One question type, start to finish
The whole Task 2 path, filtered to this one question type: how to read the prompt, what each of the four paragraphs has to do, the connectors it leans on, and a finished essay at the end. Every step links to its full unit if you want to drill it.
The prompt
Everything below answers this. The highlighted words are the instruction — the part that decides the shape of the whole essay, and the part most people skim.
Advertising aimed at children should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
How you recognise it
Instruction signal: To what extent do you agree or disagree? / Do you agree or disagree?
What it must answer: State and maintain a clear position on the proposition. A qualified position is possible, but it must remain easy to identify.
Most common misread
Writing a discussion essay that presents both sides but never answers the extent question.
Official format: IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 asks for an essay of at least 250 words in response to a question. The five question families are WeLearn teaching categories, not official IELTS names.
WeLearn strategy: This page collects the steps of the full course filtered to one question type, so that a student who only needs this one can follow the whole path in order.
Review focus: Writing a complete opinion answer, from reading the prompt to the finished essay.
Explained answer: Compare your finished essay with the model at the end: same prompt, same four paragraphs, and each paragraph doing the job named above it.
Step 1
Six questions you put to the prompt, in this order. They are the same six for every Task 2 prompt you will ever see — that is what makes them worth learning. Answer each one before you open it.
1Topic — What situation is this prompt about?
Cover the highlighted instruction with your hand and read only what is left. That is the topic — and it is the part that matters least, which is why most people spend the most time on it.
advertising to children
2Instruction — What am I being told to produce?
The highlighted words, and nothing else. Not the topic, not how many views appear before it. Every decision below follows from this one sentence.
To what extent do you agree or disagree? / Do you agree or disagree?
3Scope — How much room does that instruction leave me?
The exact wording. “To what extent” allows a degree — largely, partly. “Do you agree” does not. “Outweigh” forces a verdict; “advantages and disadvantages” forbids one. One word decides.
“Banned” is absolute. Say how far you accept it.
4Your answer — What do I actually think, in one sentence?
Nowhere in the prompt. This is the first row you supply, and if you skip it now you will discover halfway through Body 2 that you never decided.
I largely agree that such advertising should be banned, because children below a certain age cannot reliably identify persuasive intent and therefore cannot weigh it, which makes the usual defence of consumer choice inapplicable to them.
5Body 1 — What is the strongest reason for that answer?
Also yours. The test is whether it supports the answer above — not whether it is true about the topic. A true statement that does not support your answer belongs in someone else's essay.
children cannot see the persuasion.
6Body 2 — What is the second reason, and is it genuinely different?
Yours as well. If you can rewrite Body 2 using Body 1's sentences, you have one reason written twice, and the examiner will read it as one.
what follows from that.
Rows 1 to 3 are in the prompt: two readers should get the same answer. Rows 4 to 6 are not — they are yours, and two good essays on this prompt can disagree completely.
Step 2
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
“Banned” is absolute. Say how far you accept it.
Body 1: children cannot see the persuasion. Body 2: what follows from that.
The blocks below, in this order.
An advertisement has already worked on a child by the time the child recognises it as an advertisement.
There are recurring calls to prohibit commercial advertising directed at young audiences.
I largely agree that such advertising should be banned, because children below a certain age cannot reliably identify persuasive intent and therefore cannot weigh it, which makes the usual defence of consumer choice inapplicable to them.
“Largely agree” accepts the ban without pretending the case has no edges.
The reason given is the one both body paragraphs develop, so the introduction predicts the essay.
Watch for: Writing a discussion essay that presents both sides but never answers the extent question.
Step 3
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
Body 1 carries the first reason you committed to when you read the prompt: children cannot see the persuasion.
Support agreement by explaining children's limited ability to recognise persuasion.
The blocks below, in this order.
Commercial messages aimed directly at children deserve strict limits because young audiences may not recognise persuasive intent.
A child can interpret an attractive character or repeated slogan as reliable information rather than a sales technique.
This imbalance allows companies to influence preferences before the viewer can evaluate price, quality or health consequences independently.
For example, a colourful promotion inside a children's game may feel like part of the entertainment even when it is designed to trigger a purchase request.
Protecting children from such targeted persuasion is therefore a legitimate reason for restricting these advertisements.
Watch for: Condemning all advertising. The task and paragraph concern advertising aimed specifically at children.
Step 4
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
Body 2 carries the second reason you committed to when you read the prompt: what follows from that.
Add a second reason for restrictions by explaining children's limited ability to recognise persuasion.
The blocks below, in this order.
Advertising to children is also problematic because young audiences may not recognise its persuasive purpose.
They can interpret promotional claims as neutral information rather than carefully designed sales messages.
This imbalance makes it difficult for children to evaluate products with the scepticism expected of adults.
A colourful advert may lead a child to associate a sugary snack with health or popularity despite offering no reliable evidence.
Protecting children from this unequal form of persuasion provides a further justification for strict limits.
Watch for: Using emotional language without explaining why children are especially vulnerable.
Step 5
What this paragraph has to do, and how you get there from the prompt above.
The conclusion has to end on the answer you committed to when you read the prompt: I largely agree that such advertising should be banned, because children below a certain age cannot reliably identify persuasive intent and therefore cannot weigh it, which makes the usual defence of consumer choice inapplicable to them.
Restate the position and compress the two reasons that supported it.
The blocks below, in this order.
Overall, advertising directed at children should face strict restrictions.
Young audiences are unusually vulnerable because they may neither recognise persuasion nor evaluate promotional claims with adult scepticism.
Watch for: Changing from complete agreement to a balanced position in the final paragraph.
Step 6
Every family is useful somewhere. These are the ones this question type needs most.
Contrast
the next idea pushes against the one before it
Open this familyConcession
you accept the other side has a point, and you are about to answer it
Open this familyCause and effect
what comes next is the consequence of what came before
Open this familyNow you decide
Neither of these is about English. They are about answering the question you were actually asked.
Some people believe that university students should choose subjects that lead directly to employment. Others think students should be free to study whatever they are interested in. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Choose the thesis that answers the question
One of these three answers the question. The other two look like answers and are not.
Choose one.
Pick the planning decisions that hold the position
More than one is right, and two of them are not. Choose every decision that would produce a coherent answer.
Choose every decision you would keep.
The finished essay
269 words on the prompt below. Each paragraph is labelled with the job it does — the same jobs you just read, in the same order.
Advertising aimed at children should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
An audience that cannot recognise persuasion cannot meaningfully consent to it. There are recurring calls to prohibit commercial messages directed at children, and the objection is not simply that such messages are irritating. I largely agree that this advertising should face strict restrictions, because young viewers cannot reliably identify persuasive intent, and because they cannot evaluate promotional claims with the scepticism an adult would bring to them.
Reframe the prompt, state the position, and preview what each body paragraph will argue.Commercial messages aimed directly at children deserve strict limits because young audiences may not recognise persuasive intent. A child can interpret an attractive character or repeated slogan as reliable information rather than a sales technique. This imbalance allows companies to influence preferences before the viewer can evaluate price, quality or health consequences independently. For example, a colourful promotion inside a children's game may feel like part of the entertainment even when it is designed to trigger a purchase request. Protecting children from such targeted persuasion is therefore a legitimate reason for restricting these advertisements.
Support agreement by explaining children's limited ability to recognise persuasion.Advertising to children is also problematic because young audiences may not recognise its persuasive purpose. They can interpret promotional claims as neutral information rather than carefully designed sales messages. This imbalance makes it difficult for children to evaluate products with the scepticism expected of adults. A colourful advert may lead a child to associate a sugary snack with health or popularity despite offering no reliable evidence. Protecting children from this unequal form of persuasion provides a further justification for strict limits.
Add a second reason for restrictions by explaining children's limited ability to recognise persuasion.Overall, advertising directed at children should face strict restrictions. Young audiences are unusually vulnerable because they may neither recognise persuasion nor evaluate promotional claims with adult scepticism.
Restate the position and compress the two reasons that supported it.Preguntas frecuentes
IELTS no lo presenta como una ruta oficial separada dentro del examen; oficialmente Task 2 pide escribir un ensayo en respuesta a una pregunta. WeLearn separa opinion essays como ruta de práctica porque las instrucciones agree/disagree y to what extent requieren una tesis clara y sostenida.
Puedes mencionar un contraargumento, pero no debes tratar ambos lados como si fuera un discussion essay. La prioridad es tomar una posición clara y defenderla en todo el ensayo.
Introducción con una tesis que responda la pregunta, cuerpo 1 con la razón principal, cuerpo 2 con una segunda razón o con el contraargumento refutado, y conclusión que reafirma la misma postura. Ninguna estructura garantiza una banda: lo que se puntúa es si respondiste la pregunta que te hicieron.
Opinion essay prompt bank
Official format: IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 requires a response of at least 250 words to the given prompt. WeLearn strategy: this route trains agree/disagree and to what extent prompts: a visible thesis, a position held to the end, one objection conceded and answered, and a checklist to run before writing the full essay.
Opinion
Some people believe that governments should make public transport free in large cities. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Take a clear position on free public transport and defend it with two developed reasons, not a list of benefits.
I largely agree, provided that the policy is targeted at busy urban routes rather than applied without financial planning.
Writing a balanced advantages/disadvantages essay instead of answering to what extent you agree.
Opinion
Some educators argue that students should be banned from using artificial intelligence tools for homework. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Write a clear agree/disagree essay that separates academic honesty from responsible guided use.
I disagree with a complete ban because schools should restrict final-answer outsourcing while teaching controlled, transparent use.
Sounding absolute: either AI is always harmful or always beneficial. IELTS rewards a controlled, defensible position.