart phones – pros and cons, functions, limitations
  • the internet – pros and cons
  • online security (also for children)
  • the future of the internet
  • e-books – pros and cons, libraries
  • children spending too much time online
  • plane travel vs train travel
  • cars in city centres – pros and cons
  • using bicycles rather than cars
  • walking – pros and cons
  • pros and cons of tourism for rural communities
  • tourism and economy
  • working mothers
  • doing volunteer work / charity work
  • work / life balance
  • working long hours – pros and cons
  • experience or education or skills
  • four day working week
  • importance of promotion, salary, job satisfaction
  • working online – pros and cons
  • earning large salaries – films stars, sports people doctors etc
  • richer countries should help poorer countries 
  • types of international aid
  • increasing number of old people
  • gap between rich and poor countries
  • violence on TV
  • tackling world issues domestically or internationally
  • news online – reliability of news, sources of news, fake news
  • people becoming similar 
  • loss of culture (protecting traditions)
  • loss of local language (protecting language)
  • one language

Sharing your IELTS Writing Task 2 Experience

  • Did you get an essay topic you hadn’t prepared for?
  • What preparation tips do you have for others?
  • How did you manage your time in your writing test?
  • What score did you get in your writing test?
  • Sharing is caring 🙂 
2021 is our chance to start fresh, to move forward and to build a strong future. Forget your difficult experiences and be proactive about your future. Each positive step forward takes you towards your goal and towards success.  Be focused and strategic in your preparation for IELTS. You can find lots and lots of free lessons, tips, topics, model answers on this website – go to the HOME page to access it all. I wish you all lots of luck !! All the best, Liz 🙂

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I just want to say a big thank you for all you do. It is so kind of you to share your knowledge with us at not cost. I am inspired. God bless you and grant your heart’s desire.

I wrote the test on 30th October. My result just came out on Friday and I scored an average of 8. I appreciate your help in achieving that.

During my speaking test I was asked to talk about a café I had been to. I was to describe it and say what I went there to do.

During my writing Task 2, the question was something like: Some people believe that parents should be able to punish their children when they behave badly. However, others say there should be laws that govern how erring children are corrected. Discuss the two points of view and give your opinion.

Like you say, ‘sharing is caring’. Thanks for leaving me a better person.

Warm regards Nene

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Great to see you’ve done so well. Good for you 🙂 Thanks for sharing

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Thanks a lot

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When children starting school the effect of teachers are more than parents in social and intellectual behaviour of students. To what extent do you agree? This was my topic 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, I got 6, I expected 7. I was in disagreement and give 5 reasons for it in 2 paragraphs.

Should I address social and intellectual in two separate paragraphs or I could explain them together in two paragraphs?

There are a number of points ton consider: 1. if you disagree then your essay must show why you think parents have more effect and why teachers have less effect – you must cover both within your opinion 2. you need to tackle both social and intellectual – you can tackle them together or separately – it depends on your point of view. For example, you might think teacher have a more intellectual effect and parents still have the most social effect 3. you should organise your ideas logically. Usually this means one single central theme per paragraph. If you had five main ideas – how can you have only two body paragraphs? When you brainstorm ideas – make a list of all the ideas you can think of and then choose the best to use. You don’t need to use all of them. Choose just two or three and organise them into separate body paragraphs

The three points above are just an example of things to consider for this essay and exemplify why you might have got a lower score than expected.

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Just to share the question I got for my IELTS exam today. The words below are based on my memory.

The number of tall buildings in cities is increasing.

What are the reasons?

Is this a positive or negative development?

Share examples from your experience.

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Hi Liz! Thank you so much for your site and great lessons. I bought your advanced writing classes and they were so helpful. I am a mom, working a full time job, and looking to apply for postgraduate study overseas. I barely had time to practice, but I do believe your website, tips and classes made an impact in my score. I got an 8.5 overall and 7.5 in the Writing section. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Also, I wrote down the Writing Task 2 – Essay Question to share it with you and your students (I took the IELTS Academic on August 2021, quite recently).

Topic: In both studying and working, there are people that work harder than others. What makes people work hard? Is it a good thing to be a hard working person?

A great score – very well done 🙂 I’m glad you found my website useful 🙂

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Cleared my exam and got my desired scores on the first attempt thanks to this site, Thank you so much Liz, all the best!

Great to hear!! Well done 🙂

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Could you check and give me a score Task 2 The expansion of multinational companies and increase in globalization produces positive effects to everyone. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement. In this contemporary world, Change is the law of nature but trying to abolish the natural arena is discomforting and disturbing. The overruling of multinational companies and firms and the sudden rise of globalization have led to many problems in human lives. So I partially disagree with the above notation.

To begin with, the building of new projects and the tech companies have greatly affected the vegetation grounds and most parts of the cities such as residential colonies are taken also away to form new offices. Deforestation has led to major pollution in the cities as well. Another factor that has been affected due to this is the weather conditions of the country. The rainfall patterns which were fixed in the older days are not disturbed due to global warming. Besides that, even the summers are unbearable due to the rise of temperature up to 40 degrees Celsius and all these are the results of modernization.

Some people may disagree with me due to the fact that this new tech world has given them the opportunity to get good jobs and a lifestyle but at the same time, life is not all about getting rich.

To conclude, many factors have impacted the current situation of the world such as erosion of vegetation lands, pollution due to global warming, deforestation and all this is due to the expansion of cities and factories so people need to slow down their speed to save our future kids.

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Hi! I got the band score I needed. Thank you so much for this site. I’ve learned a lot from you, guys!

Anyway, let me share the question I encountered last October 2020. “Some people believe that History subject should not be taught anymore because it is already old and outdated. Others think that it should still be kept. To what extent do you agree/disagree?”

I apologize as these were not the exact words, but they delivered the same thought.

Good luck to everyone who’s about to take the exam. 🙂

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Recently i gave my IELTS exam and i got 5.5 band in writing. It wasn’t the score i expected but my writing task 2 topic was very tricky. It was to mention drawbacks of the same thing shown by films, ads, brands and tv channels over the years on people’s mind. But they aren’t the same they have changed and their content has changed drastically. This question was really contradictory and tricky. Reply mam if possible. Regards

Can you remember the essay question more clearly? It’s quite vague. I would need to see a more accurate recording of the question to comment.

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Hi Madam, Can you please help me with the tricks to differentiate the Opinion and Non-opinion Essays, which don’t have the ‘Do you agree or Disagree’ keywords? My doubt is with the question of having the keywords like: 1. Question X, Discuss both the views and give your opinion? 2.Question X, Discuss both the views? 3.Question X, Do you think the advantage outweigh the disadvantages? 4.Question X, Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages? Example: Many things that used to be done in the home by hands are now being done by machines. Does this development bring more advantages or disadvantages?

I’ve already written a page about this. Here is a link to the main Writing Task 2 section of the website and you’ll find this mentioned in a link: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

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hi liz, i really need your help regarding this question task 2.”Countries around the world will be facing significant challenges relating not only to the environment but population and education as well. What problems will your country face in the next ten years? How can these problems be overcome? im having problem paraphrasing this question for my background statement. i hope you can help me. thank you!

regards, jnet

Where did you get this question from? Was it from official sources? It doesn’t look like an official IELTS essay. The background statement does not include paraphrase the question for this essay question. You only paraphrase the first sentence:

Many countries worldwide might struggle in tackling issues such as environmental problems, education and population growth.

As you can see, when you paraphrase, you do NOT need to change all words. Just express the same ideas your own way and some words will be the same.

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Hello everyone ,

I am going to give the exam of IELTS on 21 st Jan , so i am little bit confuse in choosing the topic for the writing task 2 , so can anyone help out with that , which topics can be used and what can i read it

You don’t choose the topic. You are given an essay question which you must answer. This means you need to prepare ideas for many topics. This can’t be done in one day. Instead, read over the topics are you not familiar with and do quick brainstorms.

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Thank you Liz for your guidance. I got desrired results by following your lessons. I got overall band with 9 in both listening & reading. I had my GT IELTS exam on 9th Jan 2021.

My writing task 2 topic – Some people think that hard work helps in achieving Financial success while others think it is not the only thing which contributes to financial success. I was asked to discuss both of them & give my opinion.

Great scores – well done 🙂

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Thank you Ma’am Liz! I’m glad that I found your website as I searched about IELTS. Its really a big help to me during this pandemic as I studied your lessons. Thank you so much for your generosity, I’ve got my desired band score. May you continue to be a blessing to everyone. I hope that your health will improve better. Take care always and God bless!

So glad to hear you’ve got the scores you needed – well done 🙂

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Dear mam, I am a general training aspirant. I am practicing writing task 2. I am uncertain of how good i am while writing essay. I request you to please review my essay and tell me how much band will i score writing this way.

Ques. Today, high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising and not the real needs of the society in which they are sold. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Ans. Effective marketing plays a major role in increasing the demand of the product. On account of this , vast scale selling of famous products is the result of efficient marketing and not requirement of the public. This essay will attempt to objectively examine all significant components in detail. (47 words)

Objectivity being of the essence, the following words will weigh one side of the issue against the other. In my opinion, right form of marketing makes us trust specific brands. On the other hand , i feel that everything that glitters is not gold. The following two paragraphs will delve effectively into both aspects. (54 words)

First, advertisements make us know about the products in demand sitting at home that tends to increase sales. Second well advertised brands are often topic of discussions among our acquaintances and that creates virtual impression of specific goods on our minds. To substantiate the above. highly marketed brands like Patanjali have become extremely popular amongst middle and upper class. They have made a huge network in a very short span of time. (72 words)

However, many popular brands that are advertised well are of no good use and creates hoax among public. Furthermore, many trusted companies are making business without much marketing only because they are fulfilling the needfulness of people by selling genuine products. To corroborate what has just been stated , brands like Mother dairy and Amul still hold their positions well even after introduction of many popular well marketed dairy firms. ( 70 words)

In light of above, it is true that proper advertising plays a distinct role in producing sales. Still i believe that fulfillment of public needs is equally important for successful vending. Bringing this essay to a close, there are at least two ways to examine any situation. In this instance, i disagree to the statement given. (56 words)

(total- 296 words)

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Happy new year Liz. Hope you are much stronger now? I pray you have a quick recovery. I had my exam last year September. In my speaking, especially in part one, my examiner always cut me short, she never gave me time to add a conditional in my responses. Although I got a 6.5 band score, could it have equally affected my score in addition to my other mistakes.

It is 100% normal for your answers to be cut short. The examiner will interrupt when they want to ask another question. There are only 4-5 mins for 12 questions to be asked and answered in part 1. Take this into consideration when you answer. Give a direct answer and then add a little more until the examiner interrupts. Be ready for this and don’t let it affect your confidence. You must show willingness to speak at length – show as much fluency as you can. You haven’t asked me a question in your comment. But if you are asking if this is the reason for a lower score, the answer is “no”. Being interrupted is a natural part of IELTS speaking test.

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Hi Liz, I follow your lessons since 2017. You have helped me crack Ielts 3 times already. Last time my score was overall 8.5 band with 9 in both listening and speaking. Hoping a good one this time too! Happy new year 🎉

Brilliant to hear – very well done 🙂 Wishing you a great 2021 !!

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Thanks a lot ma’am Your effort for helping and guiding us is much more than excellent. Each and every module is explained in a very easy as well as much from point to point Today 9th January 2021 I have my IELTS Academic Exam I am from India Pray for me I have learned much from your offerings Thank you LIZ ☺️☺️ Love from INDIA

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Hi Liz, hope and pray you’re doing well and in good health. Have a blessed New Year and more blessings to come throughout the year 2021. Thank you so much of your untiring effort to guide and teach us for our IELTS test preparation. I might take IELTS-GT test next month. To be honest, I am not very good with speaking in English yet I found your website very helpful. Your teaching was really inspiring, easy to understand tremendously and guiding us accordingly. My goal is to reach 6 band at least. Help me God. Take care and keep safe. God bless you relentlessly.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you 🙂

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Your book IELTS writing topics is really brilliant!!

I am having my exam next week, hopefully, I will get my desired score

Good luck!! 🙂

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Happy new year Liz.. and thank you so much for these materials. 😊

Wishing you all the best for 2021 🙂

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Thanks for all your loyal support Liz! I wish you a very happy New Year and speedy recovery.

Thanks. I hope 2021 turns out to be a year of positive change 🙂

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Have a mind-blowing new year liz

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Happy New Year Liz

Same to you 🙂

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thanks Liz. . . .

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Hi Liz Im one of your followers and Found out that you have a good information in regards to ielts. I’m planning to take my ielts and I’m encouraged with the comments I read. I’m a nurse by profession but I need to take the band score intended in order for me to practice nurse in the uk. And I know you will be of great help.

Lots of luck! Go to the HOME page of this site to learn how to access all materials.

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Thank you so much Liz for your effort! Happy New year

Happy 2021 🙂

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Thank you Liz for your part. I got the desired result. I feel very happy to express my gratitude to all the people who had contributed, helped and encouraged me to get good band score. Thank you everyone. I got 7 5 overall with 8.5 in reading which I think is a great achievement in IELTS Academic. A little unhappy with my speaking score, if you can, please suggest something to improve my speaking. Regards

Great to hear your scores. Well done 🙂 For speaking, your score is based only on your language skills which is different to how the writing test is scored. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-band-scores/ and this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/ . The key is to showcase your language in a natural way. For example, did you show the examiner a second conditional during the test? If not, why not? Your task is to show your range and this includes grammar which is equally as important as vocabulary. If the question isn’t a direct prompting for a second conditional, you can just add one yourself. Here’s an example: Part 1 Q: Do you often go swimming? Answer: No, I don’t. I don’t really have much time because of my work so I can only go swimming once in a while. But if I had more time, I’d definitely go swimming at least twice a week.

As you can see, the question was straight forward, but the answer showcased a direct use of the present simple with a flexible time phrase and a second conditional statement. These are the skills the examiner is looking for. The other thing to consider is developing your fluency in part 2. Take your talk beyond the prompts and take control of your talk. This is the time to think about what language to showcase and how to incorporate that. You have 1 min to plan this. So, prepare loads of ideas for topics before the test and then during part 2 you can prepare language to showcase for your talk during that prep time. Success in IELTS is about having and showing excellent use of English in a natural way. But, as with most exams, there are strategies to learn and techniques to help you present the best of yourself. I hope this helps 🙂

Thank you Liz, you are such a nice person apart from a wonderful coach, I think world needs more angels like you , STAY BLESSED ALWAYS

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Happy New Year Liz, I hope your health is in great spirits.

You are the best and Fabulous teacher, Lots of prayers and Love 🙂

Wishing you all the best for 2021 !! 🙂

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Thanks alot liz for these stuff

You’re welcome 🙂

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I did my exam on 12-12 and because of you I got the score that I wanted! It was my first attempt and I only studied from your website 😍 Can’t thank you enough Liz.

My Ielts writing task 2 topic was : Some people think that a good teamwork makes a company successful, other think that a good leadership is the reason behind the success of a company.

I was asked to discuss both of them and share my opinion.

So glad to hear you did well. Congratulations. The topic of Business is a common one in IELTS Writing Task 2, particularly what leads to success in business. Sometimes it might relate to key aspects of business such as marketing and advertising vs good product. Sometimes its about staff or character traits. This is the reason it’s so important to prepare as many ideas as possible for as many topics. Anyway, well done with your results 🙂

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- Nowadays, people are spending increasingly large amounts of money on their marriage parties. Many people feel large and expensive weddings cause problems for the bride and groom. Do you agree? Use personal examples in your response.

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IELTS essay - Nowadays, people are spending increasingly large amounts of money on their marriage parties. Many people feel large and expensive weddings cause problems for the bride and groom. Do you agree? Use personal examples in your response.

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  • Some people believe school children should be given multiple short vacations, while others believe they should get one long vacation. Give the advantages of both and express your own point of view. Opinions diverge greatly into two camps. First of them of the opinion that school children should have a number of small holidays during the year, while others believe that pupils should get only one, probably summer, long holidays. This essay will discuss number of benefits for both views. On the ...
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  • You are due to start a new job next week but you will not be able to because you have some problem. Write a letter to you new employer. In your letter. * explain your situation * describe your problems. * tell him/her when you think you can start. Dear Poornavi, I am writing regarding the delay in my joining date which is on 30th January. The expected delay is because of the illness reasons of one of my family member. My father-in-law has met with a minor road accident last week, at present he is admitted in the Columbia Asia hospital in He ...
  • The bar chart below shows the percentage of students who passed their high school competency exams, by subject and gender, during the period 2010-2011. The bar chart above demonstrates the passing rate of high school students in the competency exam between 2010 and 2011. The chart recorded the percentage of each subjects as boys and girls. According to the bar chart, the subjects most students passed is foreign languages, mathematics and computer ...
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How to Plan & Write IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays

Questions for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays  can be worded in several different ways. Here is some typical wording that might be used:

  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of….?
  • Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
  • Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion.

It is also common for synonyms of ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’ to be used, such as ‘benefits’ and ‘drawbacks’, as can be seen in this sample question.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income. Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks?

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and writing an IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay later on in this lesson.

Here’s what the lesson covers:

  • Understanding IELTS advantages & disadvantages essay questions 
  • Essay structures
  • How to plan
  • How to write an introduction
  • How to write main body paragraphs
  • How to write a conclusion

Want  to watch and listen? Click on this video.

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics. 

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

The Question

IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay questions fall into two main categories:

  • Questions that ask for your opinion.
  • Questions that do not require you to state your opinion.

The first part of the question will always be a statement. You will then be asked to write about  both  the advantages  and disadvantages of the idea stated. You may also be required to state your opinion.

Here are two more sample questions for illustration. For the first one, you must give your opinion but in the second, you should not.

1. Small businesses are disappearing and being replaced by large multinational companies.

Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

2. Most career choices demand vocational skills or specialist knowledge. However, despite this, most schools still teach academic subjects such as history or social studies.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Essay Structures

Now let’s look at two simple structures you can use to write IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays. They're not the only possible structures but are ones I recommend because they are easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and write a high-level essay.

I’ll explain later why I’m giving you two slightly different structures.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

These structures will give you a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

One Advantage and Disadvantage or Two?

The question will state 'advantages' and 'disadvantages' in the plural, that is, more than one. However, it is acceptable to write about just one.

This should give you an essay of just over the minimum 250 words. To write about two advantages and disadvantages will require you to write nearer 400 words which are a lot to plan and write in the 40 minutes allowed.

It is better to fully develop one advantage and one disadvantage than ending up with your second idea missing an explanation or an example because you run out of time, but you can write about two if you feel able to or more comfortable doing so.

Having said that, using essay structure 2, where you start with the examples, will enable you to easily add more than one advantage and disadvantage without having to write many more words.

It will be more suitable for some questions than others so bear this in mind when you're writing practice essays and try out both structures.

I’m going to use essay structure 2 to show you step-by-step how to write an IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay. I’ll also give you a model answer using essay structure 1 so that you can compare the two.

How To Plan IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays

The planning process only takes around 5 minutes but it is essential as it will save you time overall and will result in a far better essay and thus, higher marks. Th ere are the 3 things you need to do:

  • Analyse the question
  • Generate ideas
  • Identify vocabulary

# 1  Analyse the question

Analysing the question will ensure that you answer it fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3 different types of words:

  • Topic words
  • Other keywords
  • Instruction words

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question and will be found in the statement part of the question.

Here is the question we’re going to be working on. I’ve highlighted the topic words in blue.

So, this question is about ‘ tourism’ .

Many people do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand exactly what aspect of tourism we're being asked to write about.

The  other keywords  in the question tell you the specific topic your essay must be about. 

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income . Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-managed.

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write about the conflicting issues of tourism being ‘a main source of income’ in many places, yet also being ‘a source of problems’.

Your essay must only include ideas relevant to this aspect of tourism.

The  instruction words  are the question itself. They tell you exactly what to include in your essay.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world? Do you think that the  benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks ?

Here, we are required to write about:

  • The advantages of tourism in relation to income generation.
  • The disadvantage of tourism in relation to problems it can cause.
  • Our opinion as to whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Note the use of the synonyms ‘ benefits ’ and ‘ drawback ’ in the second sentence of the question.

# 2  Generate ideas

The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on the  IELTS Essay Planning  page.

I’m going to demonstrate two of them for you here – the ‘friends technique’, which is suitable for most IELTS essays, and the ‘example method’, which perfectly fits essay structure 2.

The ‘ friends technique ’ is the method I generally prefer as it allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine that you are chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee and they ask you this question. What are the first thoughts to come into your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high-level language, which isn’t necessary.

Here are my ideas using the friends technique:

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

There are far too many ideas here to include in an essay of just over 250 words. Think up a few then pick one advantage and one disadvantage that you think you can develop well.

With the ' example method ', on the other hand, you start by thinking of specific examples related to the question. They can come from your own experience or be something you’ve read or heard about. These examples will generate ideas that will become the main points of your essay.

It works particularly well for the model question I’ve selected for this lesson which is why I’ve included the second essay structure.

Here are my ideas using the examples technique:

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

Now that we have some ideas, we’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay, but first, we have one more task to do.

# 3  Vocabulary

During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to mind as you decide what you're going to write about, especially synonyms of key words. This will save you having to stop and think of the right language while you’re writing.

Writing an IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

We’re ready to begin writing our essay. For the first model answer, I’m going to take you step-by-step through essay structure 2. I’ll then give you a model answer for essay structure 1.

Here’s a reminder of the question and the essay structure. 

We’ll now start work on the introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

The introduction to an IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay should have a simple 2 or 3 part structure:

  • Paraphrase the question
  • Outline the main ideas
  • State your opinion (if required)

Our tourism question asks for our opinion so our introduction will have 3 parts.

1)  Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question statement.

     Question:   A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.             

      Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-managed.

Paraphrased question:  

Although holidaymakers contribute hugely to the economies of many popular destinations, the influx of tourists can also cause serious issues.

Note my use of synonyms for some of the key words. It’s fine to repeat one or two words if you can't think of suitable synonyms. Above all, your language must sound natural.

2)  Outline statement

Now we need to add a statement where we outline the main points that we’ll be covering in the rest of the essay, that is, an advantage of tourism and a disadvantage of tourism.

Here are the two main ideas I’ve chosen to write about:

  • Advantage – Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts
  • Disadvantage – Displacement of local people

Outline statement:  

This essay will demonstrate how tourism can transform the economy of poor areas but will also show that this can lead to such problems as the displacement of local people.

3)  Opinion statement

The question also asks for our opinion and it’s essential that we include it in the introduction.

Opinion statement:  

Whilst acknowledging that there are drawbacks, the essay will argue that the advantages of the tourist industry outweigh the disadvantages.

So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

     Introduction

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

This introduction achieves three important functions:

  • It shows the examiner that you understand the question.
  • It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.
  • It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1  – Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts

Main body paragraph 2  – Displacement of local people

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays written using structure 2, should contain 3 things:

  • Topic sentence – give an example
  • Explanation – explain the benefits/advantages
  • Consequence – state the result

Main Body Paragraph 1

The  topic sentence  summarises the main idea of the paragraph. It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

In this instance, the topic sentence will introduce our first example, for which I’ve chosen Thailand.

  • Main idea –  Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts
  • Example – Thailand

Topic sentence:  

One country that has experienced a significant economic boost from tourism is Thailand.

Next, we must write an  explanation sentence  that states the main point of our example.

Explanation sentence: 

Over the past 50 years, many of its small fishing villages, where people often struggled to make a living, have been developed into thriving holiday destinations.

Finally, we explain the  consequence or result  of the situation. This is where we give an example of one specific advantage. It is better to pick one and develop it than to just add a long list.

Consequence:

With all the hotels, restaurants, shops and other tourist facilities that have been developed, there are now enough jobs for everyone and the general standard of living has greatly increased.  Many local people have spotted new business opportunities and become entrepreneurs which has further diversified the economy.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

We’ll now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea –  Displacement of local people

Example – Venice

First, we write the  topic sentence  to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:

In Venice, on the other hand, the huge popularity of the beautiful canals and stunning architecture with visitors from around the world has had a negative impact on local residents.

Now for the  explanation sentence   that states the main point of our example.

Explanation sentence:

The growing need for tourist accommodation, places to eat and shops has forced many people from their homes to make way for this new development.

Finally, a specific example to explain the consequence .

Not only have these people suffered by having to move away from their family and friends but the situation has also resulted in a lost sense of community in the worst affected areas.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can generally be done in a single sentence. It should never introduce new ideas.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion, you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.

Our essay is already near the minimum word limit so we don’t need this extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays on  the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the most important.

A good conclusion will:

  • Neatly end the essay
  • Link all your ideas together
  • Sum up your argument or opinion
  • Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks. Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS a dvantages and disadvantages essay  with the words:

  • In conclusion

        or

  • To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip . Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction. 

Introduction:

Here's the same information formed into a conclusion:

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

That’s it. We’ve completed our advantages and disadvantages essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put together.

Finished IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improve your skills.

Example IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay for Structure 1

Now, here’s a model answer for essay structure 1. First, a reminder of the structure and the ideas I generated using the friends technique.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

Ideas generation - Friends technique

I’ve underline the ideas I’ve chosen to write about in this second essay:

Advantages of tourism – source of income:

  • Provides jobs for local people
  • Opportunities for local entrepreneurs
  • Tourist spending boosts both national & local economy
  • Brings improvement in local infrastructure & facilities which benefit whole community
  • Helps maintain traditions & culture

Disadvantages of tourism – the problems:

  • Money goes to wealthy business owners not local people
  • Increased crime
  • Illegal activities, e.g. drugs
  • More pubs & clubs – changes the local culture
  • Increase in property values
  • Destruction of the natural environment to build hotels, airports & other facilities
  • Displacement of indigenous people 

See if you can identify the different parts of the essay and how I have developed them.

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

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More help with ielts advantages and disadvantages essays & other task 2 essays.

IELTS Writing Task 2  – T he format, the 5 question types, the 5 step essay writing strategy & sample questions. All the key information you need to know.

The 5 Types of Task 2 Essay   – How to recognise the 5 different types of Task 2 essays. 15 sample questions to study and a simple planning structure for each essay type.

Understanding Task 2 Questions  – How to quickly and easily analyse and understand IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.

How To Plan a Task 2 Essay  – Discover why essay planning is essential & learn a simple 4 step strategy, the 4 part essay structure & 4 methods of generating ideas.

How To Write a Task 2 Introduction  – Find out why a good introduction is essential. Learn how to write one using a simple 3 part strategy & discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

How To Write Task 2 Main Body Paragraphs  – Learn the simple 3 part structure for writing great main body paragraphs and also, 3 common mistakes to avoid. 

How To Write Task 2 Conclusions  – Learn the easy way to write the perfect conclusion for a Task 2 essay. Also discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

Task 2 Marking Criteria  – Find out how to meet the marking criteria in Task 2. See examples of good and poor answers & learn some common mistakes to avoid.

The 5 Task 2 Essay Types:

Step-by-step instructions on how to plan & write high-level essays. Model answers & common mistakes to avoid.

   Opinion Essays

   Discussion Essays

  Problem Solution Essays

  Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

  Double Question Essays

Other Related Pages

IELTS Writing Test  – Understand the format & marking criteria, know what skills are assessed & learn the difference between the Academic & General writing tests.

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IELTS Writing: advantages & disadvantages essay

In this lesson you will learn how to produce a band 9 answer for advantages & disadvantages essay in IELTS Writing. As an example, we will use a topic of tourism in modern world . Basically, in all advantages and disadvantages essays your task is to describe positive and negative sides of a given topic + give your opinion.

In this lesson you will:

  • see a question sample
  • learn effective ways to quickly produce ideas for your answer
  • learn band 9 answer structure

for advantages and disadvantages essay in IELTS.

IELTS advantages & disadvantages question sample

For example, you can get this question for IELTS writing task 2:

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income. Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not managed correctly.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world. Do you think that benefits of tourism outweight its drawbacks?

This essay topic is related to tourism. Of course, topics for questions will vary, but ideal answer structure is the same for all advantages & disadvantages essays in IELTS.

Producing ideas for your answer

spending money on weddings pros and cons ielts essay

Before you start writing your essay, you should always spend 1-2 minutes on producing ideas for your answer . This way, you’ll know what to write about and your answer will be more coherent and well-structured. In case of advantages & disadvantages essay , you need to think of 2-3 advantages and 2-3 disadvantages of the given issue.

Let’s think about advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world.

Advantages of tourism :

  • boost in country’s economy due to increased spending
  • new job opening for local people
  • opportunities to discover new places for individual travelers

Disadvantages of tourism :

  • destruction of popular tourist destinations by large numbers of tourists
  • development of illegal economic activities
  • local people can experience loss of privacy

Now, after we’ve collected some ideas, it’s time to use them in our essay.

Band 9 answer structure for causes & solutions essay

Though there are many ways to structure your IELTS essay, we’ll use this time-tested band 9 essay structure:

  • Introduction
  • Body paragraph 1 – advantages
  • Body paragraph 2 – disadvantages

Tip : before starting to write your essay, decide what you think: does tourism have more advantages or disadvantages? You’ll need to make accent on your opinion in one of the body paragraphs.

We’ll use the opinion that tourism has more advantages .

Introduction Write the introduction in 2 sentences:

  • Sentence 1 - paraphrase the question (restate the problem):

Nowadays tourism generates a significant portion of national income for many countries, but it has certain drawbacks too.

  • Sentence 2 - tell the examiner what you’re going to describe in your essay:

This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages of tourism and provide a logical conclusion.

Body paragraph 1 - advantages

  • Sentence 1 - state 2 main advantages:

The two main advantages of developed tourism industry are boost in country’s economy and a large number of new job openings for the local people.

  • Sentences 2-4 - explain the first advantage + give an example (if possible):

Firstly, tourists spend money on a wide range of services, including hotels, amusements, transportation, food and medical services. This way, tourism yields an additional income, greatly supporting the countries’ economies.

  • Sentences 5-7 - explain the second advantage + give an example (if possible):

Secondly, tourism increases the level of employment by bringing new jobs. For instance, the influx of tourists results in a larger demand in restaurant workers, tour guides, hotel staff and employees of retail services, exhorting business owners to hire more people for these positions.

  • Sentence 1 - state 2 main disadvantages:

However, tourism also has some major disadvantages like destruction of popular tourist destinations and development of illegal economic activities.

  • Sentences 2-4 - explain the first disadvantage + give an example (if possible):

Ancient buildings, temples and monuments struggle to cope with a vast amount of visitor’s traffic and get damaged. Also, the large number of tourists can cause environmental problems. For instance, when places of interest are overcrowded, natural resources often become overexploited.

  • Sentences 5-7 - explain the second disadvantage + give an example (if possible):

What’s more, tourism can create more serious situations where criminal issues are involved. The presence of a considerable number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying valuables such as cameras and jewelry, increases the attraction for criminals and brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing.

  • Sentences 8 - make an accent on your opinion (we’ll use the opinion that tourism has more advantages ):

However, proper hospitality management and correct usage of tourism revenue by the local government can eliminate these disadvantages.

  • Sentences 1-2 - briefly restate the advantages and disadvantages

To conclude, although tourism has certain disadvantages like destructive effects and growth of crime rate, it has an extremely positive impact on country’s economy and provides a large number of new jobs for the local people.

  • Sentence 2 - give your final opinion

I believe that these benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks.

Band 9 answer sample

Nowadays tourism generates a significant portion of national income for many countries, but it has certain drawbacks too. This essay will examine the advantages and disadvantages of tourism and provide a logical conclusion.

The two main advantages of developed tourism industry are boost in country’s economy and a large number of new job openings for the local people. Firstly, tourists spend money on a wide range of services, including hotels, amusements, transportation, food and medical services. This way, tourism yields an additional income, greatly supporting the country’s economy. Secondly, tourism increases the level of employment by bringing new jobs. For instance, the influx of tourists results in a larger demand in restaurant workers, tour guides, hotel staff and employees of retail services, exhorting business owners to hire more people for these positions.

But tourism also has some major disadvantages like destruction of popular tourist destinations and development of illegal economic activities. іAncient buildings, temples and monuments struggle to cope with a vast amount of visitor’s traffic and get damaged. Also, the large number of tourists can cause environmental problems. For instance, when places of interest are overcrowded, natural resources often become overexploited. What’s more, the presence of a considerable number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying valuables such as cameras and jewelry, increases the attraction for criminals and brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing. However, proper hospitality management and correct usage of tourism revenue by the local government can eliminate these disadvantages.

To conclude, although tourism can have certain negative effects like destructive impact and growth of crime rate, it has an extremely positive influence on country’s economy and provides a large number of new jobs for the local people. I believe that these benefits of tourism outweigh its drawbacks.

(299 words)

Advantages and disadvantages of having a lot of money.

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Fully explain your ideas

To get an excellent score in the IELTS Task 2 writing section, one of the easiest and most effective tips is structuring your writing in the most solid format. A great argument essay structure may be divided to four paragraphs, in which comprises of four sentences (excluding the conclusion paragraph, which comprises of three sentences).

For we to consider an essay structure a great one, it should be looking like this:

  • Paragraph 1 - Introduction
  • Sentence 1 - Background statement
  • Sentence 2 - Detailed background statement
  • Sentence 3 - Thesis
  • Sentence 4 - Outline sentence
  • Paragraph 2 - First supporting paragraph
  • Sentence 1 - Topic sentence
  • Sentence 2 - Example
  • Sentence 3 - Discussion
  • Sentence 4 - Conclusion
  • Paragraph 3 - Second supporting paragraph
  • Paragraph 4 - Conclusion
  • Sentence 1 - Summary
  • Sentence 2 - Restatement of thesis
  • Sentence 3 - Prediction or recommendation

Our recommended essay structure above comprises of fifteen (15) sentences, which will make your essay approximately 250 to 275 words.

Discover more tips in The Ultimate Guide to Get a Target Band Score of 7+ » — a book that's free for 🚀 Premium users.

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