IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay: Samples at Band 6, 7 and 8

The fastest way to raise an advantages and disadvantages essay is to stop reading advice about it and start reading real samples that scored a known band. On this page you get exactly that: the same Task 2 prompt answered at Band 6, 7 and 8, every version a genuine essay from our IELTS essay bank and graded on all four criteria, plus an original model we wrote ourselves. Read one criterion straight down all three bands and the difference stops being abstract.

The two forms of the question (read the wording first)

Before any sample, settle the one decision that decides your Task Response score. "Advantages and disadvantages" questions arrive in two shapes, and they are not answered the same way.

Prompt wording	What you must do	Do you give a verdict?
"What are the advantages and disadvantages of…?"	Explain both sides fairly and in roughly equal depth.	No — a summary conclusion is enough.
"Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?"	Explain both sides and decide which is stronger, in the introduction and the conclusion.	Yes — you must commit to a verdict.

The most common mistake is treating the second form like the first: candidates describe both sides neatly, never say which wins, and cap their Task Response at Band 6 no matter how good the English is. If the word outweigh appears, you are writing an opinion essay in disguise. For the full structure, see our guide to the advantages and disadvantages essay.

A quick checklist for the "outweigh" form

• State your verdict in the introduction. "The advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages" — decide and commit.
• Give the stronger side more weight. Two developed advantages can earn one paragraph; the disadvantages another — but the balance should reflect your verdict.
• Weigh, don't just list. Say why the benefits matter more: for example, because they last a career while the drawbacks are temporary.
• Concede and answer. Raise the strongest drawback honestly, then show how it can be reduced.
• Hold the verdict to the end. The conclusion restates the same position; it never goes neutral.

The same prompt at Band 6, 7 and 8

Here is the "outweigh" prompt all three graded samples answer. Try it yourself on the studying-abroad practice page before you read the models — writing first, reading second, is the order that actually raises your band.

A growing number of students choose to leave their home country in order to complete a university degree in another part of the world. Do the advantages of studying for a degree abroad outweigh the disadvantages?

Band 6 — both sides listed, never weighed

The Band 6 sample does the basics: it states a position ("the advantages are more than the disadvantages"), gives real advantages (education, language, independence) and real disadvantages (cost, loneliness), and reaches a conclusion. What holds it at 6 is visible in one sentence — "I believe the advantages is bigger, because education and experience is important". The cost argument is raised and then never answered; the two sides are listed but never actually weighed against each other. Add the grammar slips ("the advantages is", "modern equipments", "adapt with"), and you have a textbook Band 6.

Band 7 — extended reasons, weakened by word choice

The Band 7 version extends every reason: academic quality is tied to employability, personal growth is explained through specific responsibilities, and the disadvantages paragraph even adds the less obvious point of brain drain. The verdict ("clearly outweigh") is clear and consistent. What keeps it off Band 8 is lexical control, not ideas — "a big chance to become fluent" (for a great opportunity), "take responsibility of" (for take responsibility for), and "this can effect their performance" (confusing effect and affect). The grammar is mostly accurate with occasional agreement slips ("students usually pays"). Fix the word choice and this essay moves to 8.

Band 8 — the drawbacks are answered, not just named

The Band 8 sample looks similar in structure, but one move separates it: it weighs. The disadvantages paragraph raises cost, culture shock and brain drain and then turns into a rebuttal — "Yet most of these drawbacks can be mitigated" — showing how scholarships, part-time work and university support reduce each one. The vocabulary is precise and natural ("state-of-the-art facilities", "navigate unfamiliar bureaucracy", "open doors"), and almost every sentence is error-free. That combination of a weighed argument and clean, flexible English is what Band 8 means. We break the method down further in Band 6 vs 7 vs 8 on one prompt.

What changes between the bands, criterion by criterion

Criterion	Band 6	Band 7	Band 8
Task Response	Lists both sides; never weighs the cost	Extends reasons; verdict clear	Weighs each drawback and answers it
Coherence	Mechanical ("The first advantage…")	Varied, logical linking	Transitions grow out of the idea
Lexical Resource	Repetition; collocation errors	Good range, some slips	Precise, natural, error-free
Grammar	Errors in most sentences	Mostly accurate, few slips	Near-flawless, wide range

An original model answer (our own writing, estimated Band 8)

To show the target on a different topic, here is an original answer we wrote for an "outweigh" prompt on online study. The band is our own honest estimate, not an official mark — we do not claim examiner marking, only examiner-style criteria.

Prompt: The number of university courses delivered entirely through online learning platforms has grown rapidly. Do the advantages of this trend outweigh the disadvantages?

The expansion of fully online degrees has divided opinion, with some fearing a decline in educational quality. While these concerns are legitimate, I believe the advantages of online learning platforms outweigh their drawbacks for most students.

The strongest advantage is access. A learner in a remote town, or one holding down a full-time job, can now study with universities that would once have been closed to them by distance or cost, and can do so at hours that fit around work and family. Because recorded lectures can be paused and revisited, students who need more time to absorb difficult material are no longer left behind by the pace of a lecture hall — a flexibility that traditional campuses struggle to match.

The clearest disadvantage is the loss of face-to-face contact, which can weaken both motivation and the informal learning that happens between peers. Yet this drawback is shrinking rather than fixed: well-designed platforms now build in live seminars, discussion forums and group projects that recreate much of that interaction, and students who actively use these tools report little sense of isolation. The concern is real, but it is increasingly answerable through design.

On balance, then, the gains in access and flexibility reach far more people than the drawbacks disadvantage, and those drawbacks can be reduced. For the committed student, online platforms open a door that was previously shut, which is why I consider their advantages the stronger side.

Notice the Band 8 moves from the checklist: a verdict in the introduction, one extended advantage, a drawback that is conceded and answered, and a conclusion that restates the same position. You can write your own response to this topic on the online learning platforms practice page.

More "outweigh" prompts to practise

The only way these samples help is if you write your own answers. Each prompt below is a real advantages-and-disadvantages question from our bank, with a practice page where you can write a timed response:

• Living in the city or the countryside — a classic "outweigh" choice with clear points on both sides.
• Part-time jobs for teenagers — good practice for weighing short-term income against study time.
• Hosting major international sporting events — tests whether you can weigh prestige and tourism against cost.
• Moving to another city for work — a General Training prompt on the same frame.

The three mistakes that cap these essays

1. Listing without weighing. Two neat paragraphs that never say which side is stronger answer the wrong question when the prompt asks "outweigh". Decide, and defend the decision.
2. A neutral conclusion. Ending with "there are both advantages and disadvantages" throws away the verdict you set up. Restate your position.
3. Describing a drawback but not answering it. The jump from Band 7 to Band 8 is conceding the strongest disadvantage and then showing how it can be reduced — exactly what the Band 8 sample does.

If grammar rather than argument is holding you back, the drills in going from Band 6 to Band 7 in writing target the exact slips — agreement, articles, collocation — that kept our Band 6 and Band 7 samples off the next level.

How to turn these samples into a higher band

1. Write first, read second. Produce a full timed answer on a practice page before opening any sample, so you compare your real writing, not a memory of the model.
2. Score one criterion at a time. Mark your essay against Task Response, then Coherence, then Lexical Resource, then Grammar, and find your single weakest.
3. Fix only that criterion before your next attempt — improving everything at once improves nothing.
4. Get an objective check. Paste your essay into our free IELTS writing checker for a free sample score and per-criterion feedback that flags the verdict, weighing and collocation slips a self-review usually misses. (See pricing for current free limits.)

Every sample here is free to read in the IELTS essay bank. Work through two or three "outweigh" prompts, write your own answer to each, and check it — that loop, not passive reading, is what moves an advantages-and-disadvantages essay from Band 6 to Band 7 and beyond.