Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

In some countries, young people are encouraged to

work or travel for a year between finishing high
school and starting university studies.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for

young people who decide to do this.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE ESSAY

Introduction

Sentence 1- Paraphrase question

Sentence 2- Outline sentence

Supporting Paragraph 1 (Advantages)

Sentence 3- Topic sentence (2 Advantages)

Sentence 4- Explain first advantage

Sentence 5- Explain second advantage

Sentence 6- Example of second advantage

Supporting Paragraph 2 (Disadvantages)

Sentence 6- Topic sentence (2 Disadvantages)

Sentence 7- Explain first disadvantage

Sentence 8- Explain second disadvantage

Sentence 9- Example of second disadvantage

Conclusion
Sentence 9- Summary of main points

Structure for Essay 2 ; Some experts believe that it

is better for children to begin learning a foreign
language at primary schools rather than secondary
schools.

Do the advantages of this outweigh the

disadvantages?

Introduction

Sentence 1- Paraphrase question

Sentence 2- Thesis statement (state which one

outweighs the other)

Sentence 3- Outline sentence

Main Body Paragraph 1 (Stronger Side)

Sentence 4- Topic Sentence

Sentence 5- Explain why it is strong

Sentence 6- Example

Sentence 7- Topic Sentence

Sentence 8- Explain why it is strong

Sentence 9- Example

Main Body Paragraph 2 (Weaker Side)

Sentence 10 Topic Sentence

Sentence 11 Explain why it is not strong

Sentence 12 Example

#ESSAY_1

Topic: Migration to Cities (Band 7)

Young people are leaving their homes in rural areas to work or

study in cities. What are the reasons?

Do the advantages of this development outweigh the drawbacks?

The comparison of standards of the cities and small town or villages has
been always a debate. Recently, teenagers choose to live in the cities
rather than their home villages because of school or job opportunities.
This essay will discuss multiple reasons behind this trend and explain
why the advantages of being in a city do indeed outweigh its drawbacks.

There are several reasons to desire living in urban areas. Firstly, it gives
people an opportunity to study in better schools which cannot be found
in rural areas. Since in the modern world education means very much for
people’s future, it is crucial to have higher education degrees for those
individuals to find well-paid jobs. In addition to that, city life provides
people with completely different experiences than their home villages.
Thanks to the schools, work or social gathering places, they get to meet
a greater number of people from all around the country compared to
their rural towns which is crucial for one’s personal development.
Lastly, in the cities, not only they get bigger number of job options, but
also they can earn larger amount of money. It is very well know that job
market is significantly limited in the villages also the current jobs barely
pay enough.

It is clearly seen that benefits of leaving villages outweigh its few

number of deficits. It is worth to mention that people face some issues,
such as being away from their extended family, more competitive and
challenging job market, and substantially more expensive living cost,
when they move to the cities. Advantages like learning and exploring
new experiences, getting a better education leading to a better paid job
and having an interesting career, however, surpass the number of the
drawbacks of this development.

To conclude, there are various reasons for young generation to leave

their homes to live in the cities and this movement’s benefits easily
outweigh its disadvantages.
#ESSAY_2
Question 1 Advantages and Disadvantages Sample
Answer
In some countries, young people are encouraged to
work or travel for a year between finishing high
school and starting university studies.Discuss the
advantages and disadvantages for young people
who decide to do this.

Before college, many young people are advised that a

year of working or travelling may be a good option. This
essay will suggest that experience gained and money
saved are the biggest advantages of this, but delaying
careers and reducing motivation to study are the primary
disadvantages.
The main advantages of a gap year are learning more
about the world and earning money. For students who
have just finished secondary school, working or travelling
for a year will allow them to learn what life is like outside
of the education system. Also, third-level education is
very expensive, and many students decide to work for 12
months and save money before they begin their studies.
The average student at a UK university requires over
£10,000 per annum to survive, and many drop out
because they cannot afford to stay.

Despite these advantages, students lose a year that

could have been used to advance their future careers,
and they often get used to working or travelling and don’t
want to return to a life of study. As job markets are very
competitive, an extra year of experience can make a
massive difference when applying for jobs, and those who
took a gap year are at a disadvantage. Moreover, some
decide to bypass university altogether and go straight
into a job that is beneath their capabilities or may not
offer the same prospects their future career might have.
For instance, jobs in the service industry are easy to get
without a third-level education, and many gap students
fill these roles only to be stuck in them for the rest of
their lives.

In conclusion, taking a break from studies can be

advantageous if it allows people to accumulate savings or
learn more about the world. However, they should also be
careful that it does not delay the start of their careers
and lead to disillusionment with education.

Advantages and Disadvantages Sample Answer

Some experts believe that it is better for children
to begin learning a foreign language at primary
schools rather than secondary schools.

Do the advantages of this outweigh the

disadvantages?
Some authorities think that it is more favourable for
pupils to begin studying languages at primary school
instead of secondary school. This essay will argue that
the advantages of this outweigh the drawbacks. The
essay will first demonstrate that the earlier someone
learns an additional language, the more likely they are to
master it and that it brings added cognitive benefits,
followed by an analysis of how the primary disadvantage,
namely confusion with their native tongue, is not valid.

The main reason to start kids off with foreign languages

early is that this increases the likelihood they will achieve
fluency in adulthood. That is to say that they will have far
more years to perfect their skills, and speaking bilingually
will seem perfectly normal. For example, in countries
such as Holland and Norway, where English is taught
from a very young age, most adults speak it at an
advanced level. Learning a second language also helps to
improve overall cognitive abilities. In other words, it
benefits the overall development of a child’s brain. It is
well known that bi-lingual children are significantly more
likely to score higher in Mathematics and Science.

Those opposed to this say that it causes the child to

become confused between their mother tongue and the
other language. However, there is actually no evidence to
support this view and children from bilingual families do
just as well in both languages. My son was brought up
speaking both Vietnamese and English and outperforms
most of his classmates in both.

On balance, the fact that early foreign language learning

leads to higher fluency and improved brain function
clearly outweighs the flawed argument that it impairs the
uptake of native languages.
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

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:

1. Introduction
2. Body paragraph 1 – advantages
3. Body paragraph 2 – disadvantages
4. Conclusion

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:

o 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.

o 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

o 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.
 o 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.

o 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.

Body paragraph 2 - disadvantages

o 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.

o 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.

o 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.

o 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.

Conclusion

o 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.

o 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)

Before we get into specifics, though, let’s look at some basic

terms for this section: synonyms for “advantages” and
“disadvantages”:

 Pros/cons
 Benefits/drawbacks
 Positives/negatives
With those in mind, take a look at vocabulary words and phrases
you can use to present each side!

IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

Vocabulary: Advantages

 One advantage of X is…

 A primary advantage of X is…
 The positive aspects of X include…
 A/Another benefit of X is…
 An/Another advantage of X is…

IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

Vocabulary: Disadvantages

 A disadvantage of X is…
 One drawback of X is…
 A negative aspect of X is…
 A negative consequence of X is…
 A/another drawback of X is…

Vocabulary and Phrases for Opinions (ONLY if Required by the

Prompt)!

 The benefits of X far outweigh/exceed the drawbacks.

 The disadvantages of X far outweighs/exceeds the
advantages.

The Prompt

With the rise of streaming services online, fewer people go to the

movie theater to see films. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of this trend?

The Response

These days, as streaming services like Netflix and Amazon prime

have allowed people to watch new movies in their homes
immediately, cinema attendance has dropped. The popularity of
streaming services has a number of clear benefits, but it also has
some drawbacks.

One major advantage of streaming films in the home is that it

removes barriers between customers and the films. Couples with
children do not need to find babysitters to enjoy new cinema.
Another benefit of streaming services is that, in many cases, the
price of new films is already included in the monthly subscription
cost. This means that more people are likely to watch the film at
home, even if they were not interested enough to pay money
directly to see it in the theatre.

Conversely, a negative consequence of streaming services’

popularity is that, if they reach a certain tipping point of popularity,
cinemas may go out of business. Consumers have no incentive to
go to the theatre to see the same films they can see in the
comfort of their homes. This means that those employed by
cinemas, from ushers to those working at concessions stands,
may lose their jobs, which could have a knock-on effect on the
economy. Another disadvantage of streaming services’ ubiquity is
that some films may not be as easy to appreciate artistically on a
small screen. By watching these films at home, consumers may
be missing out on the director’s artistic vision.

On balance, there are both benefits and drawbacks to the recent

rise in streaming services. The effects this trend has are primarily
economic (on both individual and societal levels) and artistic.

Word count: 272

IELTS Conclusion Quick Tips

1. Never write any new ideas in your conclusion. A

conclusion should always restate your ideas in the rest

of the essay. New ideas should be in the main body

and not in the conclusion.

 2. Make sure you answer the question in the

conclusion. The conclusion should state your

thoughts about the question and clarify your feelings

about the issue.

3. Vary your language. Just because you are restating

your ideas in the rest of your essay doesn’t mean you

use the same language. Instead, you show the

examiner you have a wide vocabulary

by paraphrasing.

4. Don’t try to include everything. You are not

required to go into detail; you have already done that

in your main body paragraphs. Instead, you will

summarise your main points.

5. Always write one. It isn’t easy to get a good score in

task 2 if you haven’t finished your essay with a

conclusion. Even if you are running out of time, make

sure you write one.

Linking Phrases
First, you should start with a linking phrase, but some are
better than others. Here are some examples:

 Finally

 In a nutshell

 In general

 In conclusion

 To conclude

Finally isn’t really suitable because it indicates that you are

making a final point and therefore a new
idea. Finally belongs in the main body of your essay, not
the conclusion.

In a nutshell is too informal, and we should never use it in

IELTS conclusions.

In general tells the reader you are going to talk generally

about a topic. This is not what we will do in our conclusion,
and we should not use it.

In conclusion and to conclude are the only two linking

phrases you should use to start your conclusion. They tell
the reader exactly what the paragraph is about and are
formal. You will only write one conclusion, so pick one and
stick with it.
How to Write a Good Conclusion
There are two elements to a good conclusion:

1. Summarising the main points of your essay

2. Varying your vocabulary by paraphrasing

Luckily we have already stated our main points in the

introduction, so all we have to do is look back at the
conclusion and paraphrase this.

Introduction
It is argued that students should be taught real-life
skills, like how to look after money. This essay
agrees that they should be part of the curriculum
because everyday competencies benefit people later
in life, and not being taught how to manage money
at an early age can lead to dangerous consequences
in adulthood.

I have completed an effective introduction by doing three

things:

1. Paraphrasing the question

2. Stating my opinion

3. Outlining what I will talk about in the rest of the essay

or in other words, the main points I’m using to support

my opinion.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay supports the idea that
teenagers should be taught functional subjects like
financial planning because it helps them in
adulthood, and a lack of education related to these
topics can have serious consequences.

So all I have done is restate my opinion and included my

main supporting points. However, I have not simply copied
all the words; I have used synonyms and paraphrasing to
vary my language.

Note that I have repeated some words. Paraphrasing does

not mean changing every single word. If you cannot think
of a way to change every word, feel free to repeat that
word. In general, you should try to vary your vocabulary as
much as possible, but it is often impossible to change every
single word. Better to repeat a word accurately than
change it to something wrong.

Here are the paraphrases I used:

This essay supports- This essay agrees

should- ought to

students- teenagers

functional subjects- real-life skills

look after money- financial planning

later in life- in adulthood

Let’s look at another example:

Introduction
Contemporary advances have a serious effect on the
planet. While I appreciate that critics may hope that
people will shun the latest developments, I believe
that technology itself can give us an answer. This
essay will first discuss how not using electronics is
unfeasible, followed by a discussion of how science
is now coming up with ways to reverse global
warming and pollution.

This introduction does three basic things:

1. Paraphrases the question

2. States opinion

3. Outlines what the essay will discuss

Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay acknowledges that
technological progress jeopardises the planet, but
cutting-edge discoveries can halt and even heal this
destruction.

Again, all I have done is repeat what I said in the

introduction using paraphrasing.