6.1. Opinion Essays
Find the task line, state one position, and hold it through four paragraphs, one step at a time.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people think city centres should ban private cars on weekdays.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
The short version
To what extent do you agree or disagree? asks for a position: your side, stated in one sentence.
You write at least 250 words in about 40 minutes.
Hold the same position from the introduction to the conclusion.
Two reasons, each explained with a because and an example, beat four listed.
What you have to do
The test shows a statement about a topic, then a task line. Either To what extent do you agree or disagree? or Do you agree or disagree? asks for your position. You write an essay of at least 250 words in about 40 minutes. It is marked on four things. First, a clear position: your side, stated in one sentence and held throughout. Then organisation, vocabulary and grammar. A position can be full agreement, full disagreement, or agreement with a limit.
PEEL: the four moves in a body paragraph
Point: the first sentence makes one claim that supports your position. Explain: why the claim is true, with because. Example: a concrete case or a result, such as one school's lunch figures. Link: a last line that ties the paragraph back to your position. One PEEL paragraph is about 90 words, so two of them plus an introduction and a conclusion reach 250.
Step by step
- 1Read the question and find the task line
The task line is the words after the statement that set the shape of the essay. In the task above it is To what extent do you agree or disagree? Then pick out the limiters in the statement: city centres, private cars, weekdays. A limiter narrows what you argue about, and every paragraph must keep it.
- 2Decide what the task demands: a position
An opinion task wants your side, stated in one sentence. You may agree fully, disagree fully, or agree with a limit: I agree, but only where a frequent bus runs. Write that sentence in your plan before anything else. An essay that describes both sides and never chooses has not answered.
- 3Paraphrase the question in your introduction
Your first sentence says the statement in your own words and keeps the limiters. Ban private cars can become keep cars out of, and city centres can become the centre of a city. Your second sentence gives your position. Two sentences are enough for an introduction.
- 4Decide what to leave out
Two reasons, each explained, fill the word count. A third idea steals the space the second needed. Leave out any story about yourself. Leave out a paragraph that reports the other side fairly: that is the shape of a discussion essay, not this one. If you mention the other side, it is one sentence, answered at once.
- 5If you are stuck, use the fallback plan
Write four paragraphs. Introduction: paraphrase, then your position. Body 1: one reason, a because, an example. Body 2: a second reason, a because, an example. Conclusion: your position again in different words. One idea per body paragraph, and nothing new in the conclusion.
Some people think that all children should be taught to cook at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
I agree that every child should learn to cook at school, provided the lessons use cheap, everyday ingredients. The strongest reason is health, because a teenager who can make a soup or a curry from raw vegetables has a real alternative to a takeaway. In one school in my city, a weekly cooking class for 13-year-olds cut the number of pupils buying chips at lunch by a third within a year. That change came from a skill, not a rule, which is why I would keep the lessons compulsory.
- TaskPoint. A position with a limit is still a position, and the examiner finds it in sentence one.
- TaskExplain. The because develops the claim instead of repeating it.
- TaskExample. A concrete result with a figure, not many studies show.
- CoherenceLink. The last line returns to the position, so the paragraph ends where the essay is going.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Quiz time4 questions
Each drill gives you the task line or the sentences it needs, so nothing has to be looked up. Practise one judgement at a time.
Name the type from the task line
Ignore the topic. Read the words after the statement and choose the essay type they set.
Read thisSome people believe that unpaid work experience should be a compulsory part of every university degree. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Which essay type does this task line set?
Which sentence states a position?
Read the task, then choose the introduction sentence the examiner can mark as your position.
Read thisTask: Some people think that all secondary school students should learn a musical instrument. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Which sentence gives the position an opinion essay needs?
Spot the paragraph that answers the wrong type
Each line is the first sentence of a paragraph. One paragraph belongs to a different essay type. Choose it.
Read thisTask: Some people think that schools should replace printed textbooks with tablets. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Which sentence contains the error?
Pick the plan that answers the task
Read the task, then choose the plan that gives a position and develops it.
Read thisTask: Some people think that employers should let staff choose their own working hours. Do you agree or disagree?
Which plan answers this task?
The full model
Below are the plan, the introduction and the conclusion for the cookery question, written the way the five steps produce them. The body paragraph is above the drills. Read the plan first, then check that the introduction and the conclusion state the same position.
Some people think that all children should be taught to cook at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Type: opinion. Position: I agree, provided the lessons use cheap, everyday ingredients. Limiters: all children, at school, taught to cook. Body 1: health, because a child who can cook has an alternative to a takeaway (one school's lunch figures). Body 2: cost, because cooking from raw ingredients stays cheaper than ready meals for the rest of life. Close: compulsory cooking lessons, with a limit on cost.
This is enough to write. Apart from the position, keep the plan to notes, not full sentences.
Same question, two introductions
In the modern world, cooking is a hotly debated topic. This essay will discuss the advantages and disadvantages and then I will give my opinion.
Some people want cookery to be a compulsory subject for every child. I agree, provided the lessons are built around cheap, everyday ingredients.
Restate versus new idea
In conclusion, schools should also teach children to manage money, and every country is different.
In conclusion, I still believe every child should be taught to cook at school, as long as the lessons use food their families can afford.
Your turn to write2 questions
Your turn: a four-line plan
A new question this time. Do not write the essay. Fill the plan only.
Some people think secondary schools should ban mobile phones during lessons. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Write the introduction only
Use the question you have just planned. Two or three sentences. Paraphrase and give a position. Do not start the first body.
Some people think secondary schools should ban mobile phones during lessons. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
0 / 25 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Tips
- Write the position sentence first, then copy it into the plan
If you cannot write it in one sentence, you do not have a position yet. Once it exists, every body paragraph has something to link back to.
- Answer the other side in one sentence, not a paragraph
Some argue a ban punishes responsible pupils, but a rule that applies to all is easier to enforce. One concession, answered at once, shows balance without changing type.
- Check the limiters before the conclusion
Read your two topic sentences and look for the limiter words. If one paragraph has drifted to the topic in general, add the limiter to its first sentence.
Recap
Find the task line and the limiters, then state one position in one sentence.
Paraphrase the question in the introduction and develop two reasons, one per PEEL paragraph.
Leave out the third idea and the fair report of the other side. The conclusion restates the position.
Next: essays that ask you to discuss both sides.