Advantages and

Disadvantages
[IELTS Writing]
• In task 2 of the IELTS writing test, you may be given a question that asks you about the
advantages and disadvantages of something. It is a pretty common question type, and so you
should be very familiar with how to answer it.

• In today’s article, I will try to show you everything you need to know about writing this sort of
essay. First, though, keep in mind a golden rule of IELTS: there is no one perfect way to give an
answer! IELTS is just a test of your English skills and there are lots of ways to succeed.

• Anyway, I’m going to show you the following:

• A Sample Question for Advantages and Disadvantages

• Two Possible Essay Structures

• A Model Essay
 An Overview of Advantage/Disadvantage
Questions
First of all, let’s look at the basics. Some of you may never have done IELTS before or may be
relatively new to it. If you are an experienced candidate or teacher, you may want to skip this section.
In the IELTS writing test, there are two parts (usually called “tasks”). The first will ask you to
describe some sort of visual data like a line graph or bar chart, while the second will be a more
traditional essay-type question. It will be about a common IELTS topic such as environment, society,
technology, and so on.
You can generally break these question types into five categories
• Agree or Disagree
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Causes and Solutions
• Discuss Both Views
• Two-Part Questions
• These all require slightly different approaches, but generally you can write at least 250 words,
divided into 4 or 5 paragraphs, and end up with a pretty good answer.
Sample Questions

In order to show you what an “advantages and disadvantages” question is, we

shall look at a sample question. Here is one from the Official Cambridge
Guide to IELTS:
In the past, when students did a university degree, they tended to
study in their own country. Nowadays, they have the opportunity to
study abroad.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this development?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge, and experience and
support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.

• In an IELTS writing task 2 question, you often find a sentence or two that
introduces an idea, and then another sentence that gives you the task either
as an instruction or a question. In this case, it is a question: “What are the
advantages and disadvantages of this development?”
How to Structure an Advantages and
Disadvantages Essay

• When you are given this sort of question, you need to brainstorm your
answer carefully. That means thinking about the question and generating
ideas for what you will say in your answer.

• Of course, one thing to remember is that you shouldn’t say too much.
Remember that for IELTS you only have 40 minutes to write 250 words and
if you just cram as many ideas into the essay as possible, you will either run
out of time before you are finished or your essay will seriously lack in terms
of Coherence and Cohesion.
Example structures
1 2
 Advantage and Disadvantage Model Essay
• ielts question advantages and disadvantages

• Now that I have shown you a sample question and discussed how to structure the answer, I want to show you an
answer that I wrote for this. Here it is:

In the twentieth century, it became more common for people to move about the world for various reasons, including
education. Now it is reasonably common for students to go abroad to study for a few weeks or even a whole semester on
programmes like the Erasmus in Europe. This essay will explore the advantages and disadvantages of this sort of
arrangement

The advantages of international study are numerous and obvious. To begin with, studying abroad can give students
more opportunities for academic advancement, language acquisition, and even networking to help them find jobs when
they graduate. This sort of experience helps break down cultural barriers between people of different backgrounds, and
also allows for the exchange of knowledge and skill between different institutions. In short, there are many different
reasons why it is advantageous for this sort of exchange programme to be established.

The disadvantages, on the other hand, are few and comparatively minor. Of course, students who go to live abroad may
experience homesickness and culture shock. They may also find that, if their language skills are subpar, they may learn
little from their lectures and perform poorly in examinations compared to if they had studied in their home country.
From a very different perspective, it is also quite possible that international student exchange could be used in
programmes of espionage, as countries may send spies abroad in the guise of students to investigate the research
programmes at major universities.

In conclusion, there are many advantages to studying abroad from the perspective of students, and also from the
standpoint of society and the institutions themselves. The disadvantages are fewer, more minor, and in some cases a bit
far-fetched.