How to Plan & Write
IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays

Questions for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays can be worded in several different ways. Here is some typical wording that might be used:

It is also common for synonyms of ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’ to be used, such as ‘benefits’ and ‘drawbacks’, as can be seen in this sample question.

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and writing an IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay later on in this lesson.

Here’s what the lesson covers:

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics. 

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

The Question

IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay questions fall into two main categories:

The first part of the question will always be a statement. You will then be asked to write about both the advantages and disadvantages of the idea stated. You may also be required to state your opinion.

Here are two more sample questions for illustration. For the first one, you must give your opinion but in the second, you should not.

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Essay Structures

Now let’s look at two simple structures you can use to write IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays. They're not the only possible structures but are ones I recommend because they are easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and write a high-level essay.

I’ll explain later why I’m giving you two slightly different structures.

These structures will give you a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

One Advantage and Disadvantage or Two?

The question will state 'advantages' and 'disadvantages' in the plural, that is, more than one. However, it is acceptable to write about just one.

This should give you an essay of just over the minimum 250 words. To write about two advantages and disadvantages will require you to write nearer 400 words which are a lot to plan and write in the 40 minutes allowed.

It is better to fully develop one advantage and one disadvantage than ending up with your second idea missing an explanation or an example because you run out of time, but you can write about two if you feel able to or more comfortable doing so.

Having said that, using essay structure 2, where you start with the examples, will enable you to easily add more than one advantage and disadvantage without having to write many more words.

It will be more suitable for some questions than others so bear this in mind when you're writing practice essays and try out both structures.

I’m going to use essay structure 2 to show you step-by-step how to write an IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay. I’ll also give you a model answer using essay structure 1 so that you can compare the two.

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How To Plan
IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays

The planning process only takes around 5 minutes but it is essential as it will save you time overall and will result in a far better essay and thus, higher marks. There are the 3 things you need to do:

# 1  Analyse the question

Analysing the question will ensure that you answer it fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3 different types of words:

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question and will be found in the statement part of the question.

Here is the question we’re going to be working on. I’ve highlighted the topic words in blue.

So, this question is about ‘tourism’.

Many people do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand exactly what aspect of tourism we're being asked to write about.

 

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic your essay must be about. 

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write about the conflicting issues of tourism being ‘a main source of income’ in many places, yet also being ‘a source of problems’.

Your essay must only include ideas relevant to this aspect of tourism.

 

The instruction words are the question itself. They tell you exactly what to include in your essay.

Here, we are required to write about:

Note the use of the synonyms ‘benefits’ and ‘drawback’ in the second sentence of the question.

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# 2  Generate ideas

The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on the IELTS Essay Planning page.

I’m going to demonstrate two of them for you here – the ‘friends technique’, which is suitable for most IELTS essays, and the ‘example method’, which perfectly fits essay structure 2.

The ‘friends technique’ is the method I generally prefer as it allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine that you are chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee and they ask you this question. What are the first thoughts to come into your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high-level language, which isn’t necessary.

Here are my ideas using the friends technique:

There are far too many ideas here to include in an essay of just over 250 words. Think up a few then pick one advantage and one disadvantage that you think you can develop well.

With the 'example method', on the other hand, you start by thinking of specific examples related to the question. They can come from your own experience or be something you’ve read or heard about. These examples will generate ideas that will become the main points of your essay.

It works particularly well for the model question I’ve selected for this lesson which is why I’ve included the second essay structure.

Here are my ideas using the examples technique:

Now that we have some ideas, we’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay, but first, we have one more task to do.

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# 3  Vocabulary

During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to mind as you decide what you're going to write about, especially synonyms of key words. This will save you having to stop and think of the right language while you’re writing.

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Writing an IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay

We’re ready to begin writing our essay. For the first model answer, I’m going to take you step-by-step through essay structure 2. I’ll then give you a model answer for essay structure 1.

Here’s a reminder of the question and the essay structure. 

We’ll now start work on the introduction.

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How To Write an Introduction

The introduction to an IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay should have a simple 2 or 3 part structure:

Our tourism question asks for our opinion so our introduction will have 3 parts.

1)  Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question statement.

Note my use of synonyms for some of the key words. It’s fine to repeat one or two words if you can't think of suitable synonyms. Above all, your language must sound natural.

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2)  Outline statement

Now we need to add a statement where we outline the main points that we’ll be covering in the rest of the essay, that is, an advantage of tourism and a disadvantage of tourism.

Here are the two main ideas I’ve chosen to write about:

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3)  Opinion statement

The question also asks for our opinion and it’s essential that we include it in the introduction.

So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

     Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body paragraphs.

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How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays written using structure 2, should contain 3 things:

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

In this instance, the topic sentence will introduce our first example, for which I’ve chosen Thailand.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that states the main point of our example.

Finally, we explain the consequence or result of the situation. This is where we give an example of one specific advantage. It is better to pick one and develop it than to just add a long list.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

We’ll now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

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Main Body Paragraph 2

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Now for the explanation sentence that states the main point of our example.

Finally, a specific example to explain the consequence.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay is done.

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How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can generally be done in a single sentence. It should never introduce new ideas.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion, you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.

Our essay is already near the minimum word limit so we don’t need this extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays on the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the most important.

A good conclusion will:

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks. Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay with the words:

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction. 

Introduction:

Here's the same information formed into a conclusion:

That’s it. We’ve completed our advantages and disadvantages essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put together.

Finished IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay.

 

Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improve your skills.

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Example IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay
for Structure 1

Now, here’s a model answer for essay structure 1. First, a reminder of the structure and the ideas I generated using the friends technique.

Ideas generation - Friends technique

I’ve underline the ideas I’ve chosen to write about in this second essay:

The essay

See if you can identify the different parts of the essay and how I have developed them.

That's it. Now it's time for you to get practicing.

More Help With IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays
& Other Task 2 Essays

Task 2:

IELTS Writing Task 2 – The format, the 5 question types, the 5 step essay writing strategy & sample questions. All the key information you need to know.

The 5 Types of Task 2 Essay – How to recognise the 5 different types of Task 2 essays. 15 sample questions to study and a simple planning structure for each essay type.

Understanding Task 2 Questions – How to quickly and easily analyse and understand IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.

How To Plan a Task 2 Essay – Discover why essay planning is essential & learn a simple 4 step strategy, the 4 part essay structure & 4 methods of generating ideas.

How To Write a Task 2 Introduction – Find out why a good introduction is essential. Learn how to write one using a simple 3 part strategy & discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

How To Write Task 2 Main Body Paragraphs – Learn the simple 3 part structure for writing great main body paragraphs and also, 3 common mistakes to avoid. 

How To Write Task 2 Conclusions – Learn the easy way to write the perfect conclusion for a Task 2 essay. Also discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

Task 2 Marking Criteria – Find out how to meet the marking criteria in Task 2. See examples of good and poor answers & learn some common mistakes to avoid.

The 5 Task 2 Essay Types:

Step-by-step instructions on how to plan & write high-level essays. Model answers & common mistakes to avoid.

  Opinion Essays

  Discussion Essays

  Problem Solution Essays

  Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

  Double Question Essays

Other Related Pages

IELTS Writing Test – Understand the format & marking criteria, know what skills are assessed & learn the difference between the Academic & General writing tests.

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