Writing a perfect IELTS Writing task 2 -advantages and disadvantages essay.
In this article, we are going to understand the details about this particular essay question – what are the advantages and disadvantages, and we are going to learn how to generate ideas which are related to this topic which is given and how to write the essay.
Types of essays:
In the IELTS writing task 2, there are various kinds of essays.
1. IELTS writing task 2 – What are the advantages and disadvantages?
2. Do you agree or disagree?
3. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
4. What are the problems and solutions?
5. What are the causes and solutions?
6. Double question
7. Discuss both the views.
8. Discuss both the views and give your opinion.
9. Do the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages?
Firstly, it should be understood that the essay writing is thought to be the most difficult part of the IELTS test, but it must be understood that it is not so difficult if planned properly and executed with the proper examples. For this, first understand what is this question time and how to the question if it asks you to state the advantages and disadvantages of a particular topic.
Advantages are nothing but the beneficial aspects of something. If you observe the word properly, it is in the plural form. Because of this, you should learn to write at least two advantages. If a minimum of two advantages are not written, then you may lose marks for task response. Task response is your ability to understand the question completely and answer it as per the requirements of the task.
Similar to advantages, you should also state the disadvantages. Disadvantages, on the other hand, are the negative aspects of the topic. Here, you have to state at least two disadvantages. If you state just one disadvantage, even then you would lose marks for task response.
Among these essay types, it is important to understand that there is a vast difference in the manner in which you write the essay. For the essay type ‘what are the advantages and disadvantages?’, it is important to identify the ideas properly and to decide whether that idea is an advantage to the given topic or a disadvantage. Instead of writing the advantages and disadvantages, if you are writing any other thing such as problems and solutions, it might lead to decreasing the score.
Hence, it is very important to understand the factors which will decide the score which you are going to get. Such factors or such marking criteria are known as band descriptors. As the name clearly suggests, band descriptors are the descriptions which indicate that particular band can be awarded for a candidate for the essay.
What are the band descriptors for essay writing?
There are four basic criteria which will evaluate the performance of a candidate in the writing task 2 of the IELTS test. These band descriptors for essay writing are
1. Task response – This factor tells the reader if you are able to understand the question properly and if you are able to respond to it completely.
2. Coherence and Cohesion – This band descriptor gives the information about the kind of ideas that have been generated and the manner in which they are linked to each other to form a paragraph.
3. Lexical resource – This deals with the kind of vocabulary and the range of vocabulary that you use while writing the essay.
4. Grammatical range and accuracy – The wide range of grammar and sentence types which are used while writing.
In addition to this, there are several factors which may decrease your score.
a. Under length
b. Memorised essays
c. Spelling mistakes
d. Illegible handwriting
e. Off topic
f. Lack of punctuations.
How can we apply this concept of Band descriptors for the IELTS writing task 2 essay on advantages and disadvantages?
To attain a good score for this essay type, it is very important to understand how to apply these band descriptor criteria so as to satisfy and meet them to get a high score.
Let us consider the following example question to analyse how to write the advantages and disadvantages essay.
sample question prompt :
Nowadays, in many countries, people are preferring to live in apartment complexes when compared to independent homes as in the past. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this Trend? Give relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience to support your view.
Write at least 250 words.
Task response, is to understand the question by reading it properly. The question clearly says that the central theme of the essay is about the place to live. Here, there are two options given. The first one is to live in apartments and the second one is to live in independent homes. The question prompt clearly says that people are preferring to live in apartments when compared to independent homes, which means that the advantages of Living in apartments are more when compared to independent homes as per the given topic.
The next part of the question says that you have to state list two advantages and two disadvantages as it is given in the plural form. The third part of task response involves you to give the relevant supporting details and examples in favour of your points.
For the lexical resource component, you can generate the vocabulary such as abode, pros and cons, merits, positive aspects, positives and negatives,etc. If you can use these words in the right context, then you are sure to get a good score for lexical resource.
For Coherence and Cohesion, you may use a range of linking words additionally, furthermore, moreover, on the other hand, on the flip side, etc. The kind of Ideas we have to generate should favour to live in apartment such as security and safety reasons and communal living.
Show that you are writing the range of grammatical structures such a Simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences and complex compound sentences along with punctuation marks and if conditional sentences.
