This post gives you a Band 9 sample answer and a structure to help you answer questions like this on test day. It is a General Training essay but is also helpful for Academic candidates.
Some people think that the teenage years are the happiest times of most people’s lives. Others think that adult life brings more happiness, in spite of greater responsibilities.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
It is often argued that the most fulfilling stage of a person’s life is during adolescence, while others believe that adulthood, despite things like a job, family and money concerns, is better. This essay agrees with the former, rather than the latter view. It will first discuss how grown-ups are much less fulfilled than teenagers because of the pressures they are under and then discuss how contented most teenagers are, before coming to the conclusion that the ages of thirteen to eighteen really are the best years of our lives.
Upon reaching maturity people are expected to fend for themselves and this often leads to unhappiness. This is because most adults have rent and bills to pay, as well as a partner and dependents to look after, which more often than not, leads to them doing a job they don’t enjoy in exchange for money. A recent study by Queen’s University, Belfast found that 79% of people would leave their jobs if they didn’t have a mortgage and 64% of people stated that their job made them depressed at some point.
On the other hand, young people are free from these worries because they are often supported financially and free from any real troubles. Most live with their parents who pay for all their needs and the only thing they have to focus on is studying. Research carried out by Cambridge University found that only 29% of 15-16 year old students said they were ‘happy’, but when questioned 10 years later 84% said that they were ‘much happier’ when they were 16.
In conclusion, youth really is wasted on the young because older people are under much more strain when it comes to money and people relying on them.
(289 words)
Approach and Structure
There are three things we need to do in this essay:
1) Discuss teenagers’ happiness
2) Discuss adults’ happiness
3) Give our opinion
In order to do this I have to first choose which side I am on. You can choose to say that both adults and teenagers are happy and give a balanced view, but I have found that students find this approach more difficult and it often leads to a confused essay. Confused essays are difficult to read and can therefore lose you marks for lack of coherence.
It is better to take one side and argue in favour of it. I therefore use this basic structure:
Introduction– give opinion and say what the essay is about.
Main Body Paragraph 1- Why adults are unhappy.
Main body Paragraph 2- Why teenagers are happy.
Conclusion- summarise main points and restate opinion.
If we look at the structure on a sentence by sentence level it looks like this:
Paragraph 1- Introduction
Sentence 1- Paraphrase question
Sentence 2- State opinion
Sentence 3- Outline what essay will say
Paragraph 2- Adults
Sentence 1- Topic sentence (main idea)
Sentence 2- Explain topic sentence
Sentence 3- Example
Paragraph 3- Teenagers
Sentence 1- Topic sentence (main idea)
Sentence 2- Explain topic sentence
Sentence 3- Example
Paragraph 4- Conclusion
Sentence 1- paraphrase main points and give opinion again
This structure can be used for any ‘discuss both views and give your opinion’ essay.
I hope you found this useful and if you have any comments or questions please comment below.
For more sample essay please visit our IELTS Task 2 page.
