IELTS Discuss Both Views Essay Samples: Band 6, 7 and 8 Answers

"Discuss both views and give your own opinion" is one of the most common wordings in IELTS Writing Task 2 — and one of the easiest to get half right. Most candidates describe the two sides competently and then forget the second half of the instruction: your own opinion. The fastest way to fix that is to read real discuss-both-views essay samples that scored a known band and copy the moves. Every sample on this page is a genuine discussion essay from our IELTS essay bank, graded on all four criteria, so you can see exactly what separates a 6 from a 7 from an 8.

What a "discuss both views" essay must do

Before the samples, here is the short checklist every discussion answer is marked against. Use it on your own writing first.

Move	What the examiner wants
Cover both views fairly	One clear paragraph per view, each with a reason and a specific example. Do not let one side collapse into a sentence.
Give your own opinion	State your position in the introduction and confirm it in the conclusion — the instruction requires it, and skipping it caps Task Response.
Keep the opinion visible	Signal which side you lean toward as you discuss it ("more convincingly", "the stronger case"), so the reader is never guessing.
Stay balanced, not neutral	Balanced means both sides get real space; it does not mean sitting on the fence. You can present both and still clearly prefer one.
Signpost cleanly	"On the one hand… On the other hand… In my view…" is enough. Cohesion marks come from clear structure, not rare connectors.

Notice what is not on the list: rare vocabulary and length. A clear, balanced answer with a visible opinion in ordinary accurate English scores higher than a long, hedging one stuffed with memorised phrases. For the full method, see our guide to the discuss both views essay structure.

How to recognise the question type

Discussion prompts arrive in a few reliable shapes. All of these are "discuss both views" tasks and are answered the same way:

• "Discuss both views and give your own opinion."
• "Some people think X, while others believe Y. Discuss both these views…"
• "Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and give your opinion."

The trap is answering it like an opinion essay — arguing only your side. A discussion prompt asks for both sides first, then your view. Each real prompt below links to a practice page where you can write your own timed answer before reading the sample, which is the order that actually raises your score.

Sample 1 — the same prompt at Band 6, 7 and 8

The clearest lesson comes from one prompt answered at three levels. This is a work-and-technology discussion question:

Since it became possible for many employees to do their jobs from home, some people argue that this is better for workers and companies alike, while others insist that working in a shared office is more effective. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Try it first on the working-from-home practice page, then read all three graded versions:

• Band 6 — covers both sides and gives an opinion, but the views are thinly developed and the opinion arrives late and quietly.
• Band 7 — a clear position stated up front, each view extended with a real reason, accurate collocations such as work-life balance and face-to-face collaboration; a run of grammar slips holds it at Band 6 for that one criterion, which is what keeps the overall score at 7.
• Band 8 — the same two views, but each is explained (why isolation erodes the informal exchange that offices create) and the opinion is woven through rather than bolted on, with near-flawless control.

Read one criterion — say Coherence and Cohesion — straight down all three and the jump becomes concrete. This is the single most useful exercise for a discussion essay, and we break the method down in Band 6 vs 7 vs 8 on one prompt.

Sample 2 — a technology-and-privacy discussion prompt

Public spaces in many cities are now monitored by large numbers of security cameras. Some see this as an effective way to prevent crime, while others regard it as an invasion of privacy. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

This one tests whether you can hold a genuine middle position without sounding undecided. The Band 8 surveillance-cameras sample discusses both the security case and the privacy case fully, then commits to a conditional view — cameras are justified but only if their use is tightly regulated. That "yes, with a condition" stance is a Band 8 habit: it is balanced and decisive at the same time. Practise it yourself on the surveillance-cameras practice page before you read the model, so you are comparing your real writing rather than a memory of it.

A short original model (our own writing, estimated Band 8)

To show the target in miniature, here is an original introduction and one body paragraph we wrote for a common discussion prompt — "Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programmes, while others think students' time is better spent studying. Discuss both views and give your own opinion." The band is our own honest estimate, not an official mark:

Schools have limited hours, and how they are used is increasingly debated. Some argue that compulsory community service teaches young people responsibility, while others feel that those hours should be protected for academic study. Having weighed both positions, I believe a modest amount of community service is worthwhile, provided it does not crowd out core lessons.

Those who defend compulsory service make a strong point about character. Volunteering in a care home or a food bank exposes teenagers to lives very different from their own, which builds empathy in a way no textbook can. Because the requirement is universal, it also reaches students who would never volunteer on their own, spreading that benefit across an entire year group rather than a self-selecting few. For this reason, the developmental case for service is more convincing than a purely academic timetable allows.

Notice the moves from the checklist: a clear position in the introduction ("a modest amount… is worthwhile, provided…"), one view discussed with a reason and a concrete example, and a visible lean ("more convincing") that keeps the opinion alive inside the discussion. You can write your own full response and compare it with a graded discussion answer such as the Band 8 working-from-home sample.

The three mistakes that cap discuss-both-views essays

1. No opinion. Describing both sides and stopping is the single most common error. The prompt says "give your own opinion" — state it in the introduction and confirm it in the conclusion.
2. One side collapses. If your second view gets one sentence while the first gets a paragraph, the essay is unbalanced. Give each view a real reason and a real example.
3. Fence-sitting. "Both sides have good points" is not an opinion. Being balanced means covering both fairly; you can still clearly prefer one, or take a well-defined conditional position like the surveillance sample.

If your problem is grammar rather than structure — as it is in the Band 7 working-from-home sample — the drills in going from Band 6 to Band 7 in writing target the exact slips that hold discussion essays at 6.

How to use these samples to raise your own band

1. Write first, read second. Produce a full timed answer on the relevant practice page before you open the sample, so you are comparing 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 — the average sets your band, so find your weakest one.
3. Fix only the weakest criterion before your next attempt. Trying to improve 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 balance, development and opinion 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 both discussion prompts above, write your own answer to each, and check it — that loop, not passive reading, is what moves a discuss-both-views essay from Band 6 to Band 7 and beyond.