Discussion — Both Views + Your Opinion

Forgetting the opinionTask Response capped at 5

Presenting both sides beautifully and never saying what you think means one third of the task is unanswered. This is the single most common way a fluent candidate scores 6 in Writing.

Fix: State your opinion in the introduction AND the conclusion. If you only have room for one, the conclusion is compulsory.

Straw-manning the view you disagree withTask Response 6

Writing a deliberately weak version of view A so view B wins is not "discussing both views". The examiner is looking for a fair account of each.

Fix: Write each view as its strongest supporter would. Your opinion earns more credit when the view you reject was presented at full strength.

Opinion smuggled into body 1Coherence 6

If your view leaks into the paragraph reporting the other side, the reader cannot tell whose argument they are reading.

Fix: Keep the body paragraphs in reporting voice ("Advocates of this approach argue…") and reserve committed language ("In my view…") for the introduction and conclusion.

Unbalanced paragraphsTask Response 6 · Coherence 6

A 130-word paragraph for the view you like and a 45-word paragraph for the one you do not is not a discussion; it is an opinion essay with a disclaimer.

Fix: Give each view the same number of moves: topic sentence, explanation, example. Write the side you disagree with FIRST, while you still have energy for it.

A conclusion that says "both are important"Task Response 6

"Both views have merit and it depends on the situation" is a refusal to answer. It is the discussion-essay version of sitting on the fence.

Fix: Commit. You may still be nuanced — "the second view is more persuasive in developed economies, though the first holds in…" — but a side must be taken.

Only simple sentences, accurately writtenGrammatical Range & Accuracy capped at 6

Range is assessed alongside accuracy, so an essay with no errors and no subordination cannot reach Band 7 on this criterion. It is the most demoralising cap in the paper because the writing looks clean — and it is invisible to a learner who only ever checks for mistakes.

Fix: Put one complex structure in every paragraph deliberately: a cause clause in body 1, a concessive in body 2, a relative clause somewhere in each. Range is a choice you make before you write, not something you notice afterwards.

Comma splices joining full sentencesGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5

Two independent clauses joined by a comma — "fees are high, students cannot afford them" — is the commonest punctuation error in Task 2, and because it usually happens at exactly the point an idea is being developed, it recurs throughout the essay rather than once.

Fix: Join with a conjunction, a semicolon or a full stop — or, better, subordinate one clause, which fixes the punctuation and adds range in the same edit.

Ambitious words used inaccuratelyLexical Resource capped at 6.5

The descriptors are explicit that an ambitious word used wrongly scores lower than a simple word used correctly. "Detrimental impact for the society", "make a benefit", "in the nutshell" all signal vocabulary learned as a list rather than in use, and they cost more than the plain words they replaced would have.

Fix: Use a word only if you know the grammar that goes with it: what preposition it takes, what part of speech it is, what it collocates with. If you are unsure, the precise simple word wins.

Collocation errors inside good sentencesLexical Resource capped at 7

This is the clearest single thing separating Band 7 from Band 8, and it is almost never drilled. "Make a research", "do a mistake", "solve an issue", "a big impact for society" are all grammatically correct and all wrong, and because they appear inside otherwise ambitious sentences they tell the examiner the vocabulary was learned from a list rather than from use. The descriptors put precision and natural word partnership at the top of this criterion — not rarity.

Fix: Learn words in partnerships, never alone. The make/do split covers most of it: MAKE an effort, a mistake, progress, a decision; DO research, work, damage. Then the Task 2 core: conduct research, implement a policy, address an issue, play a role in, pose a threat to, have an impact ON.

Memorised phrases and mechanical linkersLexical Resource 6 · Coherence 6

"Nowadays, in this modern era, it is a controversial topic" and a stack of "Firstly / Moreover / Furthermore / Last but not least" are both flagged by examiners as memorised. They cost twice: Lexical Resource for the phrasing, Coherence for cohesion used mechanically rather than meaningfully.

Fix: Delete every opener that would fit any essay on any topic, and replace stacked connectors with reference cohesion — "this pressure", "such a system", "that assumption".

Articles and agreement, everywhere and alwaysGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5

Article and subject–verb agreement errors are individually trivial and collectively decisive. Appearing in almost every paragraph, they read as a systematic failure of control rather than as slips, and that is the difference between a 7 and a 6.5 on this criterion.

Fix: Learn the three rules that cover most cases: generic plurals take no article; a singular countable always takes one; the verb agrees with the head of the subject, not the nearest noun. Then spend your last two minutes checking only for these.

Where should I put my opinion in a discussion essay?

In the introduction and the conclusion, at minimum. Stating it early is not "giving away the ending" — it improves Coherence because the reader can see where the essay is heading. The conclusion is compulsory; the introduction is what lifts a 7 to an 8.

Can I agree with both views?

You can agree that both contain something true, but you must still say which is stronger, or under what conditions each applies. "Both are important" with no decision is treated as an unanswered task.

Should the view I disagree with come first or second?

First. It keeps the two paragraphs balanced, and it lets your essay build towards your own position instead of arguing backwards from it.

Do I need a separate paragraph for my opinion?

No, and with 40 minutes you rarely have room. Put your opinion in the introduction, let it emerge at the end of body 2, and commit to it in the conclusion. A five-paragraph version works, but only if all five are developed.