Subjects:

Theory:

You are required to write an introduction paragraph which puts the subject into context. For this you can take the question and rewrite it in your own words, which is a skill called PARAPHRASING and it gets you marks in the exam.

So,

Do you think it's better to stay in your own country for your holidays, or to visit another country?

becomes

Some people believe we should not go abroad for our holidays, that it's better to spend our free time in our own country.

The first thing the Cambridge handbook says is that you need to agree or disagree with a statement.

By changing the question to a statement, you now have something to agree or disagree with.

So here you say whether you agree or not:

I don't agree.

Now it is important to think about what you are going to write about. If you say I agree, it's very difficult to develop ideas, so it is better to disagree. For that reason, having decided what position you are happy with about the question, you need to phrase the statement so you can disagree with the right information.

Let me give you an example:

The question gives me two choices:

holidays abroad are better than local holiday, or local holidays are better than holidays abroad.

I want to write about holidays abroad being better than local holidays, so I disagree with people who say local holidays are better. So my statement is:

Some people believe we should not go abroad for our holidays, that it's better to spend our free time in our own country. = Some people believe local holidays are better than holidays abroad.

If I wanted to write about local holidays being better, my statement would be:

Some people believe we should go abroad for our holidays, that it's better to spend our free time in another country. = Some people believe holidays abroad are better than local holidays.

Now I can disagree.

Then the handbook requires the student to clearly state what his or her opinion is:

I think that holidays abroad can be educational, economical and environmentally friendly.

and it is important to use all the notes given in the question, which have been underlined here.

The handbook also states that all opinions must be supported by justification, so:

BECAUSE

Cheap flights enable people to travel to go to other countries which wasn't possible in the past. students can get railcards which don't cost much, and visit other countries. Sometimes it costs less to travel abroad than at home.

Holidays don't have to be bad for the environment. Much of the journey can be done by ship, train or bus. Once there, accommodation may be in tents or in country houses that use little energy, with local travel by horse, by bicycle or on foot.

Young people need to learn about the world which they cannot do by staying at home.

This is the start of the process, but some elements need to be repositioned to give the document the correct structure.

We will be doing that in the next section.