IELTS Outweigh Essays: Four or Five Paragraphs, the Concession and Weighing Both Sides (Part 3 of 3): A Rewrite Demo, FAQ, Common Mistakes, a 30-Minute Plan and Practice

IELTS · Task 2 Structure中文版　Updated 2026/11/09

In this post: Essay 15 rewritten as a real Outweigh essay, answers to common questions, the most common mistakes, a 30-minute writing plan, a self-check list and three practice questions.

Outweigh essays · 3 parts

1. Question types and paragraph blueprints
2. Concession, conclusion and five essays
3. Rewrite, mistakes, plan and practice (you are here)

✦ In this post

8. Rewrite demo: turning Essay 15 into a real Outweigh essay
9. FAQ
10. Common mistakes
11. A 30-minute writing plan
12. Self-check list
13. Practice
Further reading

A 30-minute writing plan for Outweigh essays, four common mistakes, and the rewrite of Essay 15. — At a glance: the 30-minute plan and the mistakes that keep Task Response at 6.

8. Rewrite demo: turning Essay 15 into a real Outweigh essay

First fix the structure: give each of the two advantages its own paragraph (saving money, environmental benefits), keep only one disadvantage (road safety), and delete the job-loss point or fold it into the recommendation in the conclusion. Then fix the conclusion by adding the weighing and the reason:

Rewrite: In conclusion, I believe that the benefits of driverless vehicles clearly outweigh the drawbacks. This is because lower operating costs and reduced emissions will benefit both companies and the whole society, while safety concerns are likely to decrease as the technology matures and is strictly tested. Therefore, it is recommended that governments set clear safety standards before these vehicles are widely used.

What changed: the second sentence mentions both advantages and the one disadvantage; as the technology matures explains why the disadvantage is weaker (it can be reduced); and the final recommendation answers the safety problem directly. I also fixed the opening of the concession paragraph so that it is a complete sentence:

Rewrite: However, there are some concerns associated with driverless vehicles, one of which is road safety.

9. FAQ

Can I say in an Outweigh essay that the advantages and disadvantages are about equal? You can, but I do not recommend it. The question asks which side is greater, and answering “they are equal” needs a very strong argument to stand up, which is hard to write well in 40 minutes in the exam. Choosing one side and writing a clear 2 + 1 is safer.

Can I argue that the disadvantages are greater? Of course. Write the disadvantages in Body 1 and Body 2 and one advantage in Body 3, and use the conclusion to explain why that advantage is not enough to cancel out the disadvantages. As always, choose the side that is easier to give examples for.

Does the conclusion have to include a recommendation? Not necessarily. The recommendation’s job is to show why the concession is weaker. If you have already done that with “it affects fewer people” or “short term vs long term”, you may not need one. But if your concession point happens to be solvable, adding one recommendation sentence is usually the easiest option.

Can I write five paragraphs for an advantages-and-disadvantages-only question? You could write six paragraphs, with two paragraphs of advantages and two of disadvantages, but the essay gets longer and each paragraph gets thinner, so I do not recommend it. Four paragraphs with two points each is the easiest way to stay around 300 words.

10. Common mistakes

Writing an Outweigh essay as a 2 + 2 list: with no weighing, TR rarely goes above 6.
A one-sentence concession paragraph: too light, so it looks as if you have not discussed the other side.
A conclusion that only repeats the advantages: it does not explain why the disadvantages matter less.
Misreading a reversed question: the question asks whether the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, but the introduction says the merits surpass…. Check which side the question puts first.
Spending lots of words on a position when the question only asks for advantages and disadvantages: not penalised, but it wastes words and time.
Swapping in the wrong synonyms: overwhelm and overtake do not fit, and a wrong core word that keeps being repeated (for example leaved students) drags LR straight down.
A recommendation unrelated to the disadvantage: the recommendation should solve the exact drawback you wrote about; only then does it do the weighing.

11. A 30-minute writing plan

Time	What to do
0–3 min	Find the question verb: advantages and disadvantages only? Outweigh? Advantages/disadvantages + opinion? Decide on four or five paragraphs
3–7 min	Think of two advantages and two disadvantages. For an Outweigh question, choose the side you support, pick its two strongest points, then pick one point from the other side that “can be solved or affects fewer people”
7–10 min	Introduction: paraphrase + the second sentence that fits the question type
10–22 min	Body paragraphs: for Outweigh, two advantage paragraphs (one point each, fully developed) + one concession paragraph; for four-paragraph questions, two points per paragraph
22–27 min	Conclusion: restate + A and B outweigh C + why C is weaker, or a recommendation
27–30 min	Check: the direction is not reversed, the concession paragraph has enough weight, the synonyms are used correctly

It is best to choose a concession point that is “easy to solve” at the brainstorming stage; then the conclusion can include a recommendation. Essay 21 (lost revenue → government funding) and Essay 45 (childcare → childcare support) were both chosen this way.

12. Self-check list

I identified the question type correctly: advantages and disadvantages only (four paragraphs), Outweigh (five paragraphs, 2 + 1), or advantages/disadvantages + opinion (four paragraphs).
In an Outweigh essay, the second sentence of the introduction clearly says which side is greater, in the same direction as the question.
The concession paragraph has only one point, but it has an explanation or example and is not just a passing sentence.
The conclusion has a weighing sentence like “the benefits of A and B surpass the difficulty of C”.
The conclusion explains why C is weaker, or offers a recommendation that solves C.
In an advantages-and-disadvantages-only essay, the conclusion summarises both sides.
I did not use overwhelm or overtake, and my core nouns are correct.
Every sentence has a main verb, and I have not joined two sentences with just a comma.

13. Practice

For each of the three questions below (my paraphrases), identify the question type, decide on the paragraph plan, and write the weighing sentence for the conclusion:

People should be willing to take risks in both work and daily life. Do the advantages of taking risks outweigh the disadvantages?
People around the world are living longer. To what extent do the advantages of an ageing population outweigh the disadvantages?
Countries are becoming more and more alike, as people everywhere watch the same films and TV programmes and buy the same brands. To what extent do the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?

Hint

Question 3 is a reversed Outweigh question: the disadvantages come first. If you think the disadvantages are greater, write disadvantages in Body 1 and Body 2 and one advantage in Body 3.