Band 8.5 model answer: advantages and disadvantages

A band 8.5 model answer to a real IELTS Writing Task 2 question, with the paragraph plan that fits it. Aim for 250 to 290 words in 40 minutes.

The question

In many countries, the popularity of extreme and adventure sports is increasing, particularly among young people. What are the reasons for this trend, and do you think the benefits of participating in such sports outweigh the risks?

Your 4-paragraph plan

Introduction (40-50 words). Paraphrase the topic and say whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Body paragraph 1 (80-100 words). The strongest advantage, developed with a concrete example.
Body paragraph 2 (80-100 words). The main disadvantage, developed honestly, then weighed against the advantage.
Conclusion (40-50 words). State your overall judgement: which side wins and why.

The trap in this question type

The question usually asks whether the advantages OUTWEIGH the disadvantages. Answer that comparison directly, not just a list of each.

Band 8.5 model answer

398 words, the length a strong candidate produces in the 40 minutes Task 2 allows (the minimum is 250). Written for this exact question in the official format. Read it once for ideas, then write your own before comparing.

Consider a young Norwegian who spends weekends BASE jumping off cliffs near Voss, an activity that could kill him if his parachute opens half a second late. That such pursuits are multiplying among the young, rather than fading as reckless phases, calls for an explanation, and I will argue that the personal benefits, though genuine, do not outweigh the risks once these sports are pushed to the level of exposure common today, where a single mistake in the air or on a rock face is fatal rather than survivable. The first reason is the saturation of ordinary experience. A teenager who can watch a thousand travel and stunt videos on a phone before breakfast finds a routine football match or gym session comparatively flat, and activities such as wingsuit flying, big-wave surfing at Nazare in Portugal, or downhill mountain biking supply the jolt that everyday leisure no longer can. Boredom, in other words, has raised the threshold of stimulation an activity must clear to feel worthwhile. The second reason, distinct from the first, is the reward structure of social media. A short clip of someone cliff diving in Croatia can earn more views and validation in a single day than years of steady, conventional achievement, and this visibility incentivises young people to seek out ever more dangerous stunts rather than safer alternatives, since platform algorithms plainly favour spectacle over caution. The benefits these sports confer are not imaginary. They build resilience and rapid decision-making; a nineteen-year-old who learns to read avalanche conditions before backcountry skiing in the Alps develops a form of judgment no classroom can replicate, alongside genuine physical fitness. There is also a plausible mental-health case, since the total concentration demanded by whitewater kayaking leaves little room for the anxious rumination that troubles many young adults. Against this, however, the risks are disproportionate to the gains. Unlike team sports, a single error in free-solo climbing or wingsuit flying is typically fatal rather than merely painful, and some insurers have reportedly begun refusing cover for such pursuits given how stark the mortality figures are. A broken ankle from football heals within weeks; a fall from El Capitan does not. When the margin for error approaches zero, the trade-off stops being reasonable no matter how much confidence or footage is gained, which is why the dangers of extreme sports, at the intensity now practised, outweigh their considerable benefits.

Why this answer earns band 8.5

Under Task Response, a weaker essay might write 'people do extreme sports because it is exciting and then say if it is good or bad', but this answer instead separates two distinct causes into their own paragraphs ('saturation of ordinary experience' and 'the reward structure of social media') so each gets full treatment before the opinion half is argued with equal weight.
Also under Task Response, a less careful writer would open with an unverifiable first-person anecdote such as 'I once tried skydiving and it changed my life'; this answer instead opens with a hypothetical third party ('Consider a young Norwegian who spends weekends BASE jumping'), keeping vivid detail without resting the argument on personal experience.
For Coherence and Cohesion, a flatter draft might simply start the third paragraph with 'Also,'; this answer instead writes 'distinct from the first', which explicitly names the relationship between the two causal paragraphs rather than leaving the reader to infer it.
For Lexical Resource, instead of the generic 'social media has a big influence on young people', the essay uses the precise collocation 'the reward structure of social media' to name an abstract mechanism rather than gesture vaguely at it.
For Grammatical Range and Accuracy, rather than two short separate sentences, the essay embeds a concessive clause in one controlled sentence, 'the trade-off stops being reasonable no matter how much confidence or footage is gained', and the hedge 'reportedly' before the unverified insurance claim shows how to add plausible texture to an example without asserting it as checked fact.

The plan, reusable on any question of this type

Introduce the trend with a concrete hypothetical example, state the thesis that risks outweigh benefits, and specify what 'the level of intensity now common' means so the qualifier is not left vague (~89 words)
Explain the first cause: boredom with saturated ordinary experience (~77 words)
Explain the second, distinct cause: the incentive structure of social media validation, giving the causes half of the question its own full weight before turning to the opinion half (~64 words)
Concede the genuine personal benefits of extreme sports (resilience, fitness, mental focus) as the first half of the opinion argument (~68 words)
Argue the risks are disproportionate as the second half of the opinion argument and conclude that dangers outweigh benefits, closing on a resolved restatement of the thesis (~100 words)

Phrases worth learning

That such pursuits are multiplying among the young, rather than fading as reckless phases, calls for an explanation	reframe a stated trend as needing analysis before giving your thesis on any two-part essay
distinct from the first	signal a clear shift to a second, separate cause or reason within a body paragraph
is not imaginary	concede a genuine counterpoint before pivoting back to your main position
disproportionate to the gains	argue that costs exceed benefits in any risk-versus-reward discussion
no matter how much confidence or footage is gained	close an argument by dismissing a tempting counter-justification

This answer includes invented specific detail written to show how detail is used, not to be quoted as fact: the claim that some insurers have reportedly begun refusing cover for extreme sports because of stark mortality figures. IELTS does not check facts, so this is about the texture, never the claim.