Hustlers IELTS | Cambridge IELTS 15 Academic (Test 3) | Discuss Both Views + Opinion (Band 7–9)
Advertising is everywhere. On TV. On billboards. In your social media feed. Inside apps. On YouTube — before, during, and after the content you actually want.
So IELTS is asking a fair question:
Is advertising extremely successful at persuading us to buy things… or has it become so common that we ignore it?
If you want a high band score, you must do three things:
- explain why advertising works
- explain why it doesn’t
- give a clear final judgement with conditions
The Task (Cambridge IELTS Academic 15, Test 3)
Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things. Other people think that advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
The High-Scoring Approach (What You Should Copy)
A Band 7–9 answer here doesn’t say “both are true” and stop.
It says:
- advertising works when it creates urgency (deadlines, limited deals)
- advertising works when it is targeted (based on your interests)
- advertising fails when it is generic and excessive (people tune out)
That is a clear, balanced, defensible position.
Band 7–9 Model Essay
We have become increasingly surrounded by advertisements, with those seen on traditional TV channels and billboards now supplemented by paid advertising on social media, websites and within apps. But how effective is advertising at getting us to make purchases?
There are certainly strong arguments for the effectiveness of advertising. Firstly, adverts related to special offers can be quite successful, especially if they are time-limited. For example, Black Friday offers for tech products often lead to people making expensive purchases they probably otherwise would not make, in part because they need to complete the purchase before a deadline. Secondly, targeted advertising on social media often gets good results as it is based on people’s browsing habits and interests. Many companies spend a lot of money on Facebook sponsored posts because of this.
However, without targeting or special offers, a lot of advertising may be much less effective since people will see it as irrelevant or unimportant, meaning they will simply ignore it. Certainly on social media feeds, there are now so many adverts that many users just scroll past them unless they are very carefully crafted so as to immediately grab their attention. The situation is even worse on traditional TV channels, where frequent commercial breaks tend to be used as an excuse to check your phone or make a cup of tea.
Overall, I feel that when people are given a strong incentive to buy, and when it is carefully crafted and targeted, advertising can be effective. But otherwise its effect on our buying decisions is limited because its sheer volume turns it into mere background noise.
(267 words)
Why This Essay Gets a High Band Score
1) It genuinely discusses both views
- View 1: advertising persuades through urgency and targeting
- View 2: advertising gets ignored due to overexposure and irrelevance
Both sides are developed, not mentioned briefly.
2) The examples are modern and credible
- Black Friday (deadline pressure)
- Facebook sponsored posts (targeting and tracking)
These examples feel real, and they directly support the argument.
3) The opinion is clear and sophisticated
The writer doesn’t sit on the fence. They judge effectiveness based on conditions:
Advertising works when it’s targeted and incentivised. Otherwise it becomes background noise.
That is exactly what “give your own opinion” should look like.
Vocabulary & Collocations You Can Reuse
- increasingly surrounded by advertisements
- traditional TV channels and billboards
- supplemented by paid advertising
- social media feeds
- strong arguments for the effectiveness
- special offers / time-limited
- complete the purchase before a deadline
- targeted advertising
- browsing habits and interests
- sponsored posts
- irrelevant or unimportant
- scroll past
- carefully crafted
- grab their attention
- frequent commercial breaks
- a strong incentive to buy
- sheer volume
- background noise
This vocabulary is high-band because it’s precise and natural, not memorised or exaggerated.
Hustlers IELTS Final Word
This is the standard you should aim for in “Discuss Both Views” essays:
- clear paragraph per view
- specific examples
- opinion that is not emotional, but logical
- conclusion that weighs both sides confidently