Advantages–Disadvantages Essay Questions in IELTS Writing Task 2

Recommended approach

Here’s my recommended approach for answering Advantages–disadvantages essay questions. We’ll use the example question to go through the steps you need to take.

IMPORTANT:

The overall approach is the same for all Task 2 question types (i.e. discussion, opinion, advantages–disadvantages and two-part essay questions).

This is important because, on test day, you could get a question that doesn’t fall neatly into any of these categories. However, if you learn and practise applying the overall approach, you should be able to respond flexibly to any question you’re presented with.

Also, while I generally recommend writing 4-paragraph essays, there are other structures you can use to write an effective essay.

Step 1  >  Analyse the question

The first step is to analyse the question. This is crucial – if you don’t take the time to analyse the question properly, you may misunderstand what it’s asking you or fail to respond to key parts of the question.

Here’s our question prompt again.

You can see that we’ve been presented with a straightforward statement about being self-employed, and we’re being asked whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

The phrase Do you think and the verb outweigh are important here. They make it clear that the question is asking for our opinion. We need to make it clear to the examiner whether we think there are more advantages or more disadvantages. If we don’t do this, our score for Task Response will be affected.

IMPORTANT:

Some Advantages–disadvantages essay questions don’t require you to give your opinion. These questions are usually worded like this:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed?

Step 2  >  Think of ideas

Once you fully understand the question and what you’re required to do, the next step is to spend a few minutes thinking of ideas for your essay.

Don’t try to brainstorm as many ideas as you can – all you need is a few good ideas. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, try asking yourself these questions:

• What are the most obvious ideas?
• If you asked 100 people for their ideas, what do you think most of them would say?

For Advantages–disadvantages essay questions, you need to think of ideas for both sides (i.e. advantages and disadvantages). Because the words advantages and disadvantages in the question are in the plural form, you need to think of more than one advantage and more than one disadvantage. If the question asks you whether there are more advantages or more disadvantages, you also need to make a decision about that.

Step 3  >  Make a plan

Once you’ve thought of some ideas, it’s time to make a plan. I’d recommend that you spend about 5 minutes on your plan. It doesn’t need to be very detailed, but it’s important to think about what examples you’ll use and how you’ll explain your points. If you think of these things in advance, you’ll be able to connect your ideas more effectively when you’re writing your essay.

Don’t try to write in full sentences – you can use symbols and abbreviations. The important thing is just to get your ideas down on paper.

The plan for this essay might look something like this.

Intro.	both advantages + disadvantages, but disadvantages > advantages
Body 1	benefits – free to set own schedules (i.e. don’t need to work 9–5) – can choose clients and projects, don’t need to do things they don’t want to = sense of control
Body 2	disadvantages – irregular income, can’t pay themselves consistent salary, can’t apply for mortgage, etc. – don’t have benefits (e.g. sick pay and annual leave), reluctant to take time off – lack of structure in workday = less motivated
Concl.	both advantages + disadvantages, but signif. disadvantages mean not the right choice for most ppl.

Step 4  >  Write the introduction

Now that you’ve thought of ideas for your essay and made a plan, it’s time to write the introduction.

IELTS doesn’t specify what you need to include in your introduction, but for Advantages–disadvantages essay questions, I recommend that you include:

1. a paraphrase of the statement given in the question;
2. a statement about whether you think there are more advantages or more disadvantages.

Let’s look at each of these parts one by one.

1. A paraphrase of the statement given in the question

An easy and effective way to start your introduction is to paraphrase the statement given in the question. At this stage, don’t state whether you think there are more advantages or disadvantages – we’ll do that in the second part of the introduction.

Keep in mind that you mustn’t copy the exact wording used in the question. Instead, you need to use synonyms and other forms of paraphrasing. You won’t be able find synonyms for everything. In fact, some words shouldn’t be replaced because doing so would change the meaning.

Our paraphrase could be something like this: The vast majority of people work as employees in a company, but a growing number of people are making the decision to work for themselves.

2. A statement about whether you think there are more advantages or more disadvantages

In the second part of the introduction, you should clearly state whether you think there are more advantages or more disadvantages. An easy way to introduce this opinion is to use a conjunction such as While to introduce the side (i.e. advantages or disadvantages) that you think is less strong, and then make your opinion clear by using a phrase like I believe and the verb outweigh to introduce the side that you think is stronger.

Here’s how we could write this statement: While being self-employed does have its benefits, I believe that they are outweighed by the drawbacks.

If we put the two parts of the introduction together, this is what we have.

Step 5  >  Write the body paragraphs

The next step is to write the body paragraphs. Your first body paragraph should be about the side (i.e. advantages or disadvantages) that you think is less strong. Your second paragraph should be about the side you think is stronger.

Note that your second body paragraph may be longer than your first body paragraph. This is fine because you’re likely to have more reasons to support the side you think is stronger.

A linking word such as While, Despite or However can help you introduce the stronger side. Make sure it’s clear that you’re giving your opinion. Don’t be afraid to use phrases such as I believe that and I am of the view that.

Here are some possible body paragraphs for our example.

Step 6  >  Write the conclusion

The next step is to write the conclusion. All you need to do here is summarise the statement in the question and, again, make it clear what your own opinion is. Don’t just copy the words you used in other parts of the essay – use synonyms and paraphrasing as much as you can. Start your conclusion with In conclusion or To conclude.

Here’s a possible conclusion for our example.

Step 7  >  Check your work

The final step is to check your work. At this stage, you won’t have time to make any major changes, but it’s still an important step.

Things to check for:

• whether you’ve used an adequate range of grammar and vocabulary;
• spelling;
• your word count.