Give reasons for your answer and any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Discuss both views and give your opinion.
What solutions can you suggest?
In all of these questions, the examiner is asking you to give your own opinions and thoughts, meaning this should be to some extent a very personal essay. Many students are unsure of whether they can write examples from their own life, things they have truly experienced, but this is in fact exactly what the question is asking you to do! Do not be afraid to write about what has happened to you or somebody you know, or to generalise about your society or country - this is what the title requests.
The real issue that then leaves students feeling uncomfortable is the use of the personal pronoun 'I'. In academic/ formal writing, we learn that personal pronouns are not really acceptable and that we should try to substitute them for more passive phrases, such as 'it is believed that' or 'it can be said that'. Whilst it is true that academic writing generally does not allow for the use of 'I' (though be aware that many types of assignments such as portfolios and reflective accounts or reports now do require the use of 'I'), in the IELTS it is nowhere stated that you may not use 'I'. Personally, I always teach my students not to use 'I' because I feel that it is not a very strong way to express an opinion and I want my students to present essays with strong arguments. I also want them to prepare for when they get to university and may not be able to use it. However, there is absolutely no problem and you will not be penalised if you do use 'I'.
Some phrases you may wish to employ to express your opinion and exemplify your experiences are:
I believe that
I feel that
In my experience,
To the best of my knowledge,
However, if you reflect on these statements, they suggest that these opinions/ experiences belong only to you and if you are trying to present a strong argument, it might be better to use language, which suggests that these opinions/ experiences are felt by a large number of people. These might include:
It is believed that
It is thought that
Many people feel that
From the experience of many,
Thus, in conclusion, 'I' is perfectly acceptable, although there might be stronger ways to make an argument. However, in terms of your experiences and opinions, if the question is asking for these, you MUST provide them. Talk about you, your life, your past, your story - it is surely what you know about best.
Vocabulary:
to some extent = partly
request (v) = ask for
substitue sth for sth else = to use sth in the place of sth else
express (v) = show
be penalised (v) = be punished, lose marks
reflect on (v) = look back, think about
thus (adv) = so, therefore
perfectly (adv) = completely
in terms of = regarding, concerning, about
surely (adv) = undoubtedly