ielts general essay writing tips

• IELTS General Writing Task 2: Essay Sample Answers

The 2nd task in IELTS General Writing is to write an essay. Here are the examples of successful responses for a high score. Pay attention to the structure of the answer and how paragraphs composition; main ideas and the examples they are supported with.

IELTS General Writing Task 2 looks like this (part in bold changes).

WRITING TASK 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: Some people think that the teenage years are the happiest times of most people's lives. Others think that adult life brings more happiness, in spite of greater responsibilities. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

In this task you should:      Explain the first point of view      Explain the second point of view      Add your opinion

Sample answer:

What's the happiest time in people's lives: youth or old age; school, career or retirement? All of these have been suggested, but teenage years and adulthood both have many supporters.

Those who believe teenagers are the happiest people cite their lack of responsibilities as a significant factor. They are supported financially and emotionally by their parents, and although they may be included in family decisions, they're not ultimately responsible. However, adolescents are on the threshold of adult life: they're old enough to get a part-time job, so they can enjoy their first taste of financial independence, and their future study and career lie ahead.

Away from these serious concerns, young people have an active social life with their friends, often simply by hanging out with them. And of course, there’s the excitement of first love and first heartbreak. With all this to experience, teenagers see their parents' lives as boring and stressful.

However, the reverse is also true. Adults see anxious, self-dramatising adolescents, and appreciate the joys of maturity. These may include a contented family life, long-lasting friendships and a career. Long-term relationships may not have the fireworks of adolescence, but are stronger for it, because of the wealth of shared experience. At work, many of us are challenged and stimulated by the increasing, professional skills we acquire, which ensures that our jobs remain interesting.

The greatest benefit, though, is that maturity gives you greater confidence in your own judgement, in all areas of life. You’re not afraid to express your opinion when others disagree and, unlike a teenager, you know when to let things go.

Both these periods can be happy times, but I look back at my own teenage years, with no desire to go back. Adult life may be less dramatic, but fireworks don’t keep you warm

In cities and towns all over the world the high volume of traffic is a problem.

What are the causes of this and what actions can be taken to solve this problem?

It is undoubtedly the case that urban areas around the world increasingly suffer from congestion. In this essay, I examine the reasons for this trend and suggest some practical policies the authorities could implement to reduce the level of traffic in our cities.

The first step is to understand why traffic has increased in towns and cities. Broadly speaking, there are three main reasons for this. One is that cars have become more affordable for the average consumer and they are no longer a luxury item, but something that most families expect to own. A second reason is that public transport has become increasingly unreliable in recent years, not least because many bus and train services have been reduced because of the difficulty in funding them. The third reason is that society has in general become more mobile and this means more people are prepared to commute to work by car than they were before.

There is almost certainly no one solution to this problem given the complexity of its causes. However, one option has to be to improve the reliability of public transport to encourage people to take the bus or the train rather than get in the car. It would also be possible to discourage people from driving to work by introducing special tariffs for using the roads, especially during peak periods. A successful example of this is the congestion charge scheme in London which has certainly reduced the level of trafficin inner-city areas.

In conclusion, there are a variety of different factors that have led to rising levels of traffic in urban areas. While it may not be possible to find a complete solution, any action should probably involve encouraging greater use of public transport and making it more expensive for the motorist to drive in urban areas.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: Some people believe that children should be allowed to stay at home and play until they are six or seven years old. Others believe that it is important for young children to go to school as soon as possible. What do you think are the advantages of attending school from a young age? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

Here we write about the benefits. Remember: 1 advantage = 1 paragraph.

In many places today, children start primary school at around the age of six or seven. However, because it is more likely now that both parents work, there is little opportunity for children to stay in their own home up to that age. Instead, they will probably go to a nursery school when they are much younger. While some people think this may be damaging to a child’s development, or to a child’s relationship with his or her parents, in fact there are many advantages to having school experience at a young age. Firstly, a child will learn to interact with a lot of different people and some children learn to communicate very early because of this. They are generally more confident and independent than children who stay at home with their parents and who are not used to strangers or new situations. Such children find their first day at school at the age of six very frightening and this may have a negative effect on how they learn. Another advantage of going to school at an early age is that children develop faster socially. They make friends and learn how to get on with other children of a similar age. This is often not possible at home because they are the only child, or because their brothers or sisters are older or younger. So overall, I believe that, attending school from a young age is good for most children. They still spend plenty of time at home with their parents, so they can benefit from both environments.

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IELTS Writing Task 2: Essay Planning Tips

IELTS essay planning tips. Learn how to plan your IELTS essay successfully. Learn how to use your time to plan ideas and paragraphs as well as other essential aspects of your IELTS essay.

Should I spend time planning my essay?

Yes, you should. 50% of your marks as based on your ability to answer the essay question directly, present relevant ideas, have clear supporting points to extend the main ideas, to organise your ideas and have logical paragraphing. So, spending time planning is essential for any student aiming for band score 6, 7, 8 or 9.

When you get to writing task 2, you will be tired. You will already have done the listening test, reading test and writing task 1. This means your concentration and energy levels will be low. It is easy to make a mistake with the essay question, lose focus in your writing and present disorganised ideas. This is another reason why planning is so important. It helps you focus and create a clear strategy with clear ideas. This will make writing your essay easier and help you write a strong essay.

How much time should I spend planning?

Some teachers will tell you to plan for at least 10 minutes. This is good advice but I know what most students are too nervous to spend so much time planning. Other teachers advise students to spend about 3 minutes. This is enough to plan main ideas but not to plan supporting points and to organise ideas.

I advise you to spend at least 5 minutes planning. You must practice planning your essay and calculate how long it really takes you to create a strong plan for your essay. Whatever you decide, know that planning is critical. Lack of planning is the common downfall of most students.

What should I plan before I start writing?

You should have a clear outline of the following before you start your essay:

• identifying the issues in the essay question
• brainstorming main points
• choosing the best main points
• planning supporting points
• organising paragraphs

Should I practice planning my essays at home before my test?

Yes, definitely. There is a skill to good logical essay planning which you need to practice. On this blog, I have over 100 essay questions for IELTS writing task 2. While it might be difficult to practice writing over 100, you should certainly spend time planning a lot of them even if you don’t have time to write the full essay. The better you are at planning, the better your essay will be. See the link below for essay questions.

Where can I write my plan?

You can write your plan on the question paper. There is plenty of room to write on the question paper and the examiner will not see it. The examiner only sees the answer sheet. So, use the question paper to plan your essay.

I have seen many high level students with very good English fail to get band score 7, not because of their English, but because of their poor essay planning. Don’t let that happen to you! Plan your essay thoroughly before you start writing your essay.

Recommended

• Band Scores 5 to 8 Explained for Writing Task 2
• Over 100 Essay Questions for IELTS
• Essay Ideas for Writing Task 2
• All Writing Task 2 Lessons & Tips

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Thank you Liz for all you do for us. Please I wrote an essay on this topic; Some people think that the government is wasting money on the arts and that this money could be better spent elsewhere. To what extent do you agree with this. Most people believe that the government spends a lot of money on the arts and that the money could be invested in something better. In my opinion,I agree that the government spends a lot of money on arts than investing in health. Firstly,health is an aspect of an individual’s life that deals with a state of well being either physically, emotionally, socially and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health encompasses the state of being free from sickness but the government does not invest well on this aspect as can be seen in the areas where there are no rehabilitation centres or programmes to help persons in the society who may be recovering from mental stress or sickness,to help them adapt well into the society,neither are there good hospitals and facilities to improve people’s health and well being. Some hospitals lack essential equipments that is necessary to carry out investigations and sometimes the hospitals make use of worn-out instruments which gives false readings and hence leading to judgement of a wrong diagnosis. On the one hand, the government maps out huge amount of money to be used on arts,artworks, exhibitions and displays . She also redecorates the museum always and forgets some important aspect of of every individual’s life. Yes,it is true that the museum should be in good shape and function so that the crafts and old artifacts in it will be preserved but if the people that would utilize it are not with good health, of what essence is it? In conclusion, I would recommend that less money should be spent by the government on arts and more invested in science , technology and health so as to create a balance and improve the lives of the people.

Please help to rate it let me know how much I need to practice. Thank you.

Children brought up in families with less money are better prepared for life than those from whealthy families? To what extend do you agree or disagree?

Ans- childhood is a age when children learn useful skills and with its help make their future better . Some people think that pupils from middle class familiea are provident for their future comparing to those belong from prosperous families . However, in my point of view ,family financial status alone cannot impact much on children future prepration

On the one hand ,children from poor families know the conditions of their family life and they donot waste money . Poor family students often seen doing best in school ans universities . However ,some children from middle class families donot get proper financial support from their family and will not able to take admission in finer school and college . children from poor families work somewhere to fulfil their needs that donot provide them much time for studies.

On the other hand, pupils from rich families often seen in parties ,pubs and clubs .They donot care for money because their families have enough money to give them facilities to join superior university and can hire personal tutor. Needless to say, that not every child belong form wealty family is week in studies and donot care for their future.

In conclusion, it is often seen that children from middle class families are much aware comparing to those belong from high class families .But i personally believe that, family conditions alone cannot allow pupils to take decision for future .Family environment ,parents behaviour and student own thinking ability also play a crucial role to be prepared for future

Please tell me that how many band this essay can get i will be happy if you reply😊

Hi liz Thank you so much for your website I have a question and hope you could help me asap. I’m close to my exam but confused. You know far better than me one criterion for band 7 8 is that “each paragraph focuses on one central topic” . I saw an IELTS learning video says do not put two three points in one paragraph base on law above. It will lower your score. That says just tell one, then explain it and finally give an example. So, is it true? In your videos you are putting some numbers of reasons in a paragraph (showing them with firstly, secondly, one problem, another issue). Although you extended every points, it is not against rule of “one central topic on one paragraph”?! Is not several topic?

I will be grateful if you answer. I used to your method as more answers give the chance to write more to reach 250 word limit and in my level, extending just one topic could not be that easy. What do you think? Thanks.

I can understand your confusion. The band score descriptors do say “each paragraph focused on one central topic”. For example, all advantages in one paragraph is a central topic – it is a collection of advantages. This is 100% normal for IELTS and does come under the category of central topic. Paragraphing in IELTS is very largely about logic. I hope this helps.

I have two more days for my IELTS and I`ve realized that I`m nowhere close to scoring more than 6 due to lack of my preparation.I’m relying on your videos and whatever I score, I owe it to you. I found your videos and you are my savior. Thank you Liz.

Use your two days carefully. Make sure you review this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-help-faq/ and also read this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-exam-tips-on-the-day/ . Make a short list of other things to check. Good luck!

Thank you for this amazing IELTS source. I have struggle with generating ideas for writing task-2. My mind always goes to writing fancy ideas but it ends with not organizing my thoughts properly. Could you please tell me how to organize ideas?How to simple simple and find relevant ideas?

Organising ideas is about technique. Gaining ideas is about learning ideas. For technique, see my Advanced Lessons. For ideas see my Ideas E-book: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hi dear Liz I used to think it is incorrect to mention ” I will discuss ” in an academic essay until two weeks ago that I was told by my Ielts tutor that I “must” use the pronoun “I” in my IELTS writing task 2. I was wondering what is the correct answer?

That is 100% untrue. If the instructions ask for your opinion, you must give it. The only way to write your personal opinion in English is to write: I think or I believe or In my opinion or I agree etc. So, you must use “I” if the instructions call for it. If the instructions do not call for it, you don’t use it. Just follow the instructions. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hello Liz I’m Alphonse Taju from Cameroon. I appreciate ur wonderful work here. Infact it’s really helping me through my preparation. I’m so privileged to have come to know this blog.

Pls is there a link which explains other forms of task 2 essay questions apart from opinion essay?? Thanks in advance for ur reply

Click on “Writing task 2” on the RED BAR at the top of the website.

Hello Liz, Do we get higher band score for better ideas ? If I maintain the structure and give supporting points along with examples, will it still not boost the band score? Please advise mam

All your answers are found on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hi Liz, I am Nitin Singh from India. I read your blog posts & article about tips to get high score in IELTS exam. Your viewpoints are really worth to follow and your suggestions are really good. I was doing practice for IELTS general writing task 2 by writing essays. When I saw few examples, I found a line “This essay will first discuss about advantages of and then outline about disadvantages” (for an essay about advantages or disadvantages) . This line “This essay will first discuss……and then…..” was written in all different type of essays (Opinion/Advantages or disadvantages/Discussion etc). My question- is it OK to write this line in all types of messages? Will it make structure of my essay better to get more score? Kindly guide me.

This is an English test. You are marked on your ability to create your own sentences.

Would mind showing us an example how do you plan an essay? Maybe you could use an essay from the suggested 100.

My full writing task 2 lessons are my advanced lessons: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

I want to purchase your all videos but I live in Turkey ,Paypal is forbidden here . I need to buy ıf there is another method , for example I have credıt card. You have mentioned about your site but ı could not find this method to buy it.

Please help me.

Using either an account or card is fine, but paypal will process the transaction. Try asking a friend elsewhere to buy the lessons for you.

The last link in this article is linked to a 404 (not found) page.

Thanks for letting me know – I fixed it.

Thank you so much for all your tutorials. I found them very beneficial. I am currently practicing Writing Task 2 GT and I would like to see sample answers to some of the common essay questions. Is there a link for that?

Thanks again Nadine

You can find essay questions here: https://ieltsliz.com/100-ielts-essay-questions/ . you can find all tips, lessons and model essays here: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hello Liz mam I revently had a discussion with a ielts trainer near my house.He said you can get a high band score only if u write factual information.For example write international examples, write dates of events related to information of your topic. He said start reading newspaper for this..google search etc. What should i do? I AM TOTALLY CONFUSED

The examiner does not check dates or facts. Do you really think the examiner reads your task 2 essay and then researches your data? Of course not. The examiner will mark you on the following band requirements: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/ . Accuracy of data is not part of the writing task 2 marking criteria. Also see my model essays on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hello Liz Mam I use very long sentences during my ielts writing practise. Please give me some tios for better writing and a good score.

I am currently writing a grammar list e-book for writing task 2 – I hope to have it ready to purchase in a couple of months. Long sentences are not always good. You should be limiting the length and selecting different types of sentence structures.

Hello Liz, I am interested with the book. Could you notify me, when it is ready to purchase. You can send me the email.

I’ll post a notice on this site when it’s ready. I’m hoping to have it ready by March or April. Sorry it can’t be sooner.

Can I write task 2 essay entirely based on personal experience?

It is a formal essay so keep a formal content.

Hello Liz my question is that it is very difficult to me to analyze many questions in writing task 2 . I don’t know how to write introduction paragraph in a good way . Similarly, planning brainstorm ideas, and how to describe it with example, mentioning topic sentence is more difficult for me. Please Liz help me about this issue I am very weak in ielts task 2. I am unable to get good marks in writing. How can I get at least 6.5 in ielts writing thank you ..

It sounds like you need to learn step by step. I suggest you get one of my advanced writing task 2 lessons. They are not cheap but they will answer your questions and help you see more clearly and write an essay more easily: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hi Liz I want to know how much panulty made on grammatical mistakes both inWT-1 and 2

Grammar counts for 25% of your marks in writing. Your grammar is assessed by range and accuracy.

Hey Liz , I have my exam within 3 days . I would like to know, do they reduced the score if cancel out or strike out your mistake and rewrite in above it . It looks shabby atimes . Could please answer my question .

If the examiner can easily read your writing, it’s fine. If the examiner can’t easily read your writing, it will impact your score.

1.So the strike words or crossed words will be ignore and not affect the score right as long as it can be read ? 2.Also can I put a small arrow “^” to indicate the word have replaced is it wrong or right ? 3. Neat and non strike essay increase your band score .

Thank for the reply Could please answer these questions too.

I don’t know what you mean by non-strike essay. This is not an English term. You can alter mistakes, insert new words and as long as it is clear, it won’t affect your score.

This tip will really help me to manage my time in writing . All your lessons were also great help to me to prepare for the exam . Thank you so much 🙂

First of all thank you for such useful tips. My question is, Does poor hand writing affect getting a good band? My hand writing is not very clear no matter how hard I try, it never looks pretty on paper. Please advise.

Many thanks Sajid

If the examiner can’t read it, you will get a low score.

Liz I was wondering if I could write some samples for the writing tasks both 1 and 2 and send you for comments and suggestions. Would that be all right? How would I mail them to you? I missed out on my required band score just by 0.5 getting a 6.5 instead of 7 so I really need to improve it! Thanks.

I’m so sorry but I don’t offer that service.

I wish to confirm few things from you regarding TASK-2 in GT. 1) If in the Question, it’s not mentioned to give relevant examples and we quotes them, will we be marked negatively on that? 2) In my previous exams, I wrote approx 390-400 words and I got 6.5…was I marked negatively if I exceed the limit ?

1) it’s fine to use examples when you want 2) a long essay will produce more errors and be less focused – so it will not help your score. You should aim for between 270 and 290 words for task 2 with no errors (this means spending time proof reading).

Hi Liz. Wanted to know regarding the writing task 1 do we give any opinion or suggestion or possible explanation for the graph/pie figures or only describe the data?

You NEVER give an opinion. Task 1 is a factual report based on the information given – not your views. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-1-lessons-and-tips/

Hi Liz, Thank you for your help. I normally come up with good answers ( main points ) and examples ; however, I found out that my weak point is to develop supporting points. can you talk more about this part please?

Thanks Abdu

People think supporting points are special and different ideas. Your body paragraph should contain a topic sentence which is your main point. All sentences after that explain your main point in more detail – that’s all. Supporting sentences are just more details.

Dear Liz, Just now I bought your Advanced lessons to improve my writing skill. I took IELTS GT last month and got 6.5 in writing. I want to get 7. Hope I would get 7 in next sitting after studying your advanced lesson. If you have any special advice for students those who are struck on 6.5, please do share with us

Here are some pointers: 1. Avoid errors in grammar or vocab. This means – don’t make your sentences too long, keep them accurate, don’t use words you are not 100% sure about. Aim for accuracy and don’t try to impress. 2. This is a language test. That means each sentence is unique to you and your essay. Don’t use learned expressions or phrases, such as “this essay will discuss the …” 3. Address all issues in the question and follow the instructions. Never add anything that isn’t asked for. 4. Learn from my advanced lessons. I’m sure you will have your eyes opened.

Hi Liz, I found out your blog while searching for IELTS tips on the internet. Thank you very much for this resourceful and very helpful blog. This is just what I was looking for. Since I’m preparing by myself, I was afraid of the process of studying. Your blog is a guide for me from now on. Thank you very much!!

I’m glad you found my website. Remember , the more you understand about the test, the less confused you will feel and the more your confidence will grow 🙂 Good luck!

Hi Mam, Good day to you. could you please give your opinion that, which book is right choice to buy? Is it Cambridge IELTS 11 or 12 Academic?

They are both fine. Book 12 is more recent.

Thank you so much . You are the best !

Hi Mam, Is it advisable to use pencil for the task 2 in the academic?

It’s your choice entirely in the writing test. What do you feel most comfortable using?

I think that using pencil will make me to write without any mistakes I mean in case if i need to correct it can easily handle . Do I need to make sure that my entire writing is neat? Is that more important?

It needs to be easy for the examiner to read.

I think I understand how to write an essay before I write it.

Hi Liz, Have you covered your lessons, tips and lectures in a book? If so, how and where can I find it. A book would be really helpful. Thanks

I don’t have a book but I do have advanced writing task 2 lessons: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hi Liz, I recently took my IELTS exam and I got a 6.5 on my Writing and I was aiming for at least a 7.0. As I was taking my Writing exam, I had trouble with time. I wrote an introduction, 2 body paragraphs and a conclusion but the words weren’t enough. Also, due to the topic, which I was not familiar with (Space Tourism) and the time constraint, I wasn’t able to organize my thoughts completely. Before I took the test, I was chatting with some of the other test takers and one of them said that she planned to do the Task 2 first and never mind if she doesn’t answer the Task 1 well or AT ALL. I was wondering if this is a good exam strategy. Should I answer the Task 2 first then get to my Task 1 after IF I have more time? What if I don’t get to finish my Task 1 because I spent too much time trying to pass my Task 2? Since in the Writing Test, Task 2 has a bigger point percentage than Task 1.

You can decide which one to do first. But to decide that task 1 isn’t worth much is wrong. It is worth 33% of your marks – that’s quite a lot. You should be training yourself to do task 2 in 40 mins and task 1 in 20 mins. You should be practising this at home. The topic of space tourism is well known in IELTS and it is listed on my essay questions page: https://ieltsliz.com/100-ielts-essay-questions/ . This means you didn’t prepare all the topics sufficiently. Start preparing ideas for common topics and recent topics: http://www.ieltsliz.com/recent-ielts-questions-and-topics and also practise timing.

Hi liz thank you very much for the very nice level of the information you are giving to us. i have one point which is really confusing me always in task 2 writing . for example, the video that you posted in you tube about single sex schools VS mixed schools or the essays which have the same way of presentation. should i mention advantages and disadvantages of the single sex schools and then go to the mixed schools paragraph and again mention advantages and disadvantages. or i should plan my essay by writing FIRSTLY the advantages of the single sex schools and then mixed schools and SECONDLY the disadvantages of the single sex schools and mixed schools. or i should mention only the advantages of both kind of schools in 2 paragraphs. thank you

I posted a video about ideas for co-ed schools or single sex schools – only the ideas. You must use those ideas appropriately for the essay question. I suggest you start looking at model essays and other tips: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Dear Lize, First, i am extremely appreciating what you did for us as IELTS success seekers. I had so mush of your tips and lessons through the last few months. I did my IELTS test on 13th May 2017. I thing my performance in Reading, Writing and Speaking was OK (thanks to your videos and tips), however, i don’t think my grade in Listing will be as i was wishing. For the Writing test: Task 1: write a letter responding to Airline company survey about your last trip with them. how you heard about them, what did you like and what is your recommendations. Task 2: some people thing that employees at the age of 60 or 65 should be retired, but others think they shouldn’t be released until they choose to. what is your opinion? for the Speaking test: after the casual introduction. where you live and what you like about it, do you wish to stay living there and why? speak about a situation when you tried new foreign food, when and where, what did like and dislike. Do you like shoes? do you think that people expend so much on shoes, do people choose based on where it made? and why? choosing based on where it made, is it discrimination? why and why not? My results will be after 13 days. Please wish me luck.

Thanks for sharing 🙂 Good luck!!

Hi Liz, i have been following your webpage from a week and very thankful for your prompt replies and valuable suggestions. Im currently using this blog for my GT prepration. Below i have made an attempt to task1 above assuming it to be formal, i may be wrong but appreciate your quick comments and suggestions. If you were an examiner, what band do you give. Sorry but im curious here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Sir, My name is Jagan. I have come across your advertisement and considered your airliner for one of my recent trip to London. I am writing this letter in response to your survey request to prvide my feedback followed by some recommendations.

I have booked my travel ticket using your webpage. It is very intutive and well organised. I personally liked the way you have communicated the flight departure information with all germane details.

I also liked and enjoyed the inside ambience of your aircraft that was clean and hygenic. Arrangements like magazines, music CDs and ear phones are much appreciated. The onboard crew’s response and politeness is impressive. The food was delicious and served with care.

Having enjoyed my travel, I would like to recommend availabilty of general physician onboard who could help the passengers with high altitude numbness and vomiting sensations. It would be great to increase the limit of water bottles to two from one.

I hope my recommendations will help you to serve better.

Yours Faithfully, Jagan Mudinendla ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks in advance….

Thanks Liz… your tips and lectures were amazing…. i jut prepared for two days from your blog and did very well in today’s exams… but not sure about speaking..

I’m glad to hear it went well for you. I’ll keep my fingers crossed you get a good score in speaking 🙂

hello mam, while writing in task 1 and task 2 should I underline with pencil the main points???????

Not in your writing, no. The examiner will know the main points because of the way you organise your essay. Purchase my advanced lessons if you need training: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore

Good afternoon liz

When we get an opinion type of essay, after brainstorming ideas and the selection of relevant ideas how can we for the explanation ? Do you have any method to explain our ponits / arguments?

Each body paragraph states one reason why you have your opinion. Each body paragraph presents one main point with explanation and detail to support or explain your view.

Hi Liz!! Can we use citations of authorities, of the news, science or just “most psycologist state that children…” as supporting points in Essay 2? I´m afraid about my arguments..

You are not marked on evidence or facts. You are marked on your language and your explanations which support your ideas. Just explain it in your own words.

great articles indeed

Hopefully next month 🙂

FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE AND THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL WORK ON THIS SITE. THIS IS GREAT HELP FOR THE CANDIDATES.

IF YOU COULD POSSIBLY ANSWER ONE QUESTION I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THAT CAN I USE UNCOMMON VOCABULARY WHILE ATTEMPTING TASK 2 FOR EXAMPLE WORDS LIKE “ACQUIESCE ” IN STEAD OF AGREE ? AND IS THE PASSIVE VOICE MORE ACCEPTABLE FOR TASK 2?

Uncommon vocabulary is fine to use when it is appropriate but it will not give you a higher score when you use is inappropriately. In normal essay writing for IELTS, we do not write “acquiesce”, however we do use “agree”. Be appropriate at all times – any use of inappropriate vocabulary will lower your score. The passive voice is used when it is appropriate, for example “it is thought that” instead of “people think that”.

Thanks for your reply

I have an ambition to score 9 bands. Is it possible? If yes please give some tips.

Band 9 is possible if you have excellent English and understand IELTS thoroughly.

Hello Thanks for your useful website in Writing task2,what should we do if we would not know the meaning of the keyword.for example,if the topic asks us to explain our opinion about Anorixia(one of my friend`s topic) would you please guide me?

This is a difficult situation. In writing task 2, you are being marked on your ability to address all the issues in the essay question. If you don’t understand the words, you won’t get a high score. There is nothing you can do except try to guess the meaning and write your essay as closely to the topic as you can. Each exam is a gamble in some way as you can’t predict the topics which is why some students take more than one test.

Hi mam My ielts exam date 4 August 2016 Please send me some information writing task 2 questions

https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hello liz.. I want to know about the singular and plural answers in listening.. if I could just catch the word and not the tense.. for example waiter and waiters.. what should I do. Can I write the answer using a slash for example.. waiter/waiters or a bracket like waiter(s)… to be on a safer side….

You write one answer.

Hi mam, I have an advise for everyone, please read the question at least three time .Then only you will understand the question clearly.

Good advice. Not only read it three times but underline key words in the question to ensure your essay addresses all parts of the task.

Hi mam can u please give me an example about how actually u prepare ur plan brainstorming for eassy give me some example so that i can practise a bit please?

See my advanced lessons which explain how to analyse the essay question and organise ideas: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore

Dear Liz Is it right if I have my topic sentence in the middle or at the end of a paragraph? I mean “starting the paragraph with explanation or supporting ideas, then putting the topic sentence if it is possible to logically and grammatically add it”. Will it increase my overall band score? I’m looking forward to hearing you at your earliest convenience. Thanks in advance

https://ieltsliz.com/liz-notice-2015-2016/

Mam can I write an idiom in the conclusion.. like for example.. in conclusion, I am of the opinion that children should be given formal education at school as it is the ‘need of the hour’.

Mam I also wish to know.. recently I appeared for an ielts exam. General category.. my essay question was Newspaper and music I available for free on internet. Is it a positive or negative trend? I should write both the advantages and disadvantages if I am not wrong.. (the question is not completely the same but near it for sure)

Just answer the question: do you think it is a positive trend or do you think it is a negative trend?

https://ieltsliz.com/using-quotes-or-idioms-in-your-ielts-essay/

hi😊 good day., i am practicing myself on the writing area where i only got a 5.5 score on my first ielts exam., i will retake ielts on saturday ( jan. 23) please help me do better to get a band score of at least 6 here is a writing on what i have done in a full 40 mins… >>there seems to be an increasing number of serious crimes committed each year. while some think the best way is to use the death penalty as a deterrant , many people believe that other measures will be needed. discuss both sides. it seems taht there is a growing number of serius crimes committed each year cycle. a number of people believe that the most effective method as a deterrent is to use the death penalty, on the other hand , people think that there are other measures that will be needed. death penalty have been implemented in some countries like china, uae and malaysia. by this punishment, people in their country are afraid to commit a crime. they are afraid to be caught and be put into death. though, there are still some who have committed crimes. before the day of their scheduled death penalty, their family members were the ones who were trying to convince the government to give them another chance and forgive the culprit. but having mercy with the relatives will not hinder the official to push through the punishment & abide to their law. another were the tourists. they have commited a crime because they are unaware of the law and their practices that such death penalty is being used in their country. though they are unaware, they are still unexcused to acquire the said penalty. as tonwhat the law states ” ignorance of the law excuses no one ” . many have witnessed death penalty is really implemented and no one is exempted because they are just following the law. thus, many people believe that death penalyty is the best method to reduce the number of crimes annually. however , other believe that other measures will be needed to control the increasing number of crimes. such measures are putting the culprit into jail,and also having the person person pay the damages he has done. this punishment will give the suspect a little chance to put right what he has done wrong. by this methods, the person will realize that it is not easy to be in prisonned and to pay a big amount of money. he is internalizing that he will not commit a crime agaiin because he is now suffering inside the cell and in paying a big amount of money, it is a big lost for the person. by this methods, folks will be aware that if you will commit a crime there is a certain punishment that would be given to you. this will be a factor to decrease the crimes that is happening in a year. 😊please have time to read it and please give comments on my weaknesses . thank you 😄

Mam I am confused about writing the main paragraphs of the essay , please help me on that

I have two questions

1. Even though I use a pencil, I keep missing words or phrases in the middle of sentences, which I notice later. What I always do is use the following arrow sign to add the info – ” ^ ” on top. But is it forbidden to use this technique in the IELTS exam?

2. Does neatness matter?

I am looking forward to your reply. And I really wanted to thank you for helping all of us prepare for this exam.

I bought 3 of your videos and I watched discussion essay video today. I have a query writing one sided discussion essays. As per video tutorial, in BP1, you have given your opinion along with others’ view and in BP2, opinions of people for other side . But is it not required to mention why we are not choosing the second opinion?

I am practising sample discussion essay questions now. Your video helped me a lot.

Thanks and Regards, Pallavi

If the question was “To what extent do you agree” you should certainly explain why you don’t agree with the other side because your whole essay is about giving your opinion in lots of detail. However, this is a discussion essay with an opinion. That means the opinion takes up only 30% of the whole essay. You don’t have enough words to explain why you support one side and also why you don’t support the other side. For this reason, the structures I have suggested work best. All the best Liz

I got your point now. Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Regards, Pallavi

My question is , is there any word limit for writing example in writing task 2. How many examples we can write in writing task 2.

Don’t write more than one for each main points. It is unnecessary to write more. Liz

Thanks for the wonderful information. I have a question, what tense shall I choose in writings task 2? Can I choose more than one tense? What about passive and active voices? And what shall I use?

See my model essays for writing task 2 can count the number of tenses I use. All the best Liz

Dear Liz Thanks for the reply in which you recommended me your video lesson on task conclusion /overview. But my problem is that I can’t open any of your video lessons. Don’t know how to get it open. If u could kindly help or if I can find these lessons in written form Thanks and regards

All my videos are hosted with youtube. The information is only contained on the videos. Sorry Liz

Dear Liz Do we have to write conclusion in task 1????? Waiting for your valuable reply

Please see this lesson: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-tips-conclusion-or-overview-for-writing-task-1/ Liz

Hello, I found in some Ielts task 2 questions of writing this sort of sentence : “Do you have any reservations?” or similar. Can you please explain me what this means Thanks

There is no IELTS writing task 2 question like that. You should only be using IELTS Cambridge test papers to practice writing. All the best Liz

Dear teacher, Should we use these terms: 1. However, we should not turn a blind eye to the unexpected outcomes, one of which is the… 2. This is not to say that… / Those who harbor the view that…would argue that…

Certainly don’t use the first one. You can’t memorise a whole sentence or 17 words together and pretend that they are your own. The examiner will know that you have memorised that language and will not count it. For the other examples, they are shorter and more flexible so are fine. All the best Liz

Thanks a lot for your advice 🙂 I also find this kind of question confusing: ‘Do you think this is a positive or negative development?’ do I discuss both sides along with giving my opinion? or should I focus on my chosen view?

I don’t know how to explain it more clearly. It does not ask for both, it does not say “and”. It says “or” which means you choose. Your opinion is your choice and is the only task given to you. The whole essay is your answer. You chose one and explain it. All the best Liz

Thank you so much for your fantastic website. For the essays that ask for the reasons of a specific problem as well as the solutions, can we include the solution at the end of each paragraph that starts with the topic of the reasons of the problem? If not, how can we arrange the paragraphs if we want to offer more than one solution? What I usually do is: introduction, 1st reason or main point in the 1st paragraph, 2nd reason in the other paragraph, and one solution that is included in conclusion. Is that okay? Also, I usually, write my thesis as: “This essay will explore the reasons of this issue as well as the solutions.” In this way, I try to attract the reader’s attention to follow the essay for my reasons and solutions, Is that okay or do I need to mention the specific reasons and solutions in my thesis? I’m a bit confused, would you please advise?

Thank you in advance

Always keep your paragraphing clear and logical. One body paragraph – reason(s) and one body paragraph for the solution(s). All the best Liz

Dear mam, I have just found your website and it’s very important every ielts test takers as I. So I first thank for you. I had five times ielts general module exam and unfortunately, every time I have received 5.5 for reading and listening how can I improve my score up to 7 for both .

Try this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-reading-tips-how-can-i-improve-my-score/ Liz

Respected Madame, Greetings to you.I got my UKVI IELTS Academic results just today.Unfortunate enough,I scored only 6.5 in writing module where I was requiring and expecting band 7.Additionally,I scored 7 in speaking and 8 in both reading and listening.I need to achieve band 7 in each module and overall for my NMC registration in U.K.. Albeit,I am contemplating on re-evaluation but am dithering about it for the fact that it takes 7 weeks for the outcome.Therefore,I request your valuable opinion regarding re-evaluation and the chances of getting band 7 from 6.5 when evaluated by a senior British examiner. In anticipation. Your faithfully, Bobby. P.S.: kindly oblige me by evaluating my leter.

You could consider a remark for writing if you can answer “yes” to the following questions: Task 1 1. did you write a clear overview in task 1? Did your overview contain ALL key features? 2. Did you avoid the conclusion? It isn’t needed. 3. Did you support your body paragraph with facts, dates and numbers, if you had a chart, table or graph? 4. Did you write over 150 words? If you didn’t don’t bother with a remark. Task 2 5. Did you write a clear answer to the essay question in your introduction? If you were asked for an opinion, did you put it in the introduction? 6. Did you write over 250 words? If you didn’t, don’t bother with a remark. 7. Did each body paragraph have a clear central topic? 8. Did you use a range of linking devices? If you use a reasonable range, it’s ok. 9. Did you finish your essay? Did you write a conclusion? If you didn’t don’t bother with a remark. 10. Did you over paraphrase? Did you try to change words too much which produces too many errors?

Hopefully that will help you make the right decision. It is possible to get an increase of 0.5 in one skill. But it does depend on your performance relating to the above points. All the best Liz

I need your suggestion as I’m unable to figure out where I am losing the score.

S-6.5, R-7.5, L-7.5, W-7.0 (1st attempt, 13 Jun) S-8.0, R-8.0, L-8.0, W-6.0 (2nd attempt, 27 Jun)

As I needed at least a 7 in each section, I knew it after 1st attempt that I’d messed it up in Speaking and immediately booked the next available date.

However, in next one as you can see, my score has dropped by an entire band (7.0 to 6.0) in Writing, though, the score went up in all the other sections.

As far as Writing goes, I think I’ve lost marks in task achievement section.

It was a double essay question and I did follow your paraphrasing techniques in the introduction as well as conclusion.

Also, made sure that I’ve directly answered both the questions.

But was not confident after exam in task achievement criteria.

Moreover, I’ve booked next exam in 2 weeks and need your suggestion on the things that I should concentrate on to get at least a 7 in Writing.

The problem with writing could lie in either task 1, task 2 or both. You mention Task Achievement but this is for task 1 not task 2. Task Response is for task 2. You need to learn more about how your writing is assessed and what the examiner is looking for. See my band score pages in the writing sections.

Also ask yourself these questions: Task 1 1. Did you write an overview? 2. Did the overview contain ALL key features? 3. Did you avoid the conclusion? 4. Did you use the right grammar, the right vocabulary and the right linking devices for the type of task? 5. Did you have two body paragraphs? 6. Did you avoiding giving too much detail? 7. Did you write over the word count?

If you answer “yes” to all the above questions, the problem might be writing task 2. You will need to review all lessons. It is a shame to book your next test in only two weeks when you don’t know where your problem lies. However, hopefully you will be successful and work on your weaknesses. All the best Liz

After you’ve pointed out, it indeed sounds silly that I’ve booked anothe exam before understanding my weaknesses.

Thanks for sharing this valuable advice.

Don’t worry. If you spend time trying to sort out your weak points, you can still do well 🙂

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How To Do IELTS Essay Writing Task 2 General And Academic

Hey there! This is former IELTS examiner Tim James here, and I am going to cover how to do the IELTS Task 2 essay questions. Here's what you need to do:

Analyse the question carefully, underlining keywords and decide what type of essay you need to write. Plan your answer in bullet points. Write an introduction that paraphrases the question. Write two main body paragraphs focused on the questions requirements. Add a conclusion which paraphrases your key points.

Clearly, there are a lot of details you need to know, including, how you should structure your essays depending on what type of question you have, the writing process to go through, how to score a band 7+, what tips to follow, and so much more.

Everything is covered on the links below and you can go to different sections of the page using the menu. All the techniques have been proven to work by the thousands of students I have taught already. Are you ready? Then let’s go!

This page is going to cover:

• Sample IELTS essay questions and answers
• IELTS essay structures
• The IELTS essay writing step by step guide
• How to write an IELTS band 7, 8, or 9 essay
• Useful language for IELTS essays
• IELTS essay tips and tricks
• IELTS essay practice questions
• IELTS essay lessons

In Hurry To Get The Score You Need? Grab My Course - Start Today!

Writing Task 2 Sample Essay Questions And Answers

There are 4-6 different IELTS essay question types depending on how you sort them. Each different question type requires a slightly different essay structure so it is important to know which is which. Let's take a look at each question type and and example answer.

Can you spot what is different about the structures of the different essays?

Opinion Questions

These types of questions usually include words/phrases such as:

• What is your opinion?

• Do you agree or disagree?

• To what extent do you agree of disagree?

• Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

Here's an sample question and answer:

The large amount of time and money that is spent on conserving wildlife would be better spent on improving the lives of humans.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In recent years a lot of time and money has been spent on attempting to preserve endangered animals rather than be used to aid human needs. Personally, I disagree with this philosophy and the remainder of this essay shall outline my reasons for this position.

Firstly, the value of a human life is greater than the value of an animal’s life. Every person that has ever been born has had a loving mother, or father who cared deeply about them. Most people also enjoy close relationships with other relatives and friends too. Therefore when any human life is destroyed it impacts upon more than just that one individual.

However,when an animal dies the impact is not the same because animals do not possess the  same level of consciousness as humans. For instance, humans hold funerals and gather to mourn, whereas animals generally continue with their lives as normal.

Furthermore, if a particular species needs help to survive then surely it is only a matter of time before it becomes extinct anyway. The Giant Panda is a great example of an animal that has basically been prevented from becoming extinct by the efforts of humans alone. The panda itself is poorly adapted to life in the world’s current environment and any attempts to preserve this beast will eventually be proved futile. The Chinese government spends over $12 million US dollars per year trying to keep alive a species which will probably eventually die out anyway.

In conclusion, humans lives are of greater importance and species that are dying out should be allowed to do just that. Government around the world need to recognizes the importance of human lives over animal lives.

Teaching Point: Always start with the first sentence of the introduction rephrases the original question. You should try to use different words i.e. synonyms and paraphrases of the original words in the question so that you can show to the examiner your range and level of vocabulary. You can also alter the order of the words to show your control of grammar.

This is the sentence from the question:

Which the writer has changed to:

In recent years a lot of time and money has been spent on attempting to preserve endangered animals rather than be used to aid human needs.

A word of warning though, you won't always be able to get direct synonyms for the words in the questions, and if this is the case then just use the word from the question rather than risking using a word that you are not confident about. It is better to be 100% accurate than to risk making mistakes with words you are not confident in using.

Discussion And Opinion Questions

• Discuss both sides of the argument and then give your opinion

• Discuss both views and give your opinion

• Discuss both sides of the argument and give your opinion

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your own opinion

Here's a sample question and answer:

Some people believe that building cities vertically, with tall towers, is better than building cities horizontally.

Discuss both sides and give your own opinion.

Expanding cities upward rather than outwards is thought to be a better option by certain groups of people as a means of expansion. Personally, I agree with this statement and this essay shall discuss both sides of the argument.

Firstly, expanding upwards uses less precious land and should therefore reduce the amount of countryside lost to developers. This is important if we wish to maintain the same natural wild life that we currently enjoy. If we continue to destroy the habitats of wild animals then there is a danger of unforeseen consequences. For example, if the number of foxes is reduced, due to habitat loss, then the number of rabbits may actually increase. This in turn brings further difficulties to farmers who grow crops for a living.

On the other hand, expanding outwards may create traffic issues with more cars on the road trying to access the city centre going backwards and forwards during peak times. Traffic congestion adds greatly to the stresses of living in a city can add a short journey can end up taking much longer than it should do. For instance, a 5 kilometer journey in London, which would normally take 7 minutes, may take up to 40 minutes during rush hour.

In summary, preservation of green spaces and maintaining a moderate level of traffic congestion are key reasons to avoid outward expansion. Governments around the world should formulate plans to balance the needs of all stakeholders in a community when considering expansion of cities.

Teaching Point #1 The examples that you use in your essays do not have to be real! You can actually make them up so long as they sound realistic. The examiner is not going to check if your examples are true or not but make them sound real by making them as specific as possible. This could mean giving exact numbers, or figures, or using real place names.

Teaching point #2 As this essay question asks for your opinion, it is very important to actually give your opinion and also not to change your mind and give a different opinion at the end of the essay. You can see that the writer here gave their opinion in the introduction and in the summary.

Discussion Questions

• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages

• Discus both sides of the argument

• Discuss both points of view

Consumer goods have become the most important part of people’s lives.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this?

People’s lives these days seem to be more concerned with what products they own rather than anything else. This benefits society in many ways but also provides drawbacks too. This essay shall discuss both sides of this emerging trend.

One of the primary advantages of materialism is that it boosts the economy of many countries. As demand has risen for physical goods jobs have been created to try and create products which satisfy these demands. For instance, the Apple factories in China employ hundreds of thousands of workers who would otherwise struggle to find employment. Furthermore, the lives of peoples today are infinitely better due to the development of physical goods. For example, people can play games, order food, perform financial transactions and many more things all using a tiny smart phone which would not have been possible in the past.

The advent of consumerism has bought with it certain downsides though. It seems that traditional values are being eroded as people strive to purchase more and more things. For example, according to a recent survey by the University of Manchester, on average, people spend 45% less time with their grandparents than they did just ten years ago, yet they still find time to spend on average over three hours per day on Facebook. Finally, this desire to have more and more things has increased debt levels in society to dangerous levels. Repayments, interest rates and penalties can put stress on an individual and even cause health problems too.

In conclusion, consumerism brings with it a boost for economies around the world but is also challenging the core values of society too. Only hindsight will reveal whether or not the desire for more and more physical goods is a positive thing for the global community or not.

Teaching Point #1 Note, that the candidate has not given their opinion anywhere in the essay as the questions does not ask for it. Secondly, notice how the writer has developed the first main body paragraph really well by adding a second topic sentence in the form of a further idea supporting the first main point and they have then also explained this too. This will definitely help improve the task achievement band score.

Two Part Questions

Sometimes known as problem-solution questions and direct questions. I group these all together as the essay structure you can use is essentially the same, or at least very similar. Some teachers/websites will break it down further but I think that is overcomplicating things unnecessarily.

• What are the reasons for this? What is a solution?

• What are the causes of this? How can this problem be solved?

•  What problems does this cause? What solutions can you suggest?

• Why is...? Should we...?

• Do you think...? Should we...?

• Do you think...? What other factors...?

In many cities more and more people are choosing to live on their own.

What are the reasons behind this? Is it a positive or negative trend?

In recent years, the lives of the inhabitants of large cities has been made more difficult by the number of issues that they routinely face. Personally, I feel governments should urge the public to consider relocating to less crowded towns and the following paragraphs shall outline my reasons for this belief.

The main problem with cities nowadays is the sheer number of people living there which creates a variety of serious issues. Firstly, with millions of people all commuting around a city at similar times, traffic congestion has become particularly bad in some cities. This means that employees have to either leave to go to work earlier or find an alternative means of transportation. Secondly, the rise in population levels of cities means that the amount of rubbish created has become almost intolerable. Governments are struggling to provide services to collect all the rubbish and dispose of it in a hygienic environmentally friendly manner increasing risk of disease and levels of pollution.

Allied to the above, with so much unskilled labour in cities these days, wage levels have plummeted, which means the poorer people in cities earn even less than in the past. This could actually be trapping this particular group of people in poverty, possibly for generations to come. For instance, the city of Detroit has experienced a 27% rise in population levels over the last 5 years alone with the percentage of people living in poverty soaring to a a record 35% of the city’s total population, up from 20% over the same time period.

Overall, unemployment, traffic congestion and waste management are the most significant issues faced by city residents nowadays. Governments should do all that they can to encourage people to migrate away from large cities in order to alleviate these issues for the benefit of all.

Teaching Point #1 As with any two part question, it makes sense to have one body paragraph answering each of the questions. In this example, you can see that the candidate has made a BIG mistake, instead of answering the second question in the second body paragraph, they have lost focus and simply written a second body paragraph related to the first question.

This means that they have only answered half of the question and so they will lose a lot of marks in the task achievement marking band criteria. Do not make the same mistake, always answer both questions!

According to this study , using model IELTS essays is a great way of learning what to do and not to do in an IELTS essays.

Grab My Proven Step By Step Course Targeting A Band 7+ Here!

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IELTS Essay Structures

So, did you notice the structures being used in those sample essays? I have outlined them below and recommend that you follow these structures.

Please be aware though, there is no perfect structure that will get you a band 9 magically. You need to follow a sensible/logical essay structure like these ones below, and explain your ideas with good spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary to do well in IELTS.

OPINION QUESTIONS

Introduction

• Paraphrase the question
• Give your opinion
• Say what the essay will do

Main body paragraph 1

• Topic sentence stating main point

Main body paragraph 2

• Summarise topic sentence
• Restate opinion

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Make recommendations

DISCUSSION AND OPINION QUESTIONS

• Topic sentence stating first viewpoint
• Topic sentence stating opposing viewpoint
• Summarise opposing arguments
• Restate your opinion

TWO PART QUESTIONS

• Topic sentence answering first question
• Topic sentence answering second question

Next, we will have a look at what we need to do, step-by-step, in order to write high scoring essays using those structures.

IELTS Essay Step By Step Guide (Video)

The Writing Process from Tim James on Vimeo .

My full step by step course targeting a band 7+ here!

Ielts essay step by step guide (flow-chart).

The more you practice this process the more confident you will become. Following the same process each time helps to eliminate nerves on exam day, it prevents you from making silly mistakes and means you will produce a well structured essay every time. It is how to do IELTS General and Academic questions in an efficient and time effective way and can possibly help you score an IELTS Writing Task 2 Band 9!

• Identify the essay question type. There are several different types of questions and each question type requires a particular type of structure to answer it effectively. Read how to identify question types here .

2. Generate ideas and plan your essay. A simple yet important process that will ensure you answer the main parts of the question and not run out of time. Read more about essay planning and idea generation here .

3. Write the introduction. Most introductions can be done quite simply and quickly in just 3 or 4 sentences, learn how to write introductions here .

4. Write main body paragraphs. Using your essay plan you should be able to write body paragraphs with real purpose. Discover how to write main body paragraphs here .

5. Add your conclusion. A short but important paragraph that summarises your  main ideas. Learn how to write effective conclusions here .

6. Check your essay. An essential part of writing is to check for errors. This is really important in IELTS tests as simple mistakes can effect your band score. Discover how to check your essay efficiently here .

How To Get A Band 7, 8, or 9 In IELTS Essays

In the video below I will explain what the examiners are looking for, their band marking criteria and exactly what you can do to achieve a higher band score. Sound good? You might want to make some notes as you go through this one...

Grab my course targeting a band 7+ here!

Useful language for ielts essays.

Now, let's take a look at the types of sentence starters you can use for different IELTS essay type. You can copy these and use them in your exam and your essays will sound just great! these sentence starters are mainly topic sentence starters for body paragraphs.

As a reminder, a topic sentence is the first sentence of a paragraph and it should really tell the reader what the remainder of the paragraph is about. This is great for essay 'coherence and cohesion' but also for making sure that you directly answer the question asked and get a high 'task achievement' band score too.

ALL DISCUSSION/OPINION TYPE QUESTIONS

Topic sentence starters include:

• Some people believe, one of the main benefits/downsides of…is…
• One commonly held perception is that…is dis/advantageous as it…
• One point of view is that the main benefit/drawback of…is…
• It is said that, one of the major advantages/disadvantages is…
• According to some people, one of the major positives/negative of… is…
• Certain groups of people are of the opinion that a significant advantage/drawback of… is…

And to state the opposing point of view:

• On the other hand, some people believe, one of the main benefits/downsides of…is…
• In contrast to this, is one commonly held perception that…is dis/advantageous as…
• However, another point of view is that the main benefit/drawback of…is…
• In direct contrast to this though, it is said that one of the major advantages is…
• Despite this, according to some people, one of the major positives/negative of… is…
• On the contrary, certain groups of people are of the opinion that a significant advantage/drawback of… is...

Topic sentence starters answering 'how' questions:

• Governments could start by…
• Governments could begin by…
• Firstly, governments could…
• One measure they could take is to…
• A significant first step would be to…
• An important first step would be to…

Topic sentence starters answering 'why' questions:

• Deforestation still continues due to the amount of profit that businesses make from it.
• Deforestation still continues because of the large amount of money generated.
• Deforestation remains a problem as it is so financially lucrative.

Topic sentence starters answering 'should' questions:

• Governments should do more to protect the environment as…
• As part of their duties, governments should do more to protect the environment.
• Governments really ought to aid the preservation of the environment more.

Topic sentence starters explaining 'causes':

• One of the major causes of… is that fact that …
• A major factor that contributes to… is…
• One significant cause of… is…
• One of the main reasons for… is…

Topic sentence starters explaining 'problems':

• One major problem with… is…
• A significant problem with… is…
• One potentially serious problem with…is…
• One problem associated with… is…

Topic sentence starters explaining 'solutions':

• One method of easing this issue could be to…
• One possible solution could be to…
• One way to attempt to solve this could be to…
• In order to solve this problem…(name a person/thing e.g. the government) could…

IELTS Essay Writing Tips And Tricks

Okay people, now I’m going to give you my best possible IELTS writing task 2 essay tips. Take note, some of these are smoking hot! (smoking hot is an idiom which in this case means awesome, but can also mean sexy!). 

So, I guess you could tell the IELTS examiner they look smoking hot and then they might have to give you extra marks for making them feel better and for using an idiom - double win!

Anyway, back to my list of red hot IELTS essay tips:

1. Practise answering the different question types.

This might be annoying and you might not enjoy doing this but it is far better to do it on your own before test day using the correct essay structures I have shown you rather than being lazy doing nothing and then forgetting what structure to follow under the pressure of test day. Remember, only give your opinion if they actually ask for it - in which case you should give it in your introduction and in your conclusion.

2. Practice under timed conditions.

This is essential, on test day you will be nervous and you might have just answered a tricky task 1 question and perhaps have even less than 40 minutes. Therefore, you absolutely must be able to complete this task from beginning to end inside the 40 minutes. The only way to know whether you can do this or not is to time yourself doing this.

If you can’t do this in time then it is probably because you are not planning your answers properly. If you create a bulleted plan as I have show you to do, then all the ‘thinking’ is done after the first few minutes. All you then need to do is focus on the writing accuracy.

You see, the things that slows people down is when they have to keep stopping writing to think of their next idea or sentence, but if you get all of that done first then you can then just get into the ‘flow’ of writing and you will finish it much quicker! 

3. Check your work.

You absolutely must do this. I have seen essays score a band 6 and then I have asked my student to check it again properly and they were able to get it up to a band 7 just with 5 minutes of checking, it really is an easy way to pick up marks. Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar to get rid of any simply mistakes you may have made under the pressure of the test day.

4. Don’t worry if your ideas suck!

(that means if they are not interesting) It really does not matter the examiners are only marking the language you produce not the quality of your ideas so there is no need to try to be funny, or original.

In fact some of the most common sense ideas are often the easiest too explain and help you to write your essay with more time left for checking and with less stress which often helps to improve your band score. My full video course will show you different ways to come up with ideas too.

5. Make up your examples.

That’s right, make em up! You see, examples are important to have because they help you to develop your paragraphs, which is an unimportant part of your task achievement band score, however, there is no way in the world the examiner will know (or care) if you have made up your examples.

So, for anything you write about you could easily write an example starting like this: ‘A recent study from the university of London found that…’, or like this, ‘The New York Times on the 5th of March this year reported that… ’. And then just fill in the blanks to make it support whatever point you are trying to make.

OK, got it? See how easy it is to develop your paragraphs with examples?

6. Add a conclusion

If you follow my writing process you really should not run out of time, however, if you do then always add a conclusion to the essay. This will then complete the structure of the essay and mean you get a better score for your ‘task achievement’ score, because you will have completed the structure of the essay at least.

7. Plan your essay the way I show you.

If you don’t then you risk writing off topic. This often happens when a student sees the topic of the question and then just writes everything they know about that topic, however, if you just slow down and plan your answer first after carefully reading the question then you will produce an essay that is on topic and well organised.

8. Don’t go off topic

Match topic sentences carefully to the questions asked. As you write your topic sentences, check that they are directly answering the question(s) being asked. If you do this then you will be preventing yourself from making the most common mistake of ‘going off topic’ and you will be structuring your paragraphs logically.

9. Do use an academic language style

This means: don’t use ‘I’ unless you are stating your own opinion, don’t use contractions such as can’t/won’t, don’t use superlatives such as, awesome, fantastic, but do use the sentence starters I have given you above, and do choose words that sound more formal.

10. Go for quality over quantity

It is far better to write 250 words of well thought through, well developed, well checked paragraphs rather than 350 words of off topic unorganised work full of errors. Focus on quality and accuracy every time.

Go Through Our Series of Mini IELTS Essay Lessons...

These lessons use real IELTS essay questions to teach you some of the essential essay writing skills and techniques to score a band 7 or higher in your essays. Simply read the example essay and the teaching notes underneath which all give you more insight into how to do IELTS Writing Task 2 General and Academic (IELTS Writing Task 2 Band 9 Guides).

Mini lesson: Stages of writing, word counts and time management

Mini lesson: Introduction writing tips

Mini lesson: When and when to add your opinion

Mini lesson: Writing with flow

Mini lesson: Topic sentences

Mini lesson: How to develop your body paragraphs

Mini lesson: How to add examples

Mini lesson: How to write complex, compound and simple sentences

Mini lesson: What tense to use in your IELTS essay

Mini lessons: Vocabulary and collocations

Mini lesson: IELTS essay ideas

Mini lesson: How to write conclusions

Mini lesson: How to write conclusions 2

IELTS Writing Task 2 Practice Questions

Recent IELTS Essay questions  as reported by recent test takers from around the world. Here we have compiled recent questions reported to us, and other reliable sources, that appeared in recent tests.

IELTS Essay questions by topic area  This is where you want to go if you want to practice certain topics as there are separate pages for each topic. Questions are also categorised by type i.e. discussion, opinion, and situation question types.

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IELTS Writing Task 1 (Academic)

Discover how to describe all types of visual data that you may see in this part of the test.

IELTS Listening

Sshhhhh! Listen closely, here are some valuable tips, techniques and strategies for maximising your listening band score.

IELTS Writing Task 1 (General)

Discover how to write in the correct format and tone for this part of the test.

IELTS Speaking

Learn 'what' to say and 'how' to say it in each part of the test to impress the examiner.

IELTS Writing Task 2

Discover the 5 step process for writing band 7 essays in 40 minutes or less.

IELTS Reading

Here we reveal the best method for completing each part of the reading test.

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• Academic practice
• General practice
• Task 1 Academic
• Task 1 General
• Task 2 (essay)

Essay samples with tips and answers

Sample 1 ("Violence in media") Presenting opinion

Sample 2 ("Working students") Suggesting a solution

Sample 3 ("Death penalty") Pros & cons

Sample 4 ("Loss of bio-diversity") Cause/solution

Sample 5 ("Obesity") Causes and effects

Sample 6 ("Salary vs. job satisfaction") Agree/disagree

Sample 7 ("Sedentary lifestyle") Problem/solution

More IELTS Writing task 2 questions >

IELTS Writing task 2 - Essay

Here you can find all the essential information about IELTS Writing essay .

IELTS Writing task 2 (or IELTS essay ) is the same task for Academic and General IELTS . You will be presented with a specific topic and asked to write an 250-word essay about it. You should normally spend 40 minutes on IELTS Writing task 2.

On this page you will see :

IELTS Writing task 2 question sample

• Types of IELTS essay questions
• How to answer these questions
• More IELTS Writing task 2 questions and answers

You can get a lot of different topics for your IELTS Writing task 2. You can be asked to give your opinion, to state solutions to some problem, to describe advantages and disadvantages of something and so on.

Here's an example of how your IELTS Writing task 2 may look like :

Immigration has a major impact on the society.

What are the main reasons of immigration? To what consequences can it lead?

Write at least 250 words.

You can find the band-9 answer here >

More IELTS Writing task 2 questions & topics >

How to write IELTS Essay?

1) Determine your opinion on the topic

• Giving your opinion
• Agree/disagree
• Suggesting a solution
• Pros and cons

Depending on the topic, decide what is your opinion on it and why. Have a clear position, don't hesitate between two opinions! Then find examples you will use for this task. You should spend a few minutes on planning.

2) Write an answer using the following structure:

Note that this description is very general. To learn more specific answering strategies, look at the different question types .

3) Style your essay

Use various words and structures , linking devices and avoid repetition.

Use some words from academic word list .

Do not use informal style and avoid irrelevant information, you will receive less points for your work.

Also, don't forget to write at least 250 words, writing less will affect your mark negatively. You should aim at 260-280 words. You won’t get more points for a longer essay.

Other things that might affect your mark:

• Fluency : if your handwriting is not illegible for the examiner and he/she can’t read it properly, you are likely to lose points.
• Unoriginal answer : if you learnt a topic by heart and wrote it, you might get a low score for your essay. IELTS examiner assesses only your own thoughts and opinions.
• Limited answer : if you only answer half of the question and don’t expand your opinion, you will not get more than a band score 5 for the task.
• Information about IELTS Writing test
• Top 10 IELTS Writing tips
• Writing vocabulary

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IELTS Writing Tips and Tricks (In 2024)

Answer the Question, Not the Topic

One of the biggest complaints from IELTS teachers and examiners alike is most students’ inability to answer the question. Instead, many students write very generally about the topic and do not answer the question.

If we look at an example, you will see why:

Question- Global warming is one of the biggest threats humans face in the 21st century, and sea levels are continuing to rise at alarming rates. 

What problems are associated with this, and what are some possible solutions? 

Many students will see this question and write as much about global warming as they can think of. This is a mistake because the IELTS writing test is not a test of your knowledge; it is a test of your ability to answer the question with a high level of written English.

A good student would read the question carefully and realise that it is not asking you to talk about global warming; it is asking you to comment on sea level rises regarding humans. So the answer to the question will only talk about the problems humans face from sea level rises and nothing else.

I often tell my students that you should answer the question with a sniper rifle rather than a shotgun. Talking about the topic is the shotgun approach; you might hit a few things, but you are unlikely to hit the target in the way a sniper would.

Analyse the Question Properly

If you don’t answer the question fully, you can’t get over a band 5. It is that simple and probably the number one thing stopping people from getting a high score. It takes a long time to improve your grammar and vocabulary , but you can improve this very quickly.

Answering the question fully means reading it carefully and doing what it asks you to do.

Spend time reading the question carefully and thinking about exactly what the question is asking you to do.

A good way to think about this is to use keywords (general topic), micro-keywords (specific sub-topic) and instructions words (what we must do) when thinking about your answer. Let’s look at an example:

The continued rise in the world’s population is the greatest problem faced by humanity at the present time. What are the causes of this continued rise? Do you agree that it is the greatest problem faced by humanity?

The keywords here are ‘ rise in the world’s population’ . This is useful because we now know the general topic (population growth). However, we can’t write about this topic generally; we must think about it in more detail and figure out exactly what the question asks us to do.

The micro-keywords are ‘ greatest problem ‘ and ‘ continued rise ‘. Therefore, we have to think about this topic more specifically and consider if it really is the greatest problem we face, and we also have to comment on why it is continuing to rise .

Now we must look for the instruction words. There are two instruction words in this question – ‘ causes ‘ and ‘ Do you agree ‘. We must therefore talk about both of these things in our essay. If we don’t, or we write a sentence or two about one and focus on the other, we have not answered the question, and we can’t get over a band 5.

The students who get the highest marks always spend time making a plan before they start writing. I normally tell my students to spend at least 5 minutes planning and another couple of minutes analysing the question.

Many students don’t plan, which leads to them getting lost in the middle of their test and either having to start over again and losing lots of time or results of a very confusing essay that is difficult to follow. Think about it this way; if you were going to travel to a new place, would you take some time to look at a map, or would you start driving?

A plan can be very simple and just used to guide you.

For example, a plan for the question above might look like this:

This only took me a few minutes to write and will mean that I have a very clear essay and save me lots of time when I start to write.

Use an Appropriate Structure

IELTS task 2 questions generally follow a standard format. They will either ask your opinion about something, ask you to discuss different points of view, as you to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of something or discuss the causes/problems and solutions of something.

The great thing about this is that you can learn standard structures for each of these essays. I am not talking about memorising essays, you should never do this, but you should familiarise yourself with the standard structures.

For example, in a problem and solution essay, your structure should look something like this:

Paragraph 1

Sentence 1- Paraphrase Sentence

Sentence 2- Outline Sentence

Paragraph 2

Sentence 3- State Problem

Sentence 4- Explain Problem

Sentence 5- Result of Problem

Sentence 7- Example

Paragraph 3

Sentence 8- State Solution

Sentence 9- Explain Solution

Sentence 10- Example

Paragraph 4

Sentence 11- Conclusion

Sentence 12- Recommendation/Prediction

We use structures because they provide us with a proven formula to practice with, and then when you get into the exam, you will be able to apply it to any question.

Have a look at my other exam structures for task 2 and use them to practice with. Some of my students have already achieved a band score of 8 using them.

Don’t Show Off

To show off is to try to tell everyone how good you are at something. IELTS candidates try to show off by using very complicated vocabulary and advanced grammar and believe this will show the examiner how good they are and that they deserve a high score. The only problem with this is that many people use vocabulary and grammar they are unsure of, leading to many mistakes.

If you try to use advanced vocabulary and grammar structures incorrectly, you will get a lower score. Using a simpler structure you are 100% sure is correct is much better. I always tell my students to follow the 100% rule- if you are not 100% sure, don’t use it.

This is one of the biggest revelations my students have after their first class with me, and it leads to clearer writing and, ultimately, higher band scores.

Let’s look at an example:

The first paragraph is very clear and comes from a band 9 essay. The second paragraph tries to show off too much, leading to many grammar mistakes and inappropriate use of vocabulary. The second paragraph comes from a band 5 essay.

Next time you practice, follow the 100% rule, and your writing will really improve.

Make Your Opinion Clear

Most of the Task 2 questions ask you to give your opinion. You should clarify this in the introduction, conclusion and main body paragraphs. Make sure you state your opinion in the introduction if asked to do so, by saying:

• I believe that….
• It is agreed that…
• It is disagreed that…
• This essays agrees that….
• This essay does not agree that…..

The rest of your essay should then be used to demonstrate why you believe this to be true.

What Are Your Common Grammar Mistakes?

After marking thousands of IELTS papers, I can tell you that students tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly.

These small grammar mistakes might not seem very significant, but unless at least half of your sentences are 100% error-free, you cannot get over a band 7 for grammatical range and accuracy.

You should therefore get a native speaker or a professional IELTS teacher to mark some of your writing and tell you what your common grammar mistakes are, and then you can fix them. If you know the mistakes you are making, you can practice hard and eliminate them from your writing.

For more information about this, look at my article on the top 10 IELTS grammar mistakes .

Write Slightly Over the Word Limit

Did you know that IELTS examiners count every word of your writing test? It’s a very boring job, but they still do it.

For task 1, you have to write at least 150 words, and for task 2, at least 250 words. That means you will lose marks if you write 149 words for task 1. It is, therefore, essential that you write over the word limit.

You will not have time to count every word, so the best thing you can do is practice using the official answer sheets, and you will then know what 150 words and 250 words looks like on the page without having to count every word.

Many students also ask if writing over the word limit is better. The answer is no because you don’t have time and writing more than is required often leads to more grammar mistakes and your ideas becoming irrelevant. Try to write about 10-15% over what is required. This way, you will always exceed the word limit but not lose time or make mistakes.

Write Clear Topic Sentences

Topic sentences should be the first sentence you write in each main body paragraph and should tell the reader what the rest of the paragraph is about. These really pop out at the examiner and tell them exactly what the whole essay is about. They make your essay very clear and easy to read, making the examiner very happy and getting you higher marks.

Let’s look at an example paragraph:

The main cause of the rise in the world’s population is economic growth. As countries get richer they can afford better health care for their people and this leads to more babies and children surviving and then having children of their own. For example, since Brazil and India became ‘developed’ nations, their populations have increased dramatically by at least 6% a year.

The very first sentence of this paragraph tells the examiner exactly what the whole paragraph is about, and you should do this for your own Task 2 paragraphs.

Explain Your Points and Give Examples  

The official task 2 band descriptors state that your ideas should be ‘relevant, fully extended and have well-supported ideas’.

This means that your ideas should answer the question (see IELTS writing tip #1) and be explained and supported with examples.

When you make a point, you should assume that the writer has no previous knowledge of the subject, and you have to explain what you mean. I often tell my students to pretend they are writing to a 10-year-old who has never heard of the topic they are writing about, which will help them fully explain their ideas.

You must also include a specific example of what you are talking about. This could be a newspaper article, a personal anecdote or some research that was recently done that relates to the question. The key is to try and be specific.  Including specific countries or cities and dates will help you be more specific.

Lots of students complain that they cannot think of any specific examples. If you cannot think of a real example, make one up. The examiner will not check your examples for authenticity; it is not an honesty test but an English test. Just make sure your examples sound plausible.

Learn How to Paraphrase and Use Synonyms

Paraphrasing and using synonyms are two of the key skills required in the IELTS writing test. In fact, the examiner will be looking for your ability to do this.

Paraphrasing is simply restating a phrase or sentence with different words to have the same meaning.

Let’s have a look at an example:

Synonyms are different words that have the same or very similar meanings, such as man and male.

The first paragraph of all your IELTS task 2 essays should be a paraphrase of the question.

This tells the examiner that you have understood the question and you can paraphrase.

You will also have to use synonyms throughout your essay because the examiner will be looking to see how you can vary your vocabulary, thus demonstrating that you have a wide and varied vocabulary.

Don’t Memorise Answers

Every question is unique and will therefore require a unique answer. If you memorise answers and try to write them in the exam, your grammar and vocabulary will probably be very good, but it will be very obvious to the examiner that you have memorised an answer. This is considered copying, and the examiner can give you a band score of 0 for this.

The examiner will always know, so it is really not worth the risk.

It is worthwhile looking at good sample answers and using some of the functional language and structure from these, but please don’t copy it word for word.

Start Task 2 Before Task 1

Task 2 is worth two-thirds of the total marks of the IELTS writing exam, and task 1 is worth one-third. You should take both as seriously as each other, but because task 2 is worth more marks and takes longer, I advise my students to do task 2 first.

When you mark many IELT exams, you notice that many students fail to finish task 2. I think many people try to write the perfect task 1 answer or take too long trying to understand the data in task 1, and this leaves them with very little time to finish task 2.

Timing is key in all parts of the IELTS exam, so you should practice under exam conditions before you do the test.

It’s Not an Intelligence Test

One of the biggest complaints I hear from students about the IELTS writing test is that they don’t understand the questions and they can’t think of any ‘good’ ideas.

The IELTS writing test is not a test of your ‘intelligence’ but your ability to express relevant ideas in English. Your ideas do not have to be the most amazing in the world, just those relevant to the question. When you go to university, your ideas must be ‘intelligent’, but in the IELTS test, they must be relevant and answer the question.

For each question, there are probably 10-20 ideas that could get you a band 9; there is no one perfect idea that will get you a high score.

When you are thinking of ideas for your answer, you should pick the ones you can use. What I mean by ‘use’ is the answers you can explain and extend with examples. As stated above, you can’t just list lots of ideas; you have to pick 2 or three and then fully support them with explanations and examples. It does not matter how good the idea is; if you can’t fully support and extend it, don’t use it.

Only Use Cohesive Devices Appropriately

I post many band 9 IELTS task 2 sample answers on this site, and I am often surprised when students tell me they are ‘not band 9′. They mainly think this is because ‘You haven’t used enough cohesive devices’.

Below are lots of examples of cohesive devices:

The problem with these is they are overused by most students. Some people think that the key to a good score is using as many of these as possible, but it will only harm your score if you use them incorrectly.

Similar to my rule for grammar, only use them if you are 100% sure what they mean and how they are used.

Keep It Simple

The examiners know that you have only 40 minutes to write an essay and are doing it in a foreign language. They do not expect you to write to the same standard that you would if you were given lots of time to think about the questions, research your answer, write the first draft, have it checked and then correct all of your mistakes. The examiners are not expecting an essay of that standard, so don’t try to overthink it. Just show them that you have understood the question and can express yourself in English. That’s it.

I hope you have found these tips useful. If you have any questions, let me know below.

About Christopher Pell

My name is Christopher Pell and I'm the Managing Director of IELTS Advantage.

I started IELTS Advantage as a simple blog to help 16 students in my class. Several years later, I am very humbled that my VIP Course has been able to help thousands of people around the world to score a Band 7+ in their IELTS tests.

If you need my help with your IELTS preparation, you can send me an email using the contact us page.

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IELTS General Writing Tips

The IELTS writing test is the module that numerous candidates find the most troublesome.

This is on the grounds that in a short space of time (60 minutes) you need to compose an essay and a chart (academic task)

At ieltstester.com we’ll give you top tips and techniques to get the score you need in the test.

The IELTS writing test task changes relying upon whether you are doing the Academic Test (for college applications) or the General Test (typically for work/general visa purposes).

In IELTS Academic task you need to portray a chart or outline (Task 1) and compose an essay (Task 2).

In IELTS General task you need to compose a letter (Task 1) and write an essay (Task 2).

The Task 2 (essay) is really worth a bigger number of imprints than the Task 1 (diagram or letter) so you ought to invest 40 minutes on the article and 20 minutes on the chart/letter.

This distinction in assessing is considered to in the quantity of words you need to compose, which is at least 150 for the Task 1 and 250 for the Task 2.

Task 1 General Writing Tips

Ielts general writing task 1 – requirements and instructions.

You have to follow the below points to achieve a high band in the IELTS general writing task 1:

• The amount of words you write doesn’t matter. IELTS officials recently removed the restriction of having a minimum of 150 words. So, don’t focus on words count and focus on answering the question properly.
• Structure the letter with paragraphs. Failing to do this can lead to a lower score.
• Spend 20 minutes on writing your letter. Furthermore, check out  this link  to see how to manage your time for the IELTS writing test.
• IELTS General Writing Task 1 is ⅓ of the overall wiring test score. Writing Task 2 is ⅔ of the total score.
• Task Achievement
• Coherence and Cohesion
• Lexical Resource (Vocabulary)

IELTS Letter Type – Formal or Informal?

The first thing to do when writing an IELTS letter is to determine the letter type.

There are two possible types of IELTS letters in this task, one formal and one informal. The tone you should use in your writing will depend on the letter type.

Now, let’s move on and find out how to understand which type of letter it is and how to write the letter.

IELTS Formal Letter

When you need to write to someone whom you don’t know or know but you are in a professional relationship, it is a formal letter. For example, if you are given to write a letter to your local council or make an insurance claim, it is a formal letter because you don’t know the recipient personally. Another example is when you need to request a vacation from your manager. This is a formal letter because you are in a professional relationship with your manager. You are not friends. In the formal letter, you have to use a formal tone.

IELTS Informal Letter

When you need to write to someone you know personally, and you are in a personal relationship, it is an informal letter. For example, if you have to write to your friend and ask him to come and stay with you over the weekend, this is an informal letter. He is your friend, so you should use informal language.

IELTS Letter – Opening and Closing

Every letter must have an opening and closing section. You need to use an appropriate opener and closer based on the person you are writing to. For example:

• If you are writing to someone you don’t know, you should open the letter with  Dear Sir or Madam  and close it with  Yours faithfully .
• In case you have to write a formal letter to someone you know, you should open the letter with  Dear Mr/Mrs (Name)  and close it with  Yours sincerely .

How to Structure The IELTS General Writing Task 1

Now, we will learn how to structure the letter to achieve the best possible score. If you want to learn more about how the IELTS writing task is assessed, please check out  this link .

Take a look at the above IELTS letter. Each IELTS letter has a topic question and bullet points. You should be able to understand the letter type by the topic question. In this case, it is an informal letter because you have to write to a friend. We recommend that you write five paragraphs:

• The first paragraph should explain why you are writing. For example, in this case, you should write to a friend and say that you are writing to give him advice or suggestion.
• The next three paragraphs should cover all three bullet points. We recommend that you write one paragraph for each bullet point.
• The last paragraph should conclude the letter. For example, you can say that you hope your suggestion could be helpful.

How to Write the IELTS General Writing Task 1

We recommend that you spend 20 minutes writing the letter. So, let’s look at how 20 minutes could be used for writing it.

• Make sure to understand what type of letter it is — formal or informal. Once you know the letter type and what you should write, you are ready to start planning.
• Spend up to 3 minutes on planning the letter. You have to plan your ideas, what you are going to write, and how you will cover all the bullet points.
• Open the letter appropriately. How you do this depends on the letter type. The first paragraph should clearly outline the purpose of the letter. Write one or two sentences in the first paragraph.
• Make sure to write three paragraphs to cover all bullet points. Write 2-3 sentences for each paragraph.
• Write the letter conclusion and close the letter appropriately. How you do this depends on the letter type.
• Proofread your written letter. Make sure you are not missing this step. You don’t want to lose score because of silly mistakes. For example, you could have a spelling problem while you are aware of how the word is written, or you could have a missing article which is easy to fix. So spend 2-4 minutes on proofreading.

How to prepare for the IELTS General Writing Task 1

Let us give you some hints, how you can study further and get a high score.

• Vocabulary: The vocabulary counts for 25% of the writing test score. This is less about IELTS and more about English. If your English language level is good enough, and you can use a wide range of vocabulary, this part should not be challenging. Keep expanding your vocabulary.
• Grammar: The grammar section counts for 25% of the writing test score. Again, this is all about the English level. If you can produce error-free sentences, it will be easy to achieve a high band from the grammar part.
• Task Achievement and Coherence and Cohesion is something that can be achieved by structuring your letter well. We provided tips and ideas on how you can structure your letter on this page.
• You can start writing letters. Initially, you should spend more than 20 minutes on writing a letter; then gradually reduce the time to 20 minutes per letter.
• Once you have your first letters written, you want to know what score they will likely get. You should have an experienced IELTS teacher who can give you an accurate score. However, if you don’t have someone who can review and correct your letters, we can help you with it. Our experienced IELTS examiners can provide you with a score that will be similar to the one which you will get in the real IELTS exam. Additionally, they will also let you know which areas you can improve and why you got a particular score. If you want to submit your letters to us for checking, please  sign up  and start sending them.

Task 2 General Writing Tips

The IELTS Writing Task 2 is an essay to write, for both general and academic tests. You have to write about a given topic using a minimum of 250 words. In the general IELTS test, Writing Task 2 questions are easier to answer than those of the academic test.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Requirements and Instructions

You have to follow the points below to achieve a high band in the IELTS Writing Task 2:

• Make sure to write at least 250 words. Not less. All words are counted; even articles are counted as words.
• Structure the essay with paragraphs. Failing to do this could lead to a score of no more than 5.
• Spend 40 minutes on writing your essay. 
• IELTS Writing Task 2 is worth ⅔ of the overall wiring test score while writing task 1 is worth ⅓ of the total score.
• The IELTS writing task is assessed by four criteria, each of which counts for 25% of the total score:

IELTS Writing Task 2 – Essay Types

There are five possible essay types in the IELTS Writing Task 2.

• Advantages and Disadvantages: This requires you to write about the advantages and disadvantages of a given topic. For instance, you could be asked to write about the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad.
• Opinion: You should give your opinion about a particular idea. For example, you could be asked to write about whether or not the government should shut down factories to prevent environmental pollution. You should say if you agree or disagree with the idea, and why.
• Discussion: You have to discuss different views about a given idea. For instance, you could be asked to discuss different views about living in the city compared to a rural area. This essay type is a bit similar to the advantages and disadvantages essay.
• Problem and Solution: You will be asked to discuss a particular problem. You need to describe the problem, the reasons for it, and suggest how you think the problem could be solved.
• Two-part Questions: You will be asked to answer two questions. They are related to each other.

How to Structure IELTS Essay

You should write four or five paragraphs if you’re aiming at a high score. The essay should have an introduction, two or three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Depending on the essay type, you can use a different technique to structure it. Take a look at the links below to learn more about structuring each type of essay.

How to Write An IELTS Essay

We recommend that you spend 40 minutes writing the essay. So, let’s look at how 40 minutes could be used for writing it.

• Make sure to understand what type of essay it is, and the question you have to answer. Once you familiarise yourself with the essay type, you are ready to start planning.
• Spend up to 8 minutes on planning the essay. Planning is an essential part of writing a good essay. You have to plan your ideas, the structure of the essay, and what vocabulary should be used.
• Write an introduction. Try to write a maximum of two or three sentences for the introduction.
• Write two or three body paragraphs. If you are writing two body paragraphs, try to write 4 – 6 sentences for each paragraph. If you are writing three body paragraphs, try to write 3 – 4 sentences for each paragraph. However, we usually recommend writing two body paragraphs.
• Write a conclusion. The conclusion should be one or two sentences, no more. You just need to paraphrase the introduction.
• Proofread your writing task. Make sure to proofread your essay after you finish it — you don’t want to lose points because of silly mistakes. For example, you could have made a spelling error while you are aware of how the word is written, or you could have a missing article which is easy to fix. We recommend that you leave 3 – 5 minutes for proofreading.

How to study IELTS Writing Task 2?

Let us give you some hints for how you can study further, and which areas you need to improve to get a high score.

However, if your English level is not good enough, we recommend that before you start learning about IELTS techniques, you should improve your vocabulary.

However, if you struggle with grammar, we recommend that you improve the level of your grammar, and then start studying techniques on writing IELTS essays.

• Try to learn various techniques on how to structure different types of essays. Once you are able to structure essays well, you are more likely to get a high score in the task achievement and coherence and cohesion parts.
• Once you are familiar with structuring different types of essays, it is time to start writing essays. At first, it will be difficult to write an essay in 40 minutes, so you can start with more time, for instance, 1.5 hours. Then gradually decrease the time to 40 minutes.

IELTS Writing – Task Correction Service

Once you have your first essays written, you’ll want to know what score they will likely get. You should have an experienced teacher who can give you a score and explain your mistakes, and tell you how to improve your score further. However, if you don’t have someone to review and correct your essays, we can help you with it.

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IELTS General Writing Test

Find all the basic information you need to know about the IELTS General Writing test in one place.

Here's what I cover on this page:

1) Why choose General Training?

The General test is for people wanting to work in or emigrate to the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada or New Zealand. It is widely accepted for:

It is different to the IELTS Academic test which is required by universities and professional registration bodies.

2) Important facts

Task 2 contributes twice as many marks to your overall score as Task 1.

3) Test format

T ask 1  – You are required to write a letter requesting information or explaining the situation in relation to a specific circumstance.

The letter must be in one of the following styles as appropriate to the situation:

There are 7 common Task 1 letter topics:

• Letter of Complaint
• Letter of Explanation
• Letters of Application & Resignation
• Letters to Make an Arrangement
• An Invitation

Click the links for step-by-step lessons with sample questions and model answers.

Task 2  – You will be required to write an essay on a topic of general interest. Your essay will be a response to a specific point of view, problem or argument that will be stated in the question.

You may use a more personal style than would be required in the Academic Writing Task 2 essay.

There are 5 types of Task 2 essay:

4) Skills assessed

As with all elements of the IELTS exam, the IELTS General Writing test is marked according to four marking criteria.

Each carries 25% of the marks.

The two parts of the IELTS General Writing test are designed to assess your ability in different skill areas. The assessment criteria for any specific question will depend on the type of task you are asked to complete, but here is a general overview.

Don’t worry if you feel slightly overwhelmed after reading it. The lessons below contain all the help and step-by-step guidance you need to write high scoring essays and letters. 

Task 1  – Your letter will assess your ability to engage in personal correspondence and be assessed in relation to one or more of these skills:

• Elicit and provide general factual information
• Express needs, wants, likes and dislikes
• Express opinions (e.g. views, complaints)

Task 2  – Your essay will be assessed in relation to one or more of the following:

5) Sample questions & answers

In addition to the sample questions and model answers in the lessons listed above, you will find many more in the IELTS General Writing lessons in the menus below.

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Ielts general writing lessons, ielts general writing task 1 – letter.

Letter Format  – The format, the 7 topics, letter structure, formal & informal, assessment & marking criteria, sample questions. Essential information  you need to know.

Letter Writing Tips   – Learn top tips on how to meet the assessment and marking criteria and achieve a high score.

Letter Writing Structure  – Find out how to use this   easy to   learn letter structure to write a high-scoring letter. Includes a model answer.

How To Plan a Letter  – Learn a simple 5 step process & 6 part letter structure. Also, help to understand the question & generate ideas.

Formal or Informal  – How to decide what type of letter to write. Sample questions & 2 model letters.

Letter Writing Vocabulary  – Learn useful phrases to help you achieve a high score. Also, know how to start & end your letter.

How To Write an Informal Letter  – Step-by-step instructions, simple 4 step plan & 6 part letter structure, model letter.

How To Write a Formal Letter  – Step-by-step instructions, simple 4 step plan & 6 part letter structure, model letter.

Letter Topics  – Learn the 7 most common letter topics   & other popular subjects. Includes 20 sample questions.

IELTS General Writing Task 2 – Essay

IELTS Writing Task 2  – T he format, the 5 question types, the 5 step essay writing strategy & sample questions. All the key information you need to know.

The 5 Types of Task 2 Essay   – How to recognise the 5 different types of Task 2 essays. 15 sample questions to study and a simple planning structure for each essay type.

Understanding Task 2 Questions  – How to quickly and easily analyse and understand IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.

How To Plan a Task 2 Essay  – Discover why essay planning is essential & learn a simple 4 step strategy, the 4 part essay structure & 4 methods of generating ideas.

How To Write a Task 2 Introduction  – Find out why a good introduction is essential. Learn how to write one using a simple 3 part strategy & discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

How To Write Task 2 Main Body Paragraphs  – Learn the simple 3 part structure for writing great main body paragraphs and also, 3 common mistakes to avoid. 

How To Write Task 2 Conclusions  – Learn the easy way to write the perfect conclusion for a Task 2 essay. Also discover 4 common mistakes to avoid.

Task 2 Marking Criteria  – Find out how to meet the marking criteria in Task 2. See examples of good and poor answers & learn some common mistakes to avoid.

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Home » 5 Tips For Improving Your Writing Essays (IELTS General Training)

• March 24, 2022

5 Tips For Improving Your Writing Essays (IELTS General Training)

Table of contents.

by Hiral Joshi

IELTS Expert

The IELTS General Trainings test is for those who want to immigrate, work and settle in English-speaking countries including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, or the UK. One section of the General Training test – IELTS Writing – can be overwhelming for many candidates as it involves two essay-style pieces of writing ; both Task 1 and Task 2 need preparation, practice, and persistence. But don’t worry! This blog has 5 excellent IELTS Writing tips to help you achieve a high score.

First, what is IELTS Writing?

The Writing section is divided into two tasks, totaling 60 minutes.

• Task 1 is letter writing.  Spend 20 minutes on Task 1, and write at least 150 words. 
• Task 2 is essay writing.  Spend 40 minutes on Task 2, and write at least 250 words.  

Writing a little more than the minimum word count is sensible. You will lose marks if you write less than 150 words in Task 1 and 250 words in Task 2.

How are these tasks marked?

Writing tasks in IELTS is marked in 4 criteria.

• Task Response: Addressing and answering all parts of the task.
• Coherence and Cohesion: Managing a good flow and following the structure throughout the writing task.
• Lexical Resource (Vocabulary): Naturally using a wide range of vocabulary.
• Grammatical Range & Accuracy: Showing a wide range of grammatical structures with flexibility and accuracy.  

Is the Academic test the same?

Short answer: no.

The IELTS Academic test focuses more on academic or semi-formal writing styles, and often includes more graphs, tables, and similar sources that you might find in an education or business setting. Academic Task 1 involves writing a report describing or explaining a visual (such as a graph, diagram, table, etc.), whereas General Training Task 1 is letter writing. 

There are only minor differences between Task 2 for both tests (for example, the Academic test may involve more academic topics or more difficult task questions.) 

What IS  the same, however, are the above-mentioned 4 marking criteria. 

Find out more about the differences between IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.

Tip 1: Understand the task requirements

Task 1 requirements.

There are 3 kinds of letters you might be asked to write in the General Training test, Writing Task 1: (1) Formal, (1) Semi-formal, and (3) Informal 

• Formal letters are written to people we don’t know. For example, if we are writing a letter of complaint, applying for a new job, or resigning from our existing job, it will always be formal. Also, if we do not know the name of the person we are writing to, then it will be formal. 
• Semi-formal letters are written to someone that you know by name and with whom you have a professional or business relationship with, for instance; your teacher, accountant, the landlord. 
• Informal letters are written to someone you know, for example, a friend or family member. They’re written in a style that is more friendly and familiar in comparison to a formal letter. 

It is important to remember that each letter has a different tone and style which is vital for high scores. 

Task 1 Example

You should spend 20 minutes on this task and write at least 150 words.

You recently spent a night in a hotel and had to put up with a great deal of noise very early in the morning because of a faulty central heating system. The manager promised to contact you regarding compensation but you still haven’t heard from him. 

Write a letter to the hotel. In the letter 

• describe the problem at the hotel 
• explain what the manager had said at the time 
• say what you want the manager to do. 

Task 2 Requirements

Writing Task 2 is a bit complex to understand but we are here to help you! 

There are 5 main question types in IELTS Writing Task 2:

• Agree/disagree 
• Advantages/disadvantages 
• Two-part question 
• Cause/solution 
• Discuss both sides and give your opinion 

Each of these tasks has a different format and expectations for high-scoring answers.

Task 2 Example

You should spend 40 minutes on this task and write at least 250 words.

Many young people choose to take a year out between finishing school and starting university to gain work experience or to travel. The experience of non-academic life offers benefits to the individual when they return to education. 

To what extent do you agree or disagree ? 

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience. 

This is an example of an “ agree or disagree” type question. It is important to address all parts of the question to score well. Expressing your opinion is also extremely essential; don’t forget to state and explain whether you agree or disagree, and why!

Tip 2: Understand what makes a good answer (Band 7+)

IELTS examiners use the band descriptors to look for specific criteria in your answers. If you adhere to them, you’ll achieve top marks.  So, let’s dive deeper into these marking criteria and find out what your examiner is looking for. 

Below, I’ve explained a few of the key band descriptors for a Band 7 .

Task Achievement

“The candidate…”

• “…covers the requirements of the task.” –   Addressing all parts of the task is highly important. Some candidates are excellent in grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation but they can score a low band if they do not address all parts of the task. I recommend writing all parts in equal detail to achieve a higher band. 
• “…presents a clear purpose, with the tone consistent and appropriate.” – In Writing Task 1, it is of utmost importance to find out the purpose of writing, set the tone, and stick to it throughout the task. 
• “…clearly presents and highlights key features/bullet points.”  – Task 1 usually includes 3 bullet points which you must mention, then extend. In Task 2, present ideas in an elaborate manner by explaining your point and supporting it with examples.

Coherence and Cohesion

• “…logically organizes information and ideas.” –   This means that the answer follows a logical structure and progresses naturally from one paragraph to the next. 
• “…uses a range of cohesive devices appropriately.”  – Your answer should use various connectors (although, therefore, finally…) to show the flow of clear ideas in your writing. 

Lexical Resource

• “…uses a sufficient range of vocabulary.”  – Try not to repeat words again and again and use synonyms to showcase your vocabulary skills. 
• “…may produce occasional errors in word choice, spelling and/or word formation.”  – If you misspell a word or write the wrong one just a few times, you don’t have to panic. IELTS examiners understand that even a native speaker can make a few casual errors. However, these errors should be kept to a minimum in both tasks, to achieve a band 7 or above.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

• “…uses a variety of complex structures.”  – Writing simple grammatical sentences is not wrong but they are not enough for a band 7 answer. More complex, passive, and compound sentences are encouraged in an IELTS Writing task.

Tip 3: Plan. Plan. Plan!

Before starting each task, use 2-3 minutes to:

• read the question thoroughly,
• understand the type of answer you’ll need to give,
• decide how many paragraphs you should write
• and decide what the key content will be. 

Planning your answers can save a lot of time when writing them out, and it also saves you from making strategic mistakes which lead to a lower score.

Tip 4: Know that writing isn't enough

As much as planning and writing your answer is important, don’t skip the part where you review it.  Spend at least 5 minutes carefully reading your answers to find errors – and correct them. If you wrote (or typed) quickly, you may have a few mistakes that will significantly affect your score if they go unnoticed.

Look for grammatical errors, punctuation, repetition of words, task achievement, and check the tone of the letter. Don’t forget that in a conclusion, you never introduce new ideas. Furthermore, remember to give your opinion if asked.

Tip 5: Practice under mock conditions

To achieve your goal score, I recommend you do at least one sample test for IELTS Writing . Find a quiet area where you can sit for 60 minutes, uninterrupted, and take note of the timings for each task (20 minutes for Task 1; 40 minutes for Task 2). Practice tests are designed to give you a real exam situation. Practicing them will help you boost your confidence and enhance your time management skills. I strongly suggest giving yourself enough practice before your big day.   

Indeed, IELTS writing is not a piece of cake and various details need to be addressed to get a high score. That is why IELTS with ILAC is your real-time companion. Put your stress far away by s peak ing with our IELTS expert today and make your IELTS dream come true. ILAC loves to help you always!  

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Knowing this, you are probably working hard to ace all parts of the IELTS test but you might need to pay more attention to the Academic Writing section. 

Not only does it involve writing a series of texts, but you will also have to do it on a strict time limit that could easily add extra stress. 

You will be tasked to write a letter as well as an essay, presenting your viewpoints and explaining situations as accurately as possible. 

In this article, we will take you through what you can expect in the IELTS General Training Writing test and how to prepare effectively to score better on test day! 

Four things you must know about the IELTS General Training Writing test  

1. understand the two tasks you need to handle .

The General Training test involves two different types of tasks that are: 

Writing a letter (Task 1) 

Writing an essay (Task 2) 

 In Task 1, you will be required to write a letter in response to a situation and depending on the situation, it could be semi-formal or formal.  

It could involve everyday scenarios and challenges such as time management problems, logistics issues and complaints. It is recommended that you only spend 20 minutes here and you are required to write at least 150 words. 

The second task, however, is very different. It will require you to write a discursive essay of at least 250 words.  

You will be given information about an argument or point of view and you will need to discuss your thoughts, present a solution to a problem or justifying an opinion you have. 

The topics are normally of general interest and can range from family issues and challenges society faces all the way to environmental and climate change issues. 

Because this task contributes twice as much to your final band score than the first task, it is recommended that you spend more time, around 40 minutes here, to maximise your chances to obtain a higher overall score. 

2. How you will be marked and assessed

The General Training Writing test will be assessed according to each individual test and will consist of the following criteria: 

Task response:  

Have your essay or writing addressed the topic or task at hand and have you written more than the minimum amount of words required for each individual task? 

Coherence and cohesion:  

Are your thoughts, viewpoints are arguments clearly laid out and easily understood? Can the reader logically follow your flow of thoughts and do they make sense as a whole? 

Lexical resource:   

Simply put, do you have a wide range and depth of vocabulary? Are you able to use various adjectives and nouns to describe a particular topic or do you catch yourself constantly repeating the same basic vocabulary? 

Grammatical range and accuracy:  

Apart from just minimising grammatical errors, you will need to correctly use a mixture of simple, compound and complex sentences. However, you’ll need to use them in the correct context and also ensure a good flow of ideas. 

3. How to approach the General Training test

Because the two tasks are uniquely different, you will have to come to the test with different approaches. 

Here’s what you can do to score your best possible on test day! 

Task 1 - Letter writing  

It is important to clarify the purpose of the letter. Is this a complaint letter, a request for detailed information or a statement of fact to the recipient?  

You need to get this clear because it will also affect the correct tone of voice you will need to adopt, whether it is to be more informal or strictly formal. 

In addition, you will need to include the key information, presented to you in bullet points, as part of your letter response. This is crucial as you will be penalised if you forget to include any. 

Task 2 - Essay writing   

For this task, it is important to remember to discuss both sides of the issue or question being presented to you. A discursive essay is one that highlights viewpoints and presents both sides of the argument. 

However, you also want to ensure your opinion is clear by the end of the essay and you showcase facts or anecdotal examples to strengthen your viewpoint as well. 

4. Prepare yourself better with these resources

A great way to ensure you are well-prepared is to start taking sample practice tests that will mimic the real conditions of the Writing test. 

You can access our test preparation materials here . 

In addition, you can also attend a free IELTS Masterclass presented by IELTS experts who will share tips and tricks, including on the writing section, to help you score better with confidence! 

If you prefer a paid option to simulate the exact test you will encounter, without the actual grading, you can take the IELTS Progress Check paid test . 

It will be as close as possible to the real deal and you will also get back personalised feedback that will be valuable to help you pinpoint areas that need improvement. 

Prepare for the IELTS Writing test with IDP today

Preparing early for your General Training Writing test is the key to success. It allows you to get familiar with the format with ample practice to help you gain confidence on test day. 

Take the time to go through our resources and prepare yourself better with our wide range of sample tests at your disposal! 

And once you are prepared and ready, you can book your IELTS test here !

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IELTS General Writing Task 1: Letter samples, phrases and tips.

Home  »  IELTS General Task 1 » IELTS General Writing Task 1: Letter samples, phrases and tips.

The  general writing task 1 exam evaluates the test taker’s writing skills in responding to a complaint, requesting information or explaining a certain situation in a letter.

IELTS general writing task 1 sample letters to make a complaint

General task 1 informal letter samples

IELTS Letter Writing General Task 1 – training and overview

Letter writing in English consists of standard phrases and structures, most of which are outlined below in this tutorial.

Below we have a large list of questions, IELTS letter samples and phrases to help you with your online IELTS preparation . For more help with IELTS writing, take a look at our range of  writing tasks .

IELTS Writing General Task 1: Sample letters to make a complaint

Useful general task 1 phrases to make a complaint.

IELTS Letter samples for Task 1: to make an application

Ielts task 1 formal vocabulary to make an application.

IELTS General Letter Writing Samples: How to write an invitation

Ielts writing task 1 vocabulary to invite or reply to an invite.

IELTS General Letter Writing Samples: Answers to advise

Ielts writing task 1 vocabulary to advise.

IELTS sample letters / answers to apologise

General letter writing task 1 gt vocabulary to apologise.

Writing task 1 sample letters: answers to make a request

Ielts general writing task 1 vocabulary to make a request.

General task 1 informal letter samples and answers

Ielts general writing task 1 vocabulary for informal letters.

General Writing Task 1 sample answer to inform

A letter to inform is used whenever the sender (you) would like to inform the receiver of some information. The information you wish to convey could be related to just about anything. Below is a list of topics or concepts your letter may cover:

The body – Once the introduction is complete you need to write the reason for your “inform letter”.

VIDEO: IELTS Band 9 Sample General Task 1 and Vocabulary

More ielts writing task 1 tutorials.

For more help with your IELTS preparation , take a look at our tutorials:

Take a look at our free IELTS sample task 1 GT letters ebook(PDF)

Frequently asked questions (faqs), how can i practice ielts letter writing, is there letter writing in ielts academic.

No, letter writing (often an email) is only in the IELTS General exam so no need to practice that if you are doing IELTS Academic. In IELTS General, it takes the place of the diagram, map or process in task 1.

What is a formal letter in IELTS?

How can i get an 8 in ielts writing general, how do you write a general writing task 1, how do i get my ielts writing checked online.

If you are serious about improving,  IELTS writing essay correction  can give you feedback on your essays in 24h, getting your work corrected will help you identify errors (grammatical range and accuracy) and improve much faster. Raza jumped from 6.5 to 7.5 using this exact course

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11 Simple Tips To Ace IELTS Essay Writing Task

When asked to IELTS aspirants,

"Which is the most difficult task out of the two writing tasks asked in IELTS Academic and General Training Writing test?"

Most of them answered - IELTS Essay Writing Task

Though Task 1 (Letter writing for IELTS General Training & Report writing for IELTS Academic) is easy by no means, many aspirants find Task 2 (Essay Writing) of IELTS Writing module more challenging.

In task 2, you are supposed to answer a particular question. To be more specific, IELTS Writing Task 2 requires you to write an essay on a given topic in at least 250 words. But, not to forget - the task is time bound. You are given 40 minutes to present the given topic skilfully in your own words and obviously without any mistakes.

You can be asked different types of essays in IELTS Writing Task 2. This includes - Opinion Essay, Argumentative Essay, Advantages/Disadvantages (Pros/Cons) Essay, Problem & Solution Essay and Mixed Essay. You have to identify the type of essay asked and write your response accordingly. You are expected to use your skills, experience and examples while answering.

Now, how is your essay scored? Here are the scoring criteria!

• Task Response
• Coherence & Cohesion
• Lexical Resource
• Grammatical Range & Accuracy

Each criterion contributes 25% of the total Writing Score. If you do not care about these parameters in your writing, you will lose a good portion of your score.

Are you well aware about the IELTS Writing Task 2 now? Then, let's proceed to some tips and strategies to ace this task like a Pro.

IELTS Essay Writing Task - Tips for a Better Score

• Map Out Your Ideas
• Be Familiarized With The Common Topics
• Ask Yourself Questions
• Employ Your Personal Opinion
• Manage Your Time
• Take Care of Lexical Resources
• Make Paragraphs
• Complete Your Answer
• Know Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation
• Use Formal Language

1. Understand

Understanding what the question specifies, is overcoming half the problem. It is essential to pay attention to all the issues mentioned in the question. First, look at the question carefully then identify the question type- whether it's a discussion, an opinion, a solution to the problem or a combination. Identify the main keywords and understand precisely what the examiner is expecting in the essay. Avoid writing on a general topic, or you won't score more than a band 5.

2. Map Out Your Ideas

Before you commence writing, take 5 minutes first to brainstorm different ideas. Take a pencil and jot down as many as various aspects and perspectives, related to the particular issue in the essay. The test-taker would score more if he/she plans and organizes out their ideas in a proper paraphrased manner. It will in a way save more time as you have already pictured the essay in your mind and will help you pen your essay better and faster.

3. Be Familiarized With The Common Topics

IELTS tutorials, one of the top institutions for IELTS coaching provides multiple IELTS Writing Practice to familiarize you with the pattern of the test, model questions, etc. This will help in widening your vocabulary to brainstorm more ideas. Also, try to read newspapers more which will increase your vocabulary along with keeping you updated with your surrounding ongoing. Always remember that the IELTS exam doesn't test your knowledge but competency in the English Language. So present your answer with a clear thought process with multiple examples to make your writing piece more enhanced.

4. Ask Yourself Questions

Another way to prompt ideas is to ask yourself questions while reading the essay topic like why/what/where/who/how to generate more ideas. When you ask these questions to yourself then you'll be able to think more evidently and thereby creating more ideas.

5. Employ Your Personal Opinion

The most effective method to write an enhanced essay is to include your personal opinion in the essay. Imagine the topic of the essay is a question asked of you by your friend, and then phrase your piece as if you are conveying what you believe in, your thoughts on it. Also, try to use relevant examples and instances in the essay to make it more clear.

So, in the end, remember that IELTS Writing task won't be another mountain to climb to score band 7+, if you think and understand thoroughly of what the essay topic requires.

6. Manage Your Time

Since the test is time bound, it is important to complete the IELTS Essay Writing task on time i.e. within 40 minutes. So, you must develop proper time management skills before appearing for the IELTS Exam.

Start writing your essay with a proper strategy. Do not spend more than 5 minutes in planning your essay. If possible, try to complete your essay within 36-37 minutes so that you can spend the last 2-3 minutes in proofreading. As you might have written the essay in a hurry, proofreading will help you identify spelling and grammar mistakes, if any. This way, you can complete your task efficiently within the stipulated time.

7. Take Care of Lexical Resources

Lexical Resource is one of the four Writing Assessment Criteria that contributes to your writing score. But, many of the IELTS aspirants are unaware regarding the use of lexical features. Lexical resource refers to the use of sufficient range of Vocabulary , correct usage of Spellings, proper implementation of Collocations and Word Formation.

Those who are unknown to this, use repetitive words in their essay. But, an examiner is looking for a variety of words and phrases in your answer. When he/she does not find any variety of language, it creates a negative impression about your Vocabulary. He/she considers that you have a poor language knowledge and marks you accordingly.

So, avoid repetitive words wherever possible in your essay.

8. Make Paragraphs

Many candidates do not use paragraphs while writing an academic piece or an article. They describe the entire topic clearly in just a single paragraph. But, doing so in IELTS Essay Writing Task will definitely cost your marks.

IELTS Essay Writing Task follows a specific structure. Have a look!

Break down your ideas into different paragraphs. Explain each idea of yours in detail with relevant examples in one paragraph. Then, start another paragraph with a new idea. But remember, your ideas should be logically linked though written in different paragraphs.

An essay with 4 paragraphs is ideal for IELTS Essay Writing Task. You can add paragraphs only and only if needed. Do not put any unwanted information or try to unnecessarily expand the paragraph. This will reduce the chance of achieving high band score.

9. Complete Your Answer

In order to finish the task before the time runs out, many candidates tend to leave the answers incomplete. There are some who choose another way of writing to complete their response i.e. they either write short sentences or put only bullet points. This is absolutely a wrong practice.

IELTS Test is meant to assess your English Language skills. And, if you leave the answers incomplete, the examiner will not be able to judge your skills. As a result, he/she will poorly grade your essay. So, instead of writing bullet points or short sentences, you must formulate each point in a separate paragraph with two to three lines of explanation. This way you can showcase your writing skills and create a good impact on the examiner to score better.

10. Know Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation

Using appropriate grammar, writing correct spellings and placing the punctuation marks at right places play a vital role in IELTS Writing Task 2. You need to be extra careful regarding this. Even a minor mistake will directly reduce your score. Thus, a prior practice is worthwhile to ensure success.

11. Use Formal Language

In this times of SMS and other chat applications, it is quite a common issue to use informal expressions and shorthand texts. But, this practice is strictly prohibited for the IELTS Exam. Using inappropriate language or terminologies might offend the examiner and thus, your score will suffer. So, you should use formal language in your writing.

Now that you are acquainted with enough knowledge, it will be easier for you to achieve your desired score in the IELTS Essay Writing task . Committing mistakes will reduce your chance to succeed. So, ensure that you go through these tips thoroughly and put them into regular practice. Be clear and precise in expressing your ideas and add suitable examples to enhance your writing.

To ace the IELTS, practicing alone wouldn't suffice. Here at IELTS tutorials, we have great expertise in giving useful tips, suggestions and proficient feedback, through Online IELTS Writing Practice . IELTS tutorials provides Full Practice Tests, Model Answers, Time-based test Analysis, Expert Guidance, E-booklets, and thereby augmenting the quality of your essay and making your dream of going abroad true.

So, don't take the IELTS exam for granted and practice at the last moment. Sign up now for our IELTS Writing Correction Services which will enable you to learn and understand which areas you should focus more. You will also receive suggestions and corrections for more improvement to write a better Essay, Letter and Report Writing tasks.

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IELTS Writing: Structure, Tips, Strategies (Academic & General)

IELTS Writing: Structure, Tips, Strategies

Writing is one of the IELTS sections which assesses your writing skills.

A lot of candidates consider this part of the test the most challenging one.

We asked people on  Quora   about their IELTS results and came to the conclusion that it is actually true as in most cases the band for Writing was lower than for other parts.

In this article, IELTS Game will look at this part of the exam in more details and you will learn how to deal with it in the easiest way.

Table Of Contents

• General Information
• General Writing
• Academic Writing
• Writing assessment
• How to deal with writing section?
• How to Write an essay?
• Types of Writing essay
• How to Improve your score?

General Information about IELTS Writing exam

First of all, it’s necessary to know that Writing is different in two modules of the test.

• In the General Training IELTS you will need to write a letter in Task 1 and an essay in Task 2.
• Academic IELTS requires to write a report on some graph or chart in Task 1 and an essay in Task 2.
• The topics for essays in General and Academic modules can be different, but the strategy to write essays is the same.
• You will have 60 minutes for completing both tasks in the Writing part.

As a rule, the second task of writing, which is essay, requires you to write more and proves to be more challenging than the first one, and it is worth more points.

That is why it’s advisable to spend 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2.

General Training Writing

Writing in this module of the test includes two tasks: a letter and an essay. You will have 60 minutes to complete both tasks.

1. Task one General training

Task 1 is a letter concerning everyday situation that you are likely to encounter while living in an English-speaking environment.

For example , a letter to an accommodation officer, your employer or a friend. It is recommended to spend 20 minutes on it.

You may be asked to write an informal letter to your friend, a semi-formal letter, or an official letter. You will have to write at least 150 words.

Example of Task 1:

You have received a letter from your bank, asking you to acknowledge receipt of a new bank card. However, the card was missing from the envelope.

Write a letter to the bank’s head office. In your letter:

• explain why you are writing;
• express concern about the missing card;
• ask them what they intend to do.

2. Task two General training

Task 2 is an essay on some common topic, such as family, society, TV, school, communication, etc.

You should write at least 250 words and spend about 40 minutes on this task. Look at the example of an essay question:

Some people believe that teaching children at home is best for a child’s development while others think that it is important for children to go to school.

Discuss the advantages of both methods and give your own opinion.

IELTS Academic Writing

1. task 1 academic.

In Task 1 of the Academic module you will be asked to describe any of the 6 types of charts: a bar chart, a line graph, pie chart, a table, a diagram or a map.

However, in some cases you may have a combination of charts: such a table and a pie chart.

You don’t need to write about everything you see in a picture, you should sum up the information, talk about general trends and changes, and make comparisons.

The most important thing here is that you are not supposed to express your personal opinion, so you should avoid using such phrases as I think, In my opinion, etc.

2. Task 2 Academic

Task 2 is an essay on a given topic. Here,  the examiners assess your ability to express your opinion on a topic and support your ideas with arguments and examples and make conclusions.

Essay tasks in the Academic module are more challenging than in the General module.

Look at the example of an essay question:

It is generally believed that the Internet is an excellent means of communication but some people suggest that it may not be the best place to find information.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

How is Writing assessed in IELTS test?

Writing is marked using a 9-band scale. The examiners use 4 assessment criteria to score your writing:

• Task response / Task achievement;
• Coherence and Cohesion;
• Lexical Resource;
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

The first criterion (task response or task achievement) looks at the content of your answer to assess whether it is accurate and relevant to the topic in the question.

The next criterion (coherence and cohesion) describes how well you organize your ideas and how logically  they are sequenced.

Lexical resource assesses your ability to use a wide range of vocabulary .

According to the last criterion (grammatical range and accuracy), you should use a variety of sentence structures and grammar forms correctly.

You can look through the assessment criteria in more details on the official IELTS Website:  Task 1  and  Task 2 .

How to deal with the Writing part?

On a test day you will receive a question paper and two answer sheets: the first for Task 1 and the second for Task 2.

You won’t have any draft paper but you will be able to write on the question paper.

It’s really important to track your writing  time. It’s recommended to spend 20 minutes on first task and 40 on the second, as the essay is worth more marks.

So make sure that you allocate reasonable time for both tasks.

You must answer the questions you are asked.  Here is what you are supposed to do in your writing part.

• For Task 1 , select and report the main features, compare, summarize the data, identify trends illustrated in the charts, but don’t give your personal opinion.
• For Task 2 , read the question carefully and then write your answer on the topic, making sure you support your answer.

You should save enough time to proofread and check what you have written.

Don’t forget, you have to write at least 150 words in Task 1 and 250 words in your essay.

If you write shorter, you will lose points. You can write more words than necessary, but don’t expect to gain extra points for it.

How to write an Essay?

The majority of IELTS candidates really struggle with the second task of the Writing paper.

They have a lot of questions concerning types of questions, essay structure and ideas they have to talk about in their essay.

So, let’s take a closer look at this part of the Writing test.

As I have already mentioned above, essay questions can be different in two modules of the test.

But types of essay questions and structure of the answer is the same in both Academic and General Training modules.

You should always start completing Task 2 with making a plan for your answer.

It’s really important to think of the ideas you will write about before writing.

Without a plan you may get confused with different ideas, and your point of view may not be clear to the examiner.

Another point to consider is the paragraph structure.

In your essay you must have 4 or 5 paragraphs: the first paragraph is an introduction , then two or three body paragraphs , and the last paragraph is a conclusion .

Always keep in mind this general structure when you practice writing.

That was the general structure for writing an essay.

But you need to remember that there are several types of essay questions in the IELTS, so the structure of your answer can be a little bit different depending on the question.

So before planning your essay, read the question properly to understand what type of essay you have.

Types of IELTS Writing Essay

In general, there are 5 common types of essays in the IELTS test:

• Advantage/Disadvantage essay
• Opinion essay
• Problem and Solution essay (or Cause and Solution)
• Discussion essay
• Two-part Question (General Questions) essay

1. Advantage/disadvantage essay

In the advantage/disadvantage essay, you are going to have a task to discuss benefits and drawbacks of something or to compare whether advantages of some tendency outweigh disadvantages, or the other way round.

Some countries show their criminal trials on TV for people to watch.

Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

2. Opinion essay

In the opinion essay you will be given some statement and you’ll have to give your opinion on it (What is your opinion?) or agree/disagree with this point of view (To what extent do you agree or disagree?).

Here it’s important to choose only one side of an argument and stick to it throughout your essay.

Or you may not agree with both sides and suggest your point of view, but it should be completely different from what you have in the task.

This approach is called balanced opinion.

Some businesses now say that no one can smoke cigarettes in any of their offices. Some governments have banned smoking in all public places. This is a good idea but it also takes away some of our freedom.

Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons.

3. Problem & Solution Essay

The next type of essay ( problem and solution ) will ask you to find problems and suggest the solution to the problems.

In some cases you may be asked to write about causes of some problem.

Nowadays, more and more older people who need employment compete with the younger people for the same jobs.

What problems does this cause? What are the possible solutions?

4. Discussion Essay

The discussion essay will give you two opposing ideas and you will have to discuss these two points of view.

Here you don’t have to stick to this or that idea if you’re not asked to.

Very often, there will be the following phrase in the task  “… and give your opinion “, in this case you must give your opinion supporting one point of view.

Or you may express your personal opinion on this question ( balanced opinion ).

Some people believe that living in big cities is becoming more difficult. Others believe that it is getting easier.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

5. Two-part question Essay

In  two-part question essay  you will have to answer two questions.

The questions are usually of the same topic, and you will need to present a detailed answer to each question in a separate paragraph.

Cycling is more environmentally friendly than other forms of transport.

Why is it not popular in many places? How to increase its popularity?

How to improve your score for Writing?

To improve your score for writing, you will have to practice a lot and regularly.

While practicing make sure you comply with the following rules:

• Find out all the necessary information about types of questions in Task 1 and essay types in Task 2;
• Be aware of the assessment criteria, it will help you know what the examiners will be looking for;
• Practice describing different types of charts , graphs and diagrams (or writing different types of letters) in Task 1 and write as many essays of different types as possible;
• Track the time every time you practice writing : spend 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2. However, you need to remember that it is highly recommended that you save some time for proofreading;
• Every time you practice writing an essay or a diagram description / a letter, count your words and try to remember what space 150 and 250 words take on Writing Answer Sheet, you can download it from the Internet. You are not likely to have enough time to count words at the exam, so it would be good to be able to visually count the approximate number of words on the answer sheet.
• Remember that at the exam you will have to write your answers with a pencil, so while practicing you’d better use a pencil all the time to get used to it.

Important Links

Writing preparation.

• Basic Principles of IELTS Academic Writing task 1 & 2
• How to Distribute Your Time in IELTS Writing Exam?
• 4 Steps to write a band 9 IELTS essay introduction
• How to Write a Perfect Closing Paragraph for IELTS Essay?
• IELTS Writing Academic: Task 1 analysis with model answer

Grammar for Writing

• Spelling in IELTS exam: Rules | mistakes | British vs American
• Top 5 Grammar rules you should know for IELTS writing task 1 & 2
• Master Punctuation marks in IELTS Writing exam
• Complex Sentences in IELTS Writing Task 2

Vocabulary in IELTS writing

• How to use linking words in IELTS Writing exam? [Examples]
• What is Coherence and Cohesion in IELTS Writing exam?
• Master Lexical resources in IELTS Writing exam
• Download IELTS Advantage Writing Skills pdf book
• Collins Writing For IELTS pdf direct download with answer keys
• Download Get IELTS Band 9 pdf for speaking, Writing task 1 and 2
• Cambridge IELTS test books

Recent Exams

• Recent Academic IELTS Writing task 1 exercises – Bar Charts
• Expected topics for IELTS writing task 2 in January 2020

It is important for people to take risks IELTS writing task 2

Writing tips to score higher grades in assignments, how is a grammar checker important in creative writing.

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Essay Writing Tips

Many students find the prospect of writing an essay unnecessarily daunting. It doesn’t have to be because essay writing isn’t all that difficult. The truth is that you can start writing your essay even before your ideas are fully formed.

Many students can write a good essay if they have time on their side. But on competitive examinations like TOEFL and IELTS, time management is very important. Of course you can’t write an outstanding essay in 30 or 40 minutes. That isn’t necessary either. A decent essay with few grammatical mistakes should get you a band score of 7 or 8.

The Basic Steps of the Writing Process

There are different types of essays. An argumentative essay requires you to support a particular idea or point of view. Sometimes you will be asked to analyze the two sides of a problem. No matter what the type of essay you are required to write, the basic steps of the essay writing process are the same.

On the IELTS or TOEFL test, you cannot choose your topic. You have to write on the topic provided for you. Before you start writing think about the purpose and nature of your essay. Understanding them can help you develop the necessary content for your essay and then structure them accordingly.

Create an outline

Once you have prepared the outline, you can start writing your essay. Start with the main idea. Do not repeat the question in your introduction. If you have to, try to paraphrase it. Remember that your introduction is the most important part of your essay. So spend some time and make it as compelling as possible. In the body paragraphs of your essay, you have to further develop the main idea introduced in the opening paragraph.

Revise the draft

Once you have prepared the draft, revise it. During this stage, you have to pay careful attention to your grammar, spelling and choice of words. Your choice of words is an indication of your range of vocabulary. As far as possible, choose exact words instead of more general ones. Of course, it is possible only when you have a vast vocabulary.

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IELTS Sample Essays

Here you will find IELTS Sample Essays for a variety of common topics that appear in the writing exam.

The model answers all have tips and strategies for how you may approach the question and comments on the sample answer.

You can also view sample essays with band scores on this page. 

Looking at IELTS essay topics with answers is a great way to help you to prepare for the test. 

These IELTS sample essays have been categorised in a way that makes it easy for you to see how certain essay question types require you to provide certain responses to ensure the question is fully answered. 

Specifically these are:

• Agree / Disagree
• Discuss Two Opinions
• Problems and Solutions
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Other Types

Agree / Disagree Type Questions

In these types of question you are given one opinion and you then have to state the extent to which you agree or disagree with that opinion:

• Advertising
• Alternative Medicine
• Spending on the Arts
• Human Cloning
• Social Interaction & the Internet
• Airline Tax
• Free University Education
• Scientific Research
• Banning Smoking
• Employing Older People
• Vegetarianism
• Paying Taxes  
• Examinations or Formal Assessment 
• Multinational Organisations and Culture
• Internet vs Newspapers
• Technology Development  
• Dying of Languages
• Animal Extinction
• Truth in Relationships
• Role of Schools
• Return of Historical Artefacts

Discuss Two Opinions Type Questions

In this essay question type you are given two opinions, and you have to discuss both of these and then give your own view:

• University Education
• Reducing Crime
• Animal Rights
• Child Development
• Diet & Health
• Donating Money to Charity
• Closing Zoos   
• Becoming Independent  
• Formal and Informal Education  
• Influence of Scientists and Politicians
• Sources for Stories
• Searching for Extraterrestrial Life

Cause Type Questions

There are a variety of 'cause type' essay questions. In these you first have to give the reasons why something has happened, in other words the causes, but then discuss a different aspect of it, such as the effects, solutions or the extent to whether it is a positive or negative development:

Causes & Effects:

• Child Obesity
• Skin Whitening Creams
• Family Size
• Having Children Later in Life
• Time Away from Family

Causes and Solutions:

• Youth Crime
• Global Warming
• Paying Attention in Class
• International Travel & Prejudice 
• Museums & Historical Places
• Disappearance of Traditions
• Communication Between Generations

Causes, Pros & Cons:

• Family Closeness
• Living Alone
• Rural to Urban Migration

Problems & Solutions Type Questions

In these type of questions, instead of discussing the causes of a problem, you need to discuss the problems related to a particular issue in society, and then suggest what can be to solve these problems:

• Overpopulation
• Competing for Jobs  
• Professionals Immigrating

Advantage & Disadvantages Type Questions

In these type of questions you are asked to discuss the positive and negative sides of a particular topic. You will usually be asked this in the context of giving an opinion ( e.g. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Is it a positive or negative development? ): 

• Traffic Problems
• Food Additives
• Computer Games
• Age Discrimination at Work  
• Children using Tablets and Computers  
• Cell Phones, Internet, & Communication  
• Working from Home 
• Eating Locally grown  Produce  
• Oil and Gas Essay  
• Peer Pressure on Young People
• Online Fraud
• Decreasing House Sizes

'Hybrid' Types of Essay Question

There are sometimes questions that don't fit easily into a particular category as above. I've called these 'hybrid', as they are of mixed character, are composed of different elements from other types of essay, or are perhaps just worded differently. 

• Protecting Old Buildings
• Animal Testing
• Fear of Crime
• Communication Technology
• Influence of Children's Friends  

Sample Essays with Band Scores

You can also view some sample essays that have been written by candidates practising for the test and have band scores and comments by an experienced ex-IELTS Examiner based on the IELTS marking criteria. 

• IELTS Band 8 Essay Samples
• IELTS Band 7 Essay Samples
• IELTS Band 6 Essay Samples
• IELTS Band 5 Essay Samples
• IELTS Band 4 Essay Samples

Student Sample Essays

For more IELTS essay topics with answers you can also view essays that have been written by students. Some have feedback from other students or IELTS teachers:

• Student Model Essays  (with comments by other students)
• Student Model Essays (with comments by IELTS buddy)

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