I often receive questions like this from students:
For 'agree or disagree' questions, my teacher told me that I should mention both sides of the argument, even if I have a strong opinion. Is this true? And how do I do it?
Here's my answer:
- It is not true that you must always mention both sides.
- The way you answer will depend on the particular question and on the ideas that you have.
Let's look at some examples:
1) Look at the strong opinion essay that I shared here. My argument is that we do have too many choices, and I think it would be strange to contradict myself by writing about the opposite view. Why would I want to mention the view that we don't have too many choices?
2) Now look at this essay. You'll see that I express a strong opinion in paragraph two, and then I refute (argue against) some opposite views in paragraph three. In other words, I do mention the other side of the argument, but in a negative way.
3) Finally, if you study this essay, you'll see that I am able to write about both sides of the topic in a balanced way, even though I disagree with the argument given in the question.
Note:
When somebody tells you that you must always answer in a certain way, you should be cautious. If you're confused, just forget all of the advice, and focus instead on what the question is asking you to do.
Excellent view sir.you have become a role model for me,and I ever follow your precious structure in my study,therefore I have learnt great points.
Posted by: Priya | October 23, 2019 at 18:11
Hi Simon,
I still do not understand the #3 because the question asks us to show our dis/agreement ("what extent you agree/disagree") but not to show both sides ("Discuss both side"). How risky doing like that as it seems to be out of topic @@.
Posted by: Long Hung Tran | October 24, 2019 at 07:45
@ Long Hung Tran
There are four systems/ways to answer Agree/Disagree. These are not rules but can help you organize your thoughts/ideas much better.
Please refer to this post/lesson.
https://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/04/ielts-writing-task-2-agree-or-disagree-essay-structures.html
Posted by: Yves | October 25, 2019 at 04:22
Hi Simon,
My teacher told me that it is better to write "the writer believes/agrees/disagrees..." when stating my position because she said IELTS must avoid using I/my/me/mine. Only third person is allowed. Is this true? How will it affect my score?
Posted by: Estela Quiseo | October 30, 2019 at 06:49
Hi everyone, I have written my first essay while practicing for IELTS. Please give me feedback and some suggestions.
Question:
In the developed world, average life expectancy is increasing. What problems will this cause for individuals and society? Suggest some measures that could be taken to reduce the impact of ageing populations.
Answer:
With the advancement of medical science , the mean life expectancy has improved remarkably in the developed countries. Although, this will pose some problems, measures can be taken to deal with them as we will see.
As a consequence of better health facilities, people are living longer than ever ,and this has resulted in some issues that need consideration. Firstly, the increase in number of aged members of society means more people are availing pension alongwith higher expense on geriatric care , which increases financial burden on the government. The young members , in turn, have to pay more taxes to maintain the balance between revenue generated and expenses. Secondly, there is lesser workforce available to the country , because it has a major part of population that is retired and no longer working. This makes it difficult for the nation to develop its economy. Finally, the youth finds it challenging to take care of more aged relatives and earning at the same time to support their families.
In order to address these issues, the authorities can take several steps as described below. The retirement age could be increased from 65 to 70 in less physically and mentally demanding occupations. These days, senior citizens are in good enough health to perform most of the duties competently. A second measure would be that the governments can make laws to simplify immigration procedures, which would increase the size of working age group as well as the number of tax payers. Furthermore, government funds could be redistributed to spend on health, accomodation and transportation for the elderly.
In conclusion, a large aging population poses potential problems which can be successfully handled by making some policy amendments by the governments of the concerned nations.
Posted by: muskan | October 30, 2019 at 07:01
Estela,
No, that isn't true. Many teachers get this wrong because they are used to teaching 'university academic writing'. IELTS writing is different.
I've written about this here:
https://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/01/ielts-writing-task-2-using-the-word-i.html
https://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2015/06/ielts-advice-misinformation.html
I hope this helps!
Posted by: Simon | November 08, 2019 at 14:51