To what extent do you agree or disagree

essay structure
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This lesson is meant to help you with to what extent do you agree or
disagree essay structure. Below I outline some different plans, but the real
idea is that you follow an approach that will work for most any IELTS
essay. Work from these principles:
1.
2.
3.
4.

understandwhatthequestionisasking
decideonyourpointofview
makeyourpointofviewclearintheintroductionandconclusion
decidehowtouseyour2/3bodyparagraphs
The only hard bit is deciding what to do with your body paragraphs. See
my lesson on IELTS essay structure and this download Structure IELTS
essays plan (2611).

Understand the question

You need to answer the question directly and this means that you need
to say how much you agree or disagree with the idea. It is not really
enough to say I agree or I disagree. If you do that you havent
answered the question fully.

Understand the possible answers

The next step is to see that there are 3/4 different possible answers and
you need to decide which one you want to use. The answers are
I agree completely
I disagree completely
I disagree/agree either slightly/mostly/a lot
Its important that you are clear on your point of view before you start
writing. Its also important that you know how to explain the point of view
with reasons and explanations before you start writing. The essay
structure you choose depends a lot on what you know and what

you think. Do not choose a model structure just because you think
thats the right way.

Make your point of view clear the introduction and

conclusion
Make your point of view clear in the introduction and the conclusion. This
will be the same no matter what your opinion is.
Introduction
here is the idea/issue/question
point of view
Conclusion
restate the point of view
For me its really important that you get the introduction and conclusion
correct. Please use language that makes it clear that you
strongly/weakly agree/disagree etc. If you dont, you might just write
another opinion essay that doesnt answer the question. A crime.

Explain your point of view body paragraphs

This is where you have choices. Whichever option you choose, you should
make sure that the structure of your essay is clear and the examiner can
follow your reasons. You must decide how to use each body
paragraph. The option you choose will depend on what you think and what
you know. Do not rely on one essay model practise writing
different models of essay you just dont know what question you
will get.

The AA or BB model
If you strongly agree, you could try this AA model
A. I agree because [one reason the idea is right]
A. I agree because [another reason the idea is right]
or of course if you disagree

B. I disagree because [one reason why the idea is wrong]

B. I disagree because [another reason why the idea is wrong]
If you choose this approach, make sure that you can write 2 complete
paragraphs (with reasons and examples before you start). This
approach sometimes goes wrong because the two reasons are too similar
and the essay gets repetitive.

The AB model
If you strongly agree or disagree you can also try this approach when
there are two options in the question.
A. Explain why the idea is right/wrong [reasons and examples]
B. Explain why the other option is worse/better [reasons and examples]
This is really just a variation of the AA model, but the difference is that
you look at both sides of the argument.

The AB model weakly agree/disagree

If you have a weaker opinion, then you really need to look at both sides of
the argument and use this AB model.
A. Explain that there are some good points [reasons and examples]
B. Explain that there are some problems too [reasons and examples]
This approach can of course go wrong too often because the point of
view is unclear. To get it right make sure that your overall opinion is clear
in the introduction and that you start each paragraph with a clear
sentence making it obvious that you are either going to write about
reasons why you agree or disagree.

____
This lesson shows you two different discussion essays for IELTS. Part of the idea
is to show you that there is always more than one way to approach an IELTS

essay. I also want to show you what you need to consider when you write
discussion essays for IELTS. This means first looking at some basic ideas about
essays and then thinking about what discuss means.

Two basic principles

When you write discussion essays for IELTS you need to understand 2 basic
principles that apply to all IELTS essays:
your essay must answer the question fully
your essay must be coherent
To get both of these right you need to think clearly about your essay structure
before you start writing.

Identify discuss questions

The question can be asked in different ways the usual format is typically:
Discuss both these points of view and give your opinion
If the question asks you to discuss, you do just that: discuss.

Discuss can mean two things

In fact, the question never ever says write a discussion essay. The reason for
this is that different teachers have different ideas about what a discussion essay
is. The idea is not to write a model discussion essay, rather it is to discuss the
topic in the question something quite different.
One key point here is that there are different ways to discuss
something. Discuss includes both these ideas:
stating what people think (perhaps saying why they believe this this is a more
objective approach)
commenting on what people think (perhaps saying what the pros and cons of
their view is this a more subjective approach)

For me, the better type of discussion essay is one that both states and comments
on the different views if you do this you will discuss better.

Get a logical and clear essay structure

There is absolutely no one structure for a discuss question in IELTS. You simply
have to find a structure that is logical and allows you to answer the question. You
will find 3 different examples of how to do this below in my essays. Whichever
structure you choose, you need to decide first:
what is my introduction?
how am I going to write two/three clear topic paragraphs?
what is my conclusion?
do all the parts of my essay fit together?

See two different ways how to write a discussion essay

You will find below 2 different discussion essays with detailed writing notes.
What you should see is that:
both essays answer the question: they discuss the issue and give an opinion
one essay keeps the opinion to the end and discusses only objectively
the other establishes the opinion in the introduction and comments on the issues
throughout the essay
See a more objective discussion essay
See a more subjective discussion essay

Which is better?
I have a very strong preference for the second type of essay particularly if you are
aiming for a high score of 7.0 and above

it is typically more intelligent by adding comments on the points of view you get
more to say and you are able to discuss the views both objectively and
subjectively this is likely to help you give a much more complete answer by
discussing the points of view fully and not merely stating objectively what people
think
it is typically much more coherent your point of view is clear throughout the
whole essay and not just the conclusion
it allows you to avoid some very tired formulaic language
Some people prefer the other structure. Here is why it may help
it is perhaps quicker to learn it often includes more formula language
it allows you to treat the two parts of the question separately: first their views and
then your opinion this can seem simpler especially at lower levels
it does not need much thinking time before you start writing as your own
opinions only come in the conclusion personally I dont believe that thats a
good thing
___

Read and understand the question

One key to it is understand the question and to be clear about what you want to
say in your response. Clear thinking leads to clear writing.As ever, the first step is
to read and understand the question. Here is the question today:
Despite advances in medicine there are concerns that certain
diseases such as diabetes are increasing and some people believe
future generations will face greater problems with health and die
younger than we do today.
What is your opinion?
This question asks you to:

1.

give your opinion this must be clear in the introduction and the
conclusion
2.
about whether health will be better in future this means that you need to
talk about the future and now there must be some comparison
3.
about whether people will live longer this needs to be mentioned to
All these things must be included.

Think about the examiner make your opinion and structure

clear give your essay a backbone
IELTS essays get marked quickly. You dont want to allow the examiner to make a
mistake. So make life easy for him/her by showing the structure of your essay as
clearly as possible. There are 4 places you do this what I think of as being the
spine of the essay. (your spine is your backbone its what keeps you upright
and gives you your structure).
1.

the introduction thats the first thing they read and where you make your
first impression and first impressions count
2.
the first sentence of each paragraph (x2) examiners are taught that each
paragraph should have one main idea show them what it is in the first sentence
3.
the conclusion thats the last thing they read and the first thing they
remember!
The key is link these things together so that

the introduction matches the conclusion the opinion/point of view is the

same: you just need to change the language

the two body paragraphs link to the opinion/point view in the introduction
To do this try this simple essay structure plan. It may just look like 4 boxes on a
blank piece of paper , but it might save your life!

Download my plan to structure IELTS essays

Structure IELTS essays plan (2611)

Think clearly about your opinion/point of view

You want your point of view to be clear. My basic rule is that if you cant say in 2
sentences, its too complex. So part of the planning process may be deleting ideas
that are too complex or that you cant express clearly in English.
See my example
Im going to go for a balanced type essay with an argument that it health and
longevity (living for a long time) will get worse in the West but better in
developing nations. Before I start writing I make sure I can say this simply
I think health will get worse in the west but better in developing countries and
this will affect how long people live.

Build the spine of your essay see my example

All you need to do now is build the spine of the essay: the intro, first sentences
and conclusion. I really do do this using my essay structure plan above. I ended
up with this. Take a look at it. See

how simple it is thats good, you do want a simple structure

how things repeat thats good too
I crossed out my idea about stress and mental health. Its a good idea, but
would make the essay too complex

Now get the words

This lesson wouldnt be complete if I didnt show you the end-product. Your
plan is only good if it helps you write well. Take a look at my opinions (in red)

and the balance between developing countries (in green) and the industrialised
nations (in blue).
Introduction
There is no question that medicine has progressed dramatically over the last
century, but this does not mean that all our medical problems have been
solved. Indeed, my belief is that the average life span in the Western world may
actually fall in the 21st century. This is in contrast to the situation in developing
countries where I expect health provision to improve and longevity to increase.
Paragraph 1
The main reason why overall health may become worse in the industrialised
nations of the West relates to modern lifestyles there.
Paragraph 2
The situation in the developing world is, however, quite different and overall
health is likely to improve.
Conclusion
My conclusion is therefore a mixed one. While it is true that people may face
greater problems with their health in the future, this only applies
to industrialised nations and not to the developing world where life expectancy
may increase.
____

This lesson talks you through an approach to writing balanced essays in IELTS.
This is one form of essay you should be prepared to write. It is certainly not the
case that you have to express strong opinions in essays, you simply have to
express clear opinions. One way of doing this is to look at both sides of the
argument and consider their merits in turn this is a balanced essay.

When to write a balanced essay

The best time to use this approach is when you yourself can see merit in both
sides of the argument it is not the case that this approach is restricted to
Discussion essays: it is quite possible to use it in Argument essays.

Essay structure and coherence

One key to writing a balanced essay is to make sure that the structure is coherent.
This means that all the parts of the essay should fit together as a whole. The idea
is to make sure that anyone reading the essay understands that it is looking at
both sides of the issue. This should be clear at all stages of the essay. A
common problem is that one part of the essay does not fit into the main
structure.To do this, you need to consider:

planning the whole essay before you start writing

linking the different parts of the essay together
writing the essay as part of a process go back and read what have just
written before you write the next bit
concentrating on the intro/topic sentences and the conclusion

The basic approach

The basic approach is quite simple: in each topic paragraph you consider a
different/opposing point of view. You then summarise your view about which
side you prefer in the conclusion. In an exam essay, it is almost certainly the best
advice not to try and discuss the two points of view at the same time in one
paragraph. If you do this it is quite likely that the argument becomes confused
and your main goal is clarity.
In this form of essay, it is conventional to look at the side you disagree with first.
This allows you to find a natural link between your final content paragraph and
the conclusion they should be saying almost the same thing.

Introduction
The goal here is to state clearly that the essay is going to take a balanced position
and/or look at both sides of the issue. This means examiner/reader should

understand from the introduction your position and how essay will be structured.
In practice this means that in the intro you should try to:

identify both sides of the argument

show that there is merit on both sides
identify which side you favour, (the balanced approach) and/or
say you will look at both sides (the more neutral approach)
In the two example below, you should see the difference between these two
approaches.
Neutral approach
In this approach, you merely state that both sides have merit and say you will
look at both sides of the case.
While there are grounds to argue that it would benefit society and young people
themselves if teenagers were made to do unpaid work in the community, it can
equally be argued that this would be an infringement of their rights. In this
essay, I shall examine the merits of both sides of the argument and state my own
opinion.
Balanced approach
This is the approach I generally prefer as you clearly identify your position on one
side of the argument or the other. I believe it is better because it is simply clearer.
There are grounds to argue that it would benefit society and young people
themselves if teenagers were made to do unpaid work in the community. While
this is an interesting proposal and has some merit, my own view is that it would
infringe their rights.

Main body
In the main body, there are two ideas to focus on:
1.
2.

the paragraphs should balance each other

the paragraphs should link back to position in the introduction

Balancing your paragraphs

The key to making sure your paragraphs balance each other is to use your
topic/first sentences reflect each other. The examiner/reader should immediately
understand how the paragraph fits into the structure of the essay. A simple way of
doing this is to use similar introductory language in each paragraph. In the
example below, it should be easy to see (even without the highlighting) how the
following paragraphs balance each other and reflect each others language.
One argument in favour of making teenagers do voluntary work in the
community is that it would benefit society. It is certainly true that there is a
shortage of labour in many parts of the public sector and if young people worked,
then many public services would improve. For example, it would be quite
possible for teenagers to do part-time jobs in the health such as working as
hospital porters. This would have the effect of ensuring patients got better care
and would allow trained professionals to concentrate on more skilled tasks
something that would benefit society as a whole.
Despite this argument, there is an equally strong case to be made that it would be
morally wrong to force teenagers to go out to work, particularly if they did not
earn a salary. This can be explained by the fact that in recent years, there has
been a global movement to stop the practice of child labour. The main philosophy
behind this movement is that childhood, including the teenage years, should be a
time for education and growth, not work. It would not just send the wrong
message out if teenagers were made to do voluntary work, there is also the real
danger that young people would be exploited in the workplace.
Linking back to the introduction
A second skill is to make sure that your topic paragraphs refer back to the
position in the introduction. This is because it is important to maintain a
constant position throughout the essay -something that can often go
wrong with balanced essays. Again, a simple to achieve this is to make sure that
the language and ideas of the first\topic sentences is reflected in the
introduction.

This means that you should really have a clear idea of your whole essay before
you write the introduction. A second tip is that in the process of writing the
content paragraphs of your essay you should refer back to the introduction to
borrow language and ideas from there. If you look at the examples below, you
should see how the first sentence of each paragraph links clearly back to the
introduction.
While there are grounds to argue that it would benefit society and young people
themselves if teenagers were made to do unpaid work in the community, it can
equally be argued that this would be an infringement of their rights. In this essay,
I shall examine the merits of both sides of the argument
One argument in favour of making teenagers to do voluntary work in the
community is that it would benefit society.
Despite this arguments, there is an equally strong case to be made that it would
be morally wrong to force teenagers to go out to work, particularly if they did not
earn a salary
The conclusion
The same ideas apply to the conclusion: the language and ideas of the intro and
the first/topic sentences should be reflected here too. You may also consider
referring back to some of the details of your argument to emphasise that you are
able to support your case with reasons and examples. Do that and the the essay
should be coherent. Again, it greatly helps if you remember to go back and reread the essay before you write the conclusion.
Some people think that teenagers should do unpaid work to help
society because this will help them to be better individuals and also
improve the society as a whole. To what extent do you agree or
disagree with this proposal?
While there are grounds to argue that it would benefit society and young people
themselves if teenagers were made to do unpaid work in the community, it can
equally be argued that this would be an infringement of their rights. In this essay,
I shall examine the merits of both sides of the argument.

One argument in favour of making teenagers to do voluntary work in the

community is that it would benefit society. It is certainly true that there is a
shortage of labour in many parts of the public sector and if young people worked,
then many public services would improve. For example, it would be quite
possible for teenagers to do part-time jobs in the health such as working as
hospital porters. This would have the effect of ensuring patients got better care
and would allow trained professionals to concentrate on more skilled tasks
something that would benefit society as a whole.
Despite these arguments, there is an equally strong case to be made that it would
be morally wrong to force teenagers to go out to work, particularly if they did not
earn a salary. This can be explained by the fact that in recent years, there has
been a global movement to stop the practice of child labour. The main philosophy
behind this movement is that childhood, including the teenage years, should be a
time for education and growth, not work. It would not just send the wrong
message out if teenagers were made to do voluntary work, there is also the real
danger that young people would be exploited in the workplace.
In conclusion, I believe that while there are real merits on both sides of the
argument, the moral case againstforcing young people to work slightly outweighs
any benefit to society. This is reinforced by belief in the principle that childhood
is a time for education and fear of the danger of exploitation.

Footnote on essay writing and essay structures

The ideas in this lesson are all contained in my series of lessons on the process of
essay writing. Much of the secret of writing a good essay in the exam is not to go
in with a pre-prepared plan, but to make sure that as you write you concentrate
on the question in front of you and organising your language and thoughts in
answer to that question.

Is this essay too long for IELTS?