to what extent do you agree or disagree this was the most requested type of IELTS Writing Task 2
on my channel the opinion essay today I have a full sample essay and I'll show you the easiest
way to answer this type of question how to make your opinion extra clear and develop your ideas
that's what the examiners look for there's also a PDF with the essay for you to download it's Asiya
here let's get started [Music] I've selected quite a challenging topic that was used in real exams
some people believe the government spends too much money on Space research while there are still a
lot of problems on the earth to what extent do you agree or disagree you know the rest right write it
at least 250 words and include relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge so first of
all look at the question to what extent do you agree or disagree so this is an opinion essay
which means that the whole essay is about what you think and that's where it gets interesting
what is the examiner looking for to put it simply your ability to maintain a good point of view
backed by good arguments and relevant examples so what opinion can you have there are three
options to agree with this statement arguing that indeed too much money is spent and that
it would be better to spend it on other things or you can disagree with the statement and argue
that even though there are pressing problems on Earth this is still money well spent or you can
have a balanced opinion or a position somewhere in the middle and argue for and against in real
life situations there are more often than not two sides to a story and if I'm being honest I
should take option three but this is not real life arguing on both sides will complicate the essay
it's easier to take either option one or two in our case so think about both which one is easier
to argue pick it and it doesn't really matter what you think today we could actually choose
any of the three but some topics are presented in such a way that it's difficult to choose one
particular side because you are directed towards another answer so you should really learn how to
argue all three sides that's what we do in my courses but today for Simplicity I'm going to
argue the side which I think is easier I disagree basically I will argue that the government should
continue to spend money on space exploration to make this answer better I asked Chad for some
examples so I'd like to show them to you because if you get a similar Topic in your exam you can
use them I have two main arguments well firstly we rely on Space Technologies in our everyday lives
think satellites we use them for communication the internet and satellite TV navigation GPS
in your car planes ships and observation of our planet wether forecasting and climate monitoring
we also turn space Technologies into everyday products memory phone mattresses small phone
cameras which were developed for using spacecraft robots invisible braces so that's what I'm wearing
and apparently they come from mapping the surface of Mars baby formula it was developed to provide
nutrition to astronauts and so on so we're not going to use all of them I just wanted
you to have some ideas in case you need them now let's have a closer look at each paragraph
the opening paragraph should be short and has two objectives the first is to rewrite the task
question statement in your own words According to some the millions spent annually on government
funded space projects would be better invested in addressing urgent issues on this planet the
second is to to take up a position or opinion although there are undoubtedly many problems
on Earth that need tackling I firmly believe that diverting financial resources from space
exploration would be a mistake these projects have brought and will continue to bring great
benefits to humanity three sentences remember from the start the examiner is looking at your grammar
you choice of vocabulary and how you connect your ideas together our sentences are complex in the
first notice the paraphrasing spend too much money on Space research becomes the millions
spent on government funded space projects would be better invested and then a lot of problems on
Earth is expressed as urgent issues on this planet the second sentence admits that there are problems
to be solved and there is a great collecation to tackle problems here many problems on Earth
that need tackling and then it goes on to State the position in this essay quite simply space
research is beneficial to humanity not spending money on it would be a mistake in this complex
sentence very important we need a comma examiners do check if you punctuate correctly so we have our
dependent clause starting with although at the beginning of the sentence which means we need
to put a comma after it and the last sentence already mentions the benefits which we're going
to discuss in our body paragraphs so there is a great linking between paragraphs it's a good
start the point of view is clear two sentences are well linked with although both both the vocabulary
and grammar are quite impressive what paragraph one if we have an opinion in the essay we have
to justify it and that's all this paragraph does and does it in the simplest most straightforward
way keep things simple in your essay that's a general advice so we're going to start with the
topic sentence and then give some examples and make any relevant comments the first sentence
Carries On from the opinion in the introduction which was these projects have brought and will
continue to bring great benefits to humanity and we begin an outstanding example of this
is the remarkable improvement in our lives due to the development of satellite technology a direct
result of space exploration we are saying that the satellite technology has changed our lives
on Earth for the better that's our topic sentence which means that the whole paragraph will be about
the satellites now we present some examples over several Generations satellites orbiting the Earth
have not only facilitated scientific advances in areas such as weather monitoring and navigation
but have also transformed our daily lives first we give examples of more General improvements by Le
navigation and then we mention our daily lives in the next sentence we can continue talking
about our daily lives and our sentences will be perfectly connected thanks to satellites we
have witnessed profound changes in the way we connect with each other using the internet to
bridge distances and accessing international news and TV broadcasts with unprecedented convenience
so we give more examples and now we just need to wrap up this body paragraph satellite technology
has interconnected the world shaping the way we live today so this sentence summarizes what this
paragraph was about the writing style of the essay is formal have a look at some of the adjectives we
used an outstanding example remarkable Improvement profound changes we also have a great grammatical
structure not only but also satellites orbiting the Earth have not only facilitated scientific
advances but have also transformed our daily lives I know it's quite complex to make it
simpler we could say satellites have not only helped scientists make progress but have also
changed our daily lives good go with what you feel comfortable with now let's have a look at
the next sentence it uses present participles using accessing let me show you how to write a
sentence like this we begin with a few simple sentences because of satellites we have seen
big changes in how we connect with each other we use the internet to reach people far away and we
watch news and TV from around the world look at the subjects and verbs we have seen we use
we watch we have the same subject we which means we can link all these sentences into one because
of satellites we have seen big changes in how we connect with each other comma using the internet
to reach people far away and easily watching news and TV from around the world now this is
is a highly complex sentence and going back to our body paragraph the verb tense is mainly the
present perfect to show how developments which began some time ago continue to have effect on
us today and one more comment here notice that the examples go into some detail but not too much and
also there is no mention of any particular country or organization I'm not saying you
shouldn't include more local or specific examples but be careful don't go into too much detail what
do you think about this example the space research program in India has been very successful and has
encouraged young people to take up Scientific careers great example but be careful not to
include too much local detail and numerical data like here there has been a 25% rise in
University applications in airspace engineering since the space program was launched that's not
a good example The Examiner won't be interested to read details like this now let's have a look
at the second body paragraph furthermore carton AG Technologies initially developed for space
exploration have been successfully adapted and turned into every typ products we use on Earth the
opening sentence introduces the second idea space Technologies are turned into everyday products
which is good to link the two body paragraphs are used for the more you could also use moreover then
these spinoffs like a spin-off is a useful result of an activity designed to produce something else
these spinoffs cover a wide range from comfortable memory phone mattresses to Tiny cameras in Mobile
phones which were developed from efforts to make cameras smaller for using spacecraft here again
we have a number of examples not every essay will have that many but now we need a bit of
explanation to tie the examples back to the original essay topic these examples illustrate
how Innovations originally intended for space exploration continue to yield practical benefits
to humankind to Y is to do something good to bring benefits and results looking at the paragraph We
have some topic specific vocabulary which is great to have cuttingedge Technologies to mean
the latest most Advanced Technologies spin-offs and spacecraft now also pay attention to linking
words how many do we have oh basically only one forther more don't think that you need to have a
lot of linking words in every paragraph of your essay how did we link sentences instead by using
these spin-offs these examples to refer back to our previous ideas so don't think you need
a lot of linkers be careful to use referencing in your essay because examiners check if you do now
an essay must have a beginning a middle and an end I examiners say that test takers sometimes
write a great essay and then don't include a strong ending a conclusion that goes over
the main points made so it's important that you have enough time to write it here is the
first sentence there there is no doubt that the expenditure on Space research is enormous this
sentence refers back to our topic and repeats the fact that space research costs money we show that
we remember what the question was but it's also a great opportunity to show off more vocabulary more
synonyms uh the million spent in the troduction becomes expenditure is enormous next restate your
opinion yet upon examining the numerous ways Humanity has benefited from it I am convinced
that it is money well spent it begins with yet to contrast the huge investment and examples are
those mentioned in body paragraphs the positive impact spans all aspects of human life from Earth
monitoring and industrial production to improving the quality of of our life and revolutionizing our
leisure time I think what stands out here is the overall pattern how the essay never loses track
of what it's trying to do it's coherent it takes up the position and illustrates it and remember
that it's better to develop one main idea in each body paragraph It's where less is more don't try
to include too many ideas in my coures I show how to find ideas and transform them into a coherent
high scoring essay sentence by sentence and how to answer each type of task I'll link them in
the video description if you'd like to check them out and I actually have a video an in-depth video
on how to write a perfect introduction from my course on YouTube as a free preview and it
would be a great next step in your learning and don't forget to download our today's essay as PDF
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye