(Note: I normally do a listening lesson on Tuesdays, but this week it will be on Wednesday)
Several people sent me this recent IELTS writing task 2 question:
Extreme sports such as sky diving and skiing are very dangerous and should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?
I looked at this question with some of my students here in Manchester, and we wrote the following essay plan.
- Introduction: Topic = ban extreme sports. Answer = disagree
- First reason: These sports are not so dangerous 1) because of regulations, procedures and safety measures, 2) because of training and preparation (give an example sport), 3) because of improving equipment and technology
- Second reason: It would be wrong to ban these sports, and difficult to enforce a ban - freedom of choice - the right to enjoy yourself - risks and rewards (example) - who would decide which sports? - who would stop people from participating?
- Conclusion: repeat / summarise the opinion
Tip: The key thing when planning this "completely disagree" answer was to find two separate reasons for the two main paragraphs. We decided to do this by disagreeing with the two ideas that are mentioned in the question: 1) extreme sports are dangerous 2) they should be banned.
Is not dangerous here a background statement and cant we disagree with? I mean we should give our opinion about banning it not the dangerousness of it? And are there regulations about it? I think these sports are organized by private companies and nothing to do with governments. Another version of this rubric is mountain climbing, racing cars or boxing and we sometimes hear about sportspeople dying from them or suffering from bad health conditions because of them.
Dies the argument and reasons you gave still relevant you think?
Thanks a lot for answering this topic and looking forward your answer to my questions and to your full essay.
Posted by: lana | October 18, 2016 at 12:46
Dear Simon,
I am a medical doctor in Turkey and planning to take IELTS in the next few months.
I would like to purchase your ebook. Unfortunately, Pay Pal is not functioning in Turkey at the moment.
Is there another way to purchase your book online?
Thank you.
Best
Posted by: Ulas | October 18, 2016 at 12:56
lana
'very dangerous' is not a fact, so it can be disagreed with. Perceptions of danger can vary.
Of course there are different ways to answer this question, depending on your view. Another way is to partly disagree and say: 'while I admit that these sports can be very dangerous, I disagree they should be banned'. The first paragraph would establish the dangers and the second would argue limiting choice is more important and could also mention the points Simon raises about these sports becoming safer.
Posted by: sjm | October 18, 2016 at 21:54
Ok thanks a lot sjm.
Posted by: lana | October 19, 2016 at 00:11
Thanks.
Posted by: Catherine Roberts | October 19, 2016 at 08:21
Today I was watching one of your old videos in Youtube. Apart from getting advice, I found some magnificent vocabularies from your speech.
Advice 10: Work instead of worry.
Simon: Instead of spending your time worrying about the score you need, open a book, pick up your pen and do some work. If you know you've worked hard, prepared well, you would feel much more confident going into the exam.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3NeVqnuu2g
Posted by: Hero7 | October 19, 2016 at 17:10
Dear Simon, Sym
In this topic, can I partly disagree like that " while I might accept that these sports are quite dangerous and need to be banned, I also agree that the extremely sports in some extent are normal and should be encouraged to discover the nature"
This introduce could help me to manage the write due to various subject, how do you think, Thank you in advance.
Posted by: TUCHIBA | October 19, 2016 at 17:27
If Question asking to what extent do you agree or disagree then can we write to some extent agree and disagree or we should state either agree or disagree .
Look forwarded to your answer thank you appreciate your help
Posted by: msm | October 19, 2016 at 17:41
hello any one of you cleared ielts exam......please...tell..me.....ielts aspirant
i need help for academic writing......
my...email is [email protected] ( india)....i will help you in rest of other modules......do....reply..
Posted by: pritam | October 19, 2016 at 19:20
Some people believe that dangerous sports activities should be banned. However, i completely disagree with this view.In fact, They are more likely to be enjoyable for the participant.
can anybody tell me whether im going off topic?
Posted by: misha | October 19, 2016 at 23:00
Sports are supposed to be enjoyable but certain sports like skiing and sky diving are actually risky in nature. Some people suggest that those sports with high risks should not be allowed, but other people have a different view. A hot debate has been sparked on the presence of the extreme sports.
Those sports have several dangers, predominately accident rates. Serious injuries such as bone fractures and head trauma are not uncommon in the extreme sports, even fatal accidents. It is too costly to participate in those activities just for excitements. As we know, most insurance schemes such as travelling insurance which does not cover those vigorous sports because the medical expenditures on the injuries are significantly high. Therefore, we should understand that those extreme activities are actually dangerous and cost a lot to play.
However, in certain circumstances, the extreme sports are necessary. The activities were originally from survival skills. For examples, pilots have to learn sky diving to escape when accidents happen on plants, while ice skiing is a technique to transport in some countries with heavy snow. The skills are essential to save lives indeed if proper training is given. Furthermore, with the development of protective equipment such as helmets and braces, the injury rates are getting lower and lower. As a result, the hazards of the activities can be possibly minimised.
In conclusion, although the extreme sports may have potential harms, the chances of getting injuries can be reduced if safety measures are conducted. Personally, I do agree that the skills of the sports will be very useful when the situations happen.
Posted by: Chris | October 20, 2016 at 02:46
Dear simon,
Is it okay in agree/disagree to write "I will explain both views and give my own opinion" if I am writing a balanced essay?
Posted by: D | October 20, 2016 at 06:47
Hi D,
In case Simon or sjm are too busy to answer your question, I can tell you that the answer is NO.
You can find what Simon says in his blogs of August 13/20, 2014.
The key is to do exactly what the examiner tells you. He/she has asked 'do you agree or disagree'.
Give your answer and explain your reasons.
Posted by: pete walton | October 20, 2016 at 11:00
D,
Pete is right. You are in danger of writing a "discussion" answer for an "opinion" question. If they wanted you to "discuss both views and give your opinion", this would be clear in the question.
This question is asking for YOUR view only - not the views of other people, or an overview of the issue.
Posted by: Simon | October 20, 2016 at 12:11
Hello sm and simon
In this topic can i write as in my opinion i believe that these sports are dangerous without proper training and safety measures but disagree that it should be banned instead government should focus on the safety criteria
1st para about safety measures classes and health assesment before performing such sports
2nd para about public right and freedom and government s support and budgeting
Posted by: Lyla | October 20, 2016 at 13:59
Same question as lyla, could we disagree with banning them and say what other measure could work better? Or this is not what the question ask for and we are off topic?
Posted by: lana | October 20, 2016 at 15:29
Thank you Pete and Simon
Posted by: D | October 21, 2016 at 08:37
Hi SIMON Thanks for your great job.i got 7 overall with the help of your site.Wish you all the good things:)
Posted by: Kamran | October 21, 2016 at 08:56
Lyla,
Yes. That would be a good way to answer.
...
Congratulations Kamran!
Posted by: Simon | October 21, 2016 at 11:53
Nowadays ,there is raising public argument about some dangerous sports and the possibility to ban them . Although these sports might result in serious injuries , I believe that they are interesting for the participants and safety measures could be developed instead of banning those sports .
Posted by: Ashraf | October 21, 2016 at 21:28
Sports cannot be considered dangerous due to several reasons. Firstly, nowadays sports activities are only allowed for public when they are already went through various safety checks, regulations and safe procedures. Secondly, an adequate training and preparation is required to do these challenging activities. Sky divers, for instance, have to learn different body postures in order to fly with parachute while jumping out of the jet. Finally,
By installing certain technologies and with more advanced sports equipments, it is unlikely that participant will encounter any accident.As a result, people are enthusiastically willing to do demanding sports, because of higher safety and increasingly improving technology and tool qualities.
Posted by: Rabecca | October 21, 2016 at 23:24
Hi Simon,
The most recent exam question in Australia was something like this."Some people think men and women have qualities for certain jobs. To what extent do you agree or disagree?".
I organized my essay structure like this;
1.intro-completely agree
2.body 1: reasons why women are good at something.
(childcare worker, women have the skills to look after children naturally, another example is female aged care workers, women look after their family members because they can do so better than men)
3.body 2: reasons why men are good at other things.
(what they are interested is different to women,e.g.fire fighters and polits, boys prefer those physical jobs by nature, some jobs are also impossible for women, e.g. army,cannot carry heavy stuff)
4.conclusion
I got only a 6.0 for this writing and have no idea what was wrong with this structure....
Could you give an example structure or full essay please?
Regards,
Miyuki
Posted by: Miyuki | October 22, 2016 at 02:25
Hi Miyuki. I'm also studying Ielts right now. If you got 6.0 from the exam, it means your ideas was not fully developed or your vocab was limited in the essay. I hope you to follow Simon's Ielts lessons and build good ideas adnd vocab.
Posted by: Tom | October 22, 2016 at 03:18
Miyuki
You received a 6 overall and you have no way of knowing whether that score was caused by Task 1 or Task 2 or both. In my experience, Task 1 scores can be very low due to the penalties involved. In terms of Task 2, errors are usually the major contributor to a score of 6.
Posted by: sjm | October 22, 2016 at 05:21
Hi,
Here`s my essay
People believe that it may seem reasonable to allow younger individuals to hold influential government positions, I personally think that experienced officers are more appropriate for crucial roles.
There are two areas where it might be considered beneficial to grant prominent positions to young government servants. Firstly, young officials are more easily acquainted with cutting-edge knowledge, which enables them to conquer challenges regarding advanced technologies. For example, the Chinese Space Agency which succeed in launching both the Tiangong Space Station and astronauts into space, consists of staff at average age of 33. Furthermore, comparing to older offciers, the young generation is more competent in linguistic aspects, and is more likely being employed in Foreign Ministry or by communicating as an Official Translator in China.
However, I agree with those who argue that younger officials are not prepared for administrative positions. The primary reason the older official servants are far more experienced, and therefore they perform steadily and maturely. One possible consequence caused by a lack of experience is that individuals cannot realise, or even understand key issues in decision-making stage, and possibly these naive officers represent significant threats to the entire society. Secondly, senior officers respond to emergency situation efficiently and instantly due to accumulated in-field experience whereas younger are mostly with more potential risks.
In conclusion, while young officers may bring advantages to governments in certain areas, I believe it would be better, on balance, to let senior officials make decisions. Wisdom comes with age.
Posted by: PT | October 22, 2016 at 12:54
Here is my essay
I just wonder what band I could get, and it`d very nice someone tell me.
Some argue that extreme sports are too risky to engage in, and therefore these games should be forbidden. I completely disagree with this view because extreme sports can be quite safe by human efforts, and meanwhile, it is incorrect to enforce prohibition over individual choices.
There are three primary reasons to illustrate that extreme sports are not dangerous. Firstly, a serious of strict regulations and procedures as well as safety measures are precisely designed so that any inappropriate behavior could be ruled out. Also, security levels can be upgraded as a result of proper preparation and professional training. For example, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, definitely one of the most brutal sports, has a history of over 20 years but barely death case. This is because fighters not only acknowledge specified skills to avoid death-causing attacks but also would have taken a series of physical examinations to guarantee their lives. Eventually, extreme sports are no longer as hazardous as they are used to be because of advanced equipment and technology which has been consistently improved.
Meantime, it would be wrong to ban extreme sports. More specifically, casting prohibition is restricting the freedom of choices, and namely, everyone has his or her right to enjoy themselves. Moreover, risks always come with rewards. For example, injuries unceasingly happen in the winter Olympic Games considering that snow is as unforgiving as concrete, whereas athletes never give up due to both medals and conquering fears inside themselves. Additionally, there is no way figure out that who would decide which sports should be banned or who would stop people from participating.
In conclusion, extreme sports are of a certain safety level, and it is against human rights to ban any sport.
286 words
Posted by: PT | October 22, 2016 at 15:02
Hello Simon ,
I received the test report of my Ielts test yesterday .overall band 7 ,listening 7 , speaking 7.5,reading 7.5 ,writing 7 .unfortunately in need overall band 7.5 & 7 in each of the component.Previously also I got almost same result .actually this question came this time & I answered according to your technique as I have been following you for last two years.the only difference I can see is that you are disagreeing while my answer was in the favour of topic .what do you suggest ? Do you think that as I replied with all the favouring points that's the reason I got 6.5 .
Naureen.
Posted by: Naureen | October 22, 2016 at 21:21
Bulk of student acquire 5.5 or 6 band in writing task
Posted by: Adam | October 23, 2016 at 05:06
Nowaday, most people like spending their free time to do outdoor activities for pleasure such as sky diving and skiing. Some people think that these sports are very dangerous and should not be allowed. However, I totally disagree with this view.
Therefore, we can see that these sports are not so dangerous and a player can get an excitement experience in the space in order to see the world by following procedure and safety measure. Before starting the sport, a player will get training and learn how to make a well preparation to join these sports. For example, a player has to learn how to wear safety belt and use special equipments during the process. And using the method of improving technology can provide more confident to the player.
Another reason, it would be wrong to ban these sports and difficult to enforce a ban because it is a freedom of choice to do whatever they want to do. Everyone has a right to enjoy doing sports for relaxing, to take an amazing sport risking and encourage themselves that they can fly like a bird. Who would stop people from participating?
In conclusion, it is clear that some activities look dangerous but most people are still to do it because of extremely amazing sport with high technology that can protect and survive the player's life.
Posted by: Sihoeung | October 23, 2016 at 20:40
Hi Simon!! I hope I'll get some feedback form you to improve my writing skill. Thanks in advance!! I did my ielts exam on 22th October 2016 already, but no confidence to get high mark and I could not do it well😞😞😞
Posted by: Sihoeung | October 23, 2016 at 20:57
FROM SINON:
I'm afraid I don't offer feedback on writing here. If I did that, I would receive hundreds of essays from people. Sorry I can't help with that.
Posted by: Simon | October 24, 2016 at 13:53
It is true that a number of citizens have insisted that extreme sports including sky diving and skiing should be prohibited for several reasons. Although these sports could threaten someone’s life, in my opinion, I totally disagree with the notion with various reasons.
To begin with, these extreme sports are not so dangerous and even are more safer than riding a vehicle on the road. First and foremost, regulations, procedures and safety measures on the extreme sports are significantly strict, whereby the possibility of accidents is substantially lower than other incidents such as car accidents. Secondly, training and preparation of the extreme sports is considerably intensive. For example, sky diving course for beginners normally take at least three weeks, in addition, improving equipment and technology can also guarantee people’s safety.
At the same time, it would be wrong to ban these sports, and difficult to enforce a ban. Since citizens have a freedom of choice and the right to enjoy themselves, if the authorities attempted to force to restrict these activities, it would violate the law. Moreover, it is extremely difficult to decide which sports are the extreme sports given the fact that regular sports such as rugby or cricket also causes fatal injuries among players during the game. Thus, it can be ambiguous to judge which sports are more dangerous between regular sports and extreme sports.
In conclusion, although extreme sports are considerably dangerous and considered to be prevented by some people, these sports are actually more safer than other activities; moreover, people possess a right to pursue their happiness through these sports. Therefore, the insistent of banning extreme sports should be reconsidered and reevaluated.
Posted by: Tom | October 25, 2016 at 06:52
Some types of sports are full of danger, if not careful enough during the doing those activities, people is very easily to be hurt or fracture or even more worse to be dead. In this situation, it is argued that those kind of sports should not be allowed in form of law, however I totally disagree with this not so good idea.
Posted by: abai | October 25, 2016 at 10:15
Some types of sports are full of danger, if not careful enough during the doing those activities, people is very easily to be hurt or fracture or even more worse to be dead. In this situation, it is argued that those kind of sports should not be allowed in form of law, however I totally disagree with this not so good idea.
First and foremost, those extreme sports are not so dangerous as they look like, there are some reasons for that. Regulations, procedures and safety measures are more and more strict and detailed, at the same time, very fully prepared training will have to take before doing these sports, for example, ski diving requires at least two or three weeks to practice. What's more, with the improving of technology and equipment,each parts of our body will be protected very well in case accidents happen.
On another hand, it will be wrong to prohibit those sports for various reasons. Firstly, it is difficult to ban them absolutely because people can always find a way to break that regulations. Secondly, we should have the freedom to choose what kind of sport we can do and enjoy ourselves in turn, what badly needed is to let them know the risks and rewards for their choices. Finally, it is also not a easy task to decide which sport ought to be good and others are not suitable to participate in.
In conclusion, though the extreme sports maybe dangerous to some extent, they should not be ban in terms of regulations or laws, people should be free to determinate to be in how much risk and gain how much rewards by themselves, and keeps the diversity of sports in our world.
(287 words, in which band my essay would be?:)
Posted by: abai | October 25, 2016 at 10:59
https://www.quora.com/topic/Extreme-Sports
on Quora
Posted by: abai | October 25, 2016 at 11:02
Hello Simon,
I am not really understand skydiving and skying, but since it says extreme sports, can I tell the story about other extreme sports such as racing? thank you
Posted by: Marvin | November 23, 2016 at 17:05
Yes, definitely Marvin.
Posted by: Simon | November 24, 2016 at 17:42
Do we need to write completely agree or disagree in "to what extent agree or disagree" ?
Please help me out
Posted by: Reema | December 15, 2016 at 04:14