Opinion essays: should university be free?
You can take a clear position on an agree or disagree question and build the whole essay around it.
Many Task 2 questions give you a statement and ask how far you agree with it. Ours is about who should pay for university.
Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1, and at band 7 the descriptors ask for "a clear and developed position".
So settle your answer to the question in the planning minutes, while the page is still empty.
Warm-up
Can you find the position?
Three possible openings for an essay on free university. Which one tells the examiner what the writer thinks?
Which introduction gives a clear position?
How it works
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people think the government should pay the full cost of a university education for every student.
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.
Five minutes of planning
- 1Find the exact claim
Mark the words that make the statement strong or narrow: the government pays the full cost, for every student. Your answer has to deal with those words.
- 2Decide your answer
Agree, disagree, or agree with part of it. Choose the side you can explain best, even if you feel less sure of it.
- 3Find two reasons
Write each in a few words. Each reason becomes one body paragraph.
- 4Give each reason an example
One real or realistic example per paragraph: a kind of student, a country's situation, a cost.
- 5Write your position as one sentence
It ends your introduction, and comes back in new words in your conclusion.
Forty minutes
- 5 min: Plan
- 5 min: Introduction
- 12 min: Body paragraph 1
- 12 min: Body paragraph 2
- 3 min: Conclusion
- 3 min: Check
Total: 40 min
Four paragraphs
The parts, in order
The question in your own words, then your position in one sentence.
Your first reason, explained, with an example.
Your second reason, explained, with an example.
Your position again, in new words, with the two reasons in short.
Watch me do one
I'll plan this question in front of you. The claim is that the government should pay the full cost for every student.
Full and every make the claim easy to disagree with, and I can explain that side well. So I disagree.
Reason one: public money is limited. Free degrees for all would take money from schools and hospitals. Example: if degrees are free, primary schools, where every child benefits, may get less.
Reason two: graduates usually earn more, so it is fair for them to repay part of the cost. Example: loans that are paid back only once a graduate's salary passes a certain level.
My position in one sentence: I disagree, because public money is limited and graduates can usually repay part of what their degree cost. Five minutes. Now I write.
A model answer
Some people think the government should pay the full cost of a university education for every student. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
In many countries, students pay at least part of the cost of their degree, and some people argue that the state should pay the whole cost for every student. I disagree with this view, because public money is limited and most graduates are able to repay part of what their education cost. The first reason is that governments have to choose where to spend. Paying the full fees of every university student would cost a very large amount each year, and that money would have to come from other services or from higher taxes. A government that funds free degrees may have less to spend on primary schools, where every child benefits, or on hospitals. Spending on universities helps only those who reach them, and in most countries these students are more likely to come from wealthier families. The second reason is that a degree mainly benefits the person who holds it. Graduates tend to earn more over their working lives than people who did not go to university, so it seems fair that they should contribute. This does not have to mean high fees at the start. In some countries, students borrow the money and repay it only when their salary passes a certain level. A graduate who earns little pays back little or nothing, so nobody is prevented from studying because they are poor. In conclusion, I do not believe the government should pay the full cost of university for everyone. The state should help students who could not otherwise afford to study, but graduates who earn enough should pay back part of the cost, leaving public money for schools, hospitals and other services that everyone uses.
- TaskThe position and both reasons, at the end of the introduction.
- CoherenceThe first sentence tells the reader what the whole paragraph will show.
- TaskThe example makes the reason concrete.
- VocabularyTend to makes a general claim careful and accurate.
- CoherenceThis refers back to the whole idea before it, so nothing is repeated.
- GrammarA passive and a because clause in one controlled sentence.
- TaskThe same position as the introduction, in new words.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
When you are ready to write a whole essay, sit a full Writing test and I'll give you a band for each of the four criteria. If you want a teacher to read your essays as well, Kriti and Christine mark them in their classes.
Practice with Elita5 questions
Three quick questions on the essay's shape, then you plan and start an essay of your own.
A topic sentence
Choose the best first sentence for a body paragraph about the cost to the government.
Which topic sentence is best?
Does it support the position?
The position is I disagree that the government should pay the full cost for every student. Does this idea support it?
Students from poor families might not study at all without help.
Paragraph jobs
Match each paragraph to its job.
Plan your own
Plan an answer to a new question in five minutes. A few words in each box is enough.
Some people think that every child should learn to play a musical instrument at school. 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
Now write the introduction to that essay: two sentences, the second one giving your position.
Write the introduction for: Some people think that every child should learn to play a musical instrument at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
0 / 35 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
Money a government collects in taxes and spends. Public money pays for schools, roads and hospitals.
Pay for it. The state funds primary education in full.
Give part of what is needed. Graduates could contribute to the cost of their degree.
Have enough money for something. Some families cannot afford university fees.
Pay back money you borrowed. Students repay the loan once they earn enough.
Usually do something, as a general pattern. Graduates tend to earn more over their working lives.
Before you go
Find the exact claim. Words like full and every shape your answer.
Decide your position in the first five minutes and write it as one sentence.
Give each body paragraph one reason, explained, with an example.
End with the same position in new words.
Next: Next, Academic candidates describe a bar chart about how students get to school. General Training candidates go on to Unit 2, about work, which starts with the words for jobs and the present perfect.