Text response- 'discuss' type questions

[soccerboi]

Is it appropriate to have just 3 body paragraphs or is it better to have 4? Because there should be a balanced discussion, so  having 3 body paragraphs doesnt make sense to me.
e.g 2 paragraphs for, and 1 against or 1 paragraph for and 2 against. it wouldnt be a balanced discussion. So is 4 the best way to go?

[totaled]

You can score well with either 3 or 4. I always made sure i had 4 paragraphs, cos in the exam, not many people can write 4 decent, well-argued points within one hr, so if i pulled it off, i knew i was in for a good score

In regards to for and against, you  can have 2 for 2 against, or even 3 for 1 against etc.
as long as you've covered both sides, and investigated the topic from most angles, its okay.

[sahanc]

In terms of the number of paragraphs, there's no hard and fast rule. Personally, I preferred to have 3 body paragraphs, since I tended to frame my response as three broad ideas, with a number of smaller 'sub-points' within each of them. As a result, each of those paragraphs was quite fleshed out and of considerable length. However, I know many high-achieving students prefer having 4 paragraphs - if you find it easier to group your response this way, then it's just as good a method.

In terms of having a 'balanced' discussion, you're not obligated to explore both sides of the topic equally. In fact, it's important that you develop some sort of contention; despite the topic being worded 'discuss', your 3/4 main points should link together to form some sort of main argument. This contention can be a 'balanced' one (taking a middle stance), or you can 'mostly agree' or 'mostly disagree' with the topic. The most important thing to do here is to make it clear which parts of the topic you agree/disagree with, essentially you shouldn't have two paragraphs that contradict each other.

Hope that helps

[soccerboi]

So, for discussion type topics, it doent need to be a balanced discussion? we can lean onto sides,as long as we've presented points from both sides?

[sahanc]

Yep, in fact you can even wholly agree or disagree if you feel that it's appropriate. Generally most high-achieving students will take a 'reasoned' approach (disagreeing with at least one part of the topic), because often topics are quite definitive and taking a nuanced stance can show sophistication. With some topics it might make more sense to agree completely though.

It is important however that you ADDRESS all the key parts of the topic, ie explain why you agree/disagree. You should more or less be discussing every part of the topic that could be taken as an opinion somewhere in the essay. There's an example of students not properly addressing the topic in the 2010 Assesment Report - one of the Cosi questions.