Students' Questions: 'agree or disagree' essays

1) When writing an 'agree or disagree' essay, is it better to have a strong view and ignore the other side of the argument, or should we try to address both sides?

Both ways are equally acceptable. A few students have commented that I seem to prefer addressing both sides of the argument (click here for an example). However, I've also written some one-sided essays like this one. It really depends on the ideas that you have, so your planning time is extremely important for this type of question.

2) What's the best way to approach the following question?: "Financial education should be a mandatory component of the school program. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?"

This question doesn't allow you to partly agree: either financial education should be mandatory, or it shouldn't. Think about which view would be easier to support, then make some notes. Click here to see my ideas for a similar topic.

PS. Thanks to those of you who wished me a happy Christmas!

Comments

[Benjamin]

Hey Simon, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me out with this. Great post!

[Smriti]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for offering us with the best IELTS content on this website.

It would be great if you can use the following in one of your lessons in Speaking section(Part2):
Describe an unusual job that you would like to try.
-What is that job?
-Why are you interested to try that job?
-What makes it unusual?
Explain how would you able to take the this kind of job.

I have an exam on 12th Jan.

Thanks!!

[Pantheia]

Dear Simon
Happy new year. I wish you the best.
Pantheia from Iran

[traxanh]

Hi, Simon
Thank you very much for your valuable lessons!
Recently, I’ve read this topic from Tesk4 Cambridge IELTS 7 and I’m confused about it.
Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer.
What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Do I need to mention both sides or it depends on my opinion?
Or what is the type of question here?
Thank you in advance!
I wish you joy and happiness at this Christmas season and throughout the New Year!

[Kate]

Hi Simon, this is the first time I notice that there is only agree or disagree with "to what extend...", I am not sure if I made mistakes about this kind of question. I have taken 7 tests till now, but I have to keep trying until I get what I want. My most recent result is 8 7 6.5 7, writing is my weakness and it becomes my nightmare. The main problem is grammar, I make lots of grammatical mistakes even I have been learning English for more than 12 years and living in an English-speaking country for more than 5 years. I doubted about my ability of using another language, I thought I would never speak English like a native speaker no matter how long I stay here and I thought about giving up. I really don't have enough courage to register for next test as I am lack of confidence and I don't believe I can make it. By the way,the second last result was 8.5 7 6 7...I hope I can make less grammar mistakes next year and break this bottleneck by perceiving the feeling of controlling a language.
Thank you for your helpful website and Happy New Year. Best wishes.

[Ngan]

Dear Simon,

Could you help me to explain why the question 3, R3, Test3, Cam 7 is False, yet I can't figure out myself why it's False, but Not Given.

Sincerely thanks.

Ngan.

[Long]

Hi Ngan,
I also found this question so tricky, and first I chose NG as well, but then I reviewed it I realized that it was definitely False because you can read the statement that "The other aspects only appeared a few century ago". Therefore It implies that we knew about Biology before that time, and probably before the twenteith century
Hope this helps

[John]

Hi Simon,

Thank you for spectacular advice.

But I can't understand why the second question doesn't allow you to partly agree.
Could you explain more particularly?

[Simon]

Hi John,

The key word is 'mandatory', which means compulsory. Either you think that financial education SHOULD be compulsory, or you think that it SHOULD NOT be compulsory - I don't think there is a middle point.

[John]

Hi Simon,

Thank you for your quick reply.
Now, I can understand what you said.

[JSP]

Hi Kate,

There a excellent advice by Simon, ie http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/12/ielts-advice-sometimes-you-need-a-break.html. Try to take a break and keenly observe the Simon's passages to get the techniques, perhaps you are struggling to plan and organise the passage in exam.

I wish you all the best !!
By the way...I am also battling for 7.

[Jonathan]

Hi Simon, you wrote in response to the 2nd question ("To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?") that "This question doesn't allow you to partly agree: either financial education should be mandatory, or it shouldn't."

Could you elaborate more about what you meant. Why couldn't one partly agree with the statement? After all, it's asking "to what extent". Thanks.

[Simon]

Hi Jonathan,

The key word is 'mandatory', which means compulsory. Either you think that financial education SHOULD be compulsory, or you think that it SHOULD NOT be compulsory - I don't think there is a middle point.