Simon’s ielts writing task 2

A student asked me the following useful question:
I am confused about the question "Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?". Is this 
an opinion question or discussion + opinion question? 
Here's my answer:
Strictly speaking, "Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?" is asking for your opinion (do 
you think there are more advantages or disadvantages?). Technically, you could give a one-sided 
"opinion" answer e.g. you could argue that there are many advantages and almost no disadvantages. 
However, I think the examiner would expect and prefer to see a balanced discussion of both sides as 
well as your opinion. Therefore, I think it's best (and easiest) to write a discussion + opinion essay. 
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Wednesday, February 12, 2014 
IELTS Writing Task 2: short, clear introduction 
My colleague, Peter, wrote an essay about last week's 
credit card
question - to read the full essay, 
look for the comment by Peter Walton below the lesson. 
For today, I want to focus on the introduction that Peter wrote:
It is all too easy to obtain a credit card and then to run up debts which are difficult to repay. In my 
opinion, the disadvantages of credit cards far outweigh the advantages.
It might seem easy, but for me this is the perfect introduction: it's short, clear, and it answers the 
question directly. 
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014 
IELTS Writing Task 2: firstly, secondly, finally 
In 
last week's lesson
I showed you a band 9 paragraph using a "firstly, secondly, finally" structure. I 
also asked you to think of some alternative words or phrases that we could use instead of "firstly, 
secondly, finally". 
Click here
to see some other ways to link 3 ideas in the same paragraph.