As job markets are very competitive, an extra year of experience can make a massive difference when applying for jobs, and those who took a gap year are at a disadvantage. The Times recently reported that the average student at a UK university requires over $12,000 per annum just to survive and many drop out because they cannot afford to stay.ĭespite these advantages, students lose a year that could have been used to advance their future careers and they often get used to working or travelling and don’t want to return to a life of study.
Also, third level education is very expensive and a lot of students decide to work for 12 months and save up money before they begin their studies. For students who have just finished secondary school, working or travelling for a year will allow them to learn what life is like outside of the education system. The main advantages of a gap year are learning more about the world and earning money. This essay will suggest that experience gained and money saved are the biggest advantages of this, but delaying careers and reducing motivation to study are the primary disadvantages. Question 1 Sample Answerīefore embarking on college many young people are advised that a year working or travelling may be a good option. Sentence 13- Summary of main points and restate position. Sentence 11- Explain why it is not strong Sentence 2- Thesis statement (state which one outweighs the other) Sentence 9- Summary of main points Structure for Essay 2 Sentence 9- Example of second disadvantage Sentence 6- Topic sentence (2 Disadvantages)
Sentence 3- Topic sentence (2 Advantages) You would also have to make this clear in your thesis statement. If you choose advantages then you will have to say why these are much stronger than the disadvantages and why the disadvantages don’t hold much weight. In this example, we will have to decide which side (advantages or disadvantages) is stronger and this will affect our structure. For example, there are a huge number of advantages to travelling by private jet, but there is one huge disadvantage (the cost) that stops most people from flying that way and therefore the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The question is not asking you to talk about numbers but comment on the overall weight of the advantages or disadvantages. Notice I didn’t say ‘if there are more advantages than disadvantages’. Question 2 is different because we have to say if the advantages are stronger than the disadvantages. This requires a simple structure in which the student will look at the advantages in one paragraph and the disadvantages in the other. It does not ask for our opinion or say which side is better or worse, so we should not include this information in our answer.
Question 1 simply asks us to discuss the advantages and disadvantages. Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary schools rather than secondary school.ĭo the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages? In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies.ĭiscuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this. There will also be samples answers for each of the three questions to help you compare and understand the two approaches. This lesson will look at each of the three question types and suggest a standard sentence-by-sentence structure for each of them. If you answer them in a different way then you risk losing lots of easy marks. The problem is that there are 2 different types of advantages and disadvantages essay and they each require a different approach. IELTS advantages and disadvantages questions normally give you a statement and ask you to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of that statement.