IELTS Writing Task 2 'discuss both views': the structure examiners actually reward

The prompt reads: "Some people think X, while others believe Y. Discuss both views and give your own opinion." Three instructions, and Task Response grades all three. The recurring failure is structural, not linguistic: a candidate who agrees with Y writes one thin, grudging paragraph on X ("some people say X, but this is wrong because…") and three on Y. That is an opinion essay wearing the wrong prompt, and it caps Task Response at 6 no matter how good the English — addresses all parts of the task is the phrase doing the damage, and what band 7 actually requires unpacks it criterion by criterion.

What "discuss" means to an examiner

Discussing a view means presenting it at its strongest — the reasons a thoughtful person actually holds it — before your evaluation. The test of a properly discussed view: a reader of that paragraph alone could not tell yet which side you are on. You are not required to be neutral overall (the prompt demands your opinion); you are required to represent both positions as arguments rather than strawmen.

The four-paragraph frame

1. Introduction — paraphrase both views in one sentence each or one combined sentence, then state your position outright. Declaring the opinion up front is safer than saving it: essays that "reveal" the opinion in the conclusion routinely read as no clear position throughout — a named band 6 fault.
2. View X, steel-manned — topic sentence naming the view, its best reason, one concrete example or consequence.
3. View Y, steel-manned the same way.
4. Your position + conclusion — and the band 7 move is why you weigh one above the other rather than repeating the stronger paragraph: name the criterion doing the deciding ("both matter, but Y addresses the cause where X treats the symptom").

Order the body so your own side comes second — recency does quiet work for you, and the transition into paragraph 4 is smoother.

A worked body paragraph

Prompt: Some believe children should begin formal education as early as possible, while others think early childhood should be reserved for play. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Here is the play-side paragraph at band 7, written by an author who will ultimately side with early academics:

Those who defend play-based early childhood argue that it is not a pause before learning but a form of it. Through unstructured play, children practise negotiation, persistence and imagination — capacities that formal instruction struggles to teach directly — and several school systems famous for strong outcomes delay formal literacy until six or seven without apparent cost. On this view, replacing play with worksheets buys a short-lived head start at the price of skills that matter longer.

Note what makes it work: the view gets its genuinely best evidence, the language stays reporting-register (those who defend… argue, on this view) so the author's own position is not leaking in, and the paragraph would survive being read by a believer in that view. That is the standard.

The recurring traps

• The phantom third view. Inventing a compromise position nobody asked about ("in my opinion, both are partly right") is fine only if you then defend the weighting; an unargued "both have merit" is the definition of an unclear position — the same balance trap that sinks the advantages-outweigh-disadvantages question.
• Example inflation. One developed example per view beats three name-dropped ones; Task Response rewards development, not inventory.
• Reporting verbs on your own view. Paragraphs 2–3 use argue, believe, maintain; paragraph 4 must switch to direct assertion — the stronger case is… — or the essay ends without an opinion in it.
• Word budget. Two views plus an opinion in 250+ words leaves roughly 70–90 words per body paragraph. Practise writing a complete steel-manned view in 80 words; it is a skill, and the exam assumes you have it.