IELTS Agree or Disagree Essay Samples: Band 6, 7 and 8 Answers Analysed

"Agree or disagree" is the most common wording in IELTS Writing Task 2, and it is also where candidates most often lose marks — usually by sitting on the fence or by listing points without ever committing to a side. The fastest way to fix that is to read real agree-or-disagree essay samples that scored a known band and see exactly what each level does. Every sample on this page is a genuine opinion essay from our IELTS essay bank, graded on all four criteria, so you can copy the moves rather than guess at them.

What an "agree or disagree" essay must do

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

Move	What the examiner wants
Take a clear position	State whether you agree, disagree, or partly agree in the introduction, and never contradict it later.
Answer the exact question	"To what extent" invites a partial view; "do you agree or disagree" still needs one dominant side.
Extend every reason	Two or three main ideas, each with a reason and a specific example — not a list.
Handle the other side	Concede the strongest opposing point, then answer it. Ignoring it caps Task Response.
Stay on topic	Every paragraph must serve your position; drifting into related-but-off ideas costs marks.

Notice what is not here: rare vocabulary and length. A clear, well-supported position in ordinary accurate English scores higher than a long, hedging answer stuffed with memorised words. For the wider frame, see our guide to the agree or disagree essay structure.

How to recognise the question type

Opinion prompts arrive in a few reliable shapes. All of these are "agree or disagree" tasks and are answered the same way:

• "To what extent do you agree or disagree?"
• "Do you agree or disagree that…?"
• "To what extent do you agree or disagree with this approach?"

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 improves 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 government-and-education opinion question:

In some countries, students must pay high tuition fees to attend university. To what extent do you agree or disagree that university education should be free for all?

Try it first on the free university education practice page, then read all three graded versions:

• Band 6 — answers the task but develops ideas thinly and repeats stock connectors.
• Band 7 — a clear conditional position ("largely agree, provided the system is managed"), extended reasons, accurate collocations such as widen access and financial barrier, with a few slips (its/it's) holding it at 7.
• Band 8 — the same argument, but the mechanism is explained (why a graduate's higher tax returns repay the public cost) and the grammar is near-flawless.

Read one criterion — say Task Response — straight down all three and the jump becomes concrete. We break this method down further in Band 6 vs 7 vs 8 on one prompt.

Sample 2 — a "should this be banned" opinion prompt

Manufacturers frequently target advertising for sugary snacks and drinks at young children. To what extent do you agree or disagree that this kind of advertising should be banned completely?

This one tests whether you can commit to a strong word — completely — without overstating. The Band 7 sample agrees with a ban but narrows it sensibly (a ban on advertising aimed at children, not all food advertising), which keeps the position clear while staying reasonable. Compare it with the Band 8 version to see how a stronger answer pre-empts the "nanny state" objection instead of just naming it. Practise it yourself on the junk-food advertising practice page.

Sample 3 — a government-policy opinion prompt

Rates of obesity have risen sharply in many countries. To what extent do you agree or disagree that governments should place a heavy tax on unhealthy food and drinks?

The Band 7 taxing-unhealthy-food sample shows the classic "agree, but" structure: it supports the tax on health-cost grounds, then concedes that a tax alone is regressive and pairs it with education. That conditional agreement is a Band 7+ habit — a position with a limit is still a clear position. More opinion prompts on this theme sit alongside the reducing-crime practice question, whose graded answers (Band 7) argue education over prisons.

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

To show the target in miniature, here is an original opening and first body paragraph we wrote for a common opinion prompt — "Governments waste money on space exploration; these funds should be spent on problems on Earth. To what extent do you agree or disagree?" The band is our own honest estimate, not an official mark:

While the world faces urgent problems such as poverty and disease, I only partly agree that money spent on space exploration is wasted, because much of that investment produces benefits that are felt directly here on Earth.

The strongest reason to defend space budgets is that they rarely disappear into orbit. Satellite technology developed for space programmes now underpins weather forecasting, disaster warnings and global communications, all of which save lives and reduce economic loss. In this sense, spending on space is not a rival to solving problems on Earth but one of the tools for doing so, which is why treating the two as a simple either-or choice is misleading.

Notice the moves from the checklist: a clear partial position in sentence one, a single extended reason with a real-world example, and a direct answer to the "either-or" framing built into the prompt. You can write your own full response on the space-exploration practice page and compare it with the graded Band 6 sample to see the gap.

The three mistakes that cap agree-or-disagree essays

1. No clear side. "There are advantages and disadvantages" is not a position. Decide in the introduction and hold it.
2. Listing, not extending. Three shallow reasons score below two developed ones. Ask "why?" and "for example?" after every claim.
3. Ignoring the other side. Even a strong-agree essay should concede the best opposing point and answer it — that is what lifts Task Response toward Band 7.

If your problem is grammar rather than ideas, the drills in going from Band 6 to Band 7 in writing target the exact slips that hold opinion 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 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 — the average is what 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 position, development and agreement 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 opinion prompts, write your own answer to each, and check it — that loop, not passive reading, is what moves an agree-or-disagree essay from Band 6 to Band 7 and beyond.