IELTS Academic Writing Task Two- Tips and Useful Phrases

IELTS Academic Writing Task Two tips and useful phrases

What advice would you give on writing IELTS Writing Task Two essays?

Possible topics to give advice on:

• Before the exam
• Analysing the question
• Planning/ Paragraphing
• Introduction
• Writing
• Summary/ Conclusion
• Editing

 

Cross off any of the tactics below which are bad ideas/ which are not true.

Preparation for the test

• It’s worth doing extra timed writing practice even if no one can correct it
• The answers at the back of exam practice books are perfect models which you should copy as much as possible
• Memorise model answers from the internet and just change a few words and sentences to make your answer in the exam
• Make a note of your typical errors in IELTS Writing and go back to them many times to check that you can remember the correct versions

 

Analysing the question

• Always underline important words in the question
• There’s no need to read and underline instructions like “Give reasons” because they are the same in every question
• “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” questions are basically the same as “Look at both sides and then…” questions
• With “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” questions, you always have to look at both sides of the argument
• With “To what extent…?” questions, you must say how strong or weak your opinion is
• With a looking at both sides question like “What are the advantages and disadvantages of…?”, one advantage and one disadvantage is enough
• If a question includes a word with -s like “causes”, “reasons”, “effects”, “solutions” or “advantages”, then you have to write about more than one

 

Planning/ Paragraphing

• If you can think of a good paragraph structure/ organisation/ plan right away, there is no need to do any brainstorming, and you should avoid brainstorming if you can
• Brainstorm as many ideas as you can before deciding on the structure of your essay/ your plan
• Spend about 10 minutes planning
• Most IELTS essays have four paragraphs (two main paragraphs in the body plus an introduction and summary or conclusion)
• If you are only looking at one side of the argument, you can have three main paragraphs in the body, with one paragraph for each of the reasons for your opinion
• If you look at two advantages and two disadvantages, you need four paragraphs in the body (i.e. six paragraphs in total)

 

Introduction

• Rephrase the question in your introduction
• Before rephrasing the question, you might need to give background to the question (why it is important, relevant, something that you might want to write about, etc)
• Any background sentence is okay, so you can always use “… is a controversial topic”
• Spend a couple of minutes to make sure you don’t repeat any words from the question when you are rephrasing it
• If you can’t think of a word with the same meaning as one in the question when you are rephrasing, just change the grammar (e.g. change from a verb to a noun)
• If you can’t think of a word with the same meaning as one in the question when you are rephrasing, just use one with more or less the same meaning
• Give your own opinion in the introduction if you will only look at one side of the argument
• Give your own opinion in the introduction if you will look at both sides of the argument
• End the introduction with a sentence that explains the structure of the essay/ the topic of each paragraph below

 

Writing

• Use different kinds of support (personal experience, other people’s experiences, things you read or heard, data, logical arguments such as cause and effect, etc) for each argument that you mention
• Make up imaginary data to support your arguments
• Make up quotes and the places they came from to support your arguments
• If you happen to know very relevant data, quotes, sources, etc, you should probably explain why, to show that it isn’t made up
• One or two sentences is enough support for each argument that you write about
• Make sure that the body paragraphs are similar lengths to each other

 

Summary/ Conclusion

• All IELTS Academic Writing Task Two essays should end with a summary and then your own opinion
• One sentence is okay for a final paragraph
• If you looked at both sides, you need to clearly show why one side is more important (for young people, in your country, in the future, etc) when you come to a conclusion
• If what you have written leads to a conclusion that is the opposite of your own opinion, write the former rather than the latter
• It’s okay to totally sit on the fence between two positions in your conclusion

 

Editing

• Make sure you leave at least three or four minutes for a final edit
• Count the exact number of words to check that you have reached the word limit
• Count the number of words in two lines, calculate how many words per line, then count how many lines to check that you have reached the word limit
• Make sure that the examiner can understand without having to read anything twice
• Make sure that your essay is really neat (= tidy = not messy)
• Use an eraser to get rid of all mistakes
• It’s okay to correct by crossing things out, using triangles/ arrows to add words, etc
• You can insert one or two extra sentences with an arrow to improve the structure or reach the minimum number of words
• Add higher level language/ more impressive language while you edit
• Also get rid of repetitions (rephrasing, using reference expressions, etc) while editing

Hint: 22 tips above need to be crossed off.

Compare your ideas with the suggested answers below.

Suggested answers

The bad advice is in bold.

Preparation for the test

• It’s worth doing extra timed writing practice even if no one can correct it
• The answers at the back of exam practice books are perfect models which you should copy as much as possible
• Memorise model answers from the internet and just change a few words and sentences to make your answer in the exam
• Make a note of your typical errors in IELTS Writing and go back to them many times to check that you can remember the correct versions

 

Analysing the question

• Always underline important words in the question
• There’s no need to read and underline instructions like “Give reasons” because they are the same in every question
• “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” questions are basically the same as “Look at both sides and then…” questions
• With “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” questions, you always have to look at both sides of the argument
• With “To what extent…?” questions, you must say how strong or weak your opinion is
• With a looking at both sides question like “What are the advantages and disadvantages of…?”, one advantage and one disadvantage is enough
• If a question includes a word with -s like “causes”, “reasons”, “effects”, “solutions” or “advantages”, then you have to write about more than one

 

Planning/ Paragraphing

• If you can think of a good paragraph structure/ organisation/ plan right away, there is no need to do any brainstorming, and you should avoid brainstorming if you can
• Brainstorm as many ideas as you can before deciding on the structure of your essay/ your plan
• Spend about 10 minutes planning
• Most IELTS essays have four paragraphs (two main paragraphs in the body plus an introduction and summary or conclusion)
• If you are only looking at one side of the argument, you can have three main paragraphs in the body, with one paragraph for each of the reasons for your opinion
• If you look at two advantages and two disadvantages, you need four paragraphs in the body (i.e. six paragraphs in total)

 

Introduction

• Rephrase the question in your introduction
• Before rephrasing the question, you might need to give background to the question (why it is important, relevant, something that you might want to write about, etc)
• Any background sentence is okay, so you can always use “… is a controversial topic”
• Spend a couple of minutes to make sure you don’t repeat any words from the question when you are rephrasing it
• If you can’t think of a word with the same meaning as one in the question when you are rephrasing, just change the grammar (e.g. change from a verb to a noun)
• If you can’t think of a word with the same meaning as one in the question when you are rephrasing, just use one with more or less the same meaning
• Give your own opinion in the introduction if you will only look at one side of the argument
• Give your own opinion in the introduction if you will look at both sides of the argument
• End the introduction with a sentence that explains the structure of the essay/ the topic of each paragraph below

 

Writing

• Use different kinds of support (personal experience, other people’s experiences, things you read or heard, data, logical arguments such as cause and effect, etc) for each argument that you mention
• Make up imaginary data to support your arguments
• Make up quotes and the places they came from to support your arguments
• If you happen to know very relevant data, quotes, sources, etc, you should probably explain why, to show that it isn’t made up
• One or two sentences is enough support for each argument that you write about
• Make sure that the body paragraphs are similar lengths to each other

 

Summary/ Conclusion

• All IELTS Academic Writing Task Two essays should end with a summary and then your own opinion
• One sentence is okay for a final paragraph
• If you looked at both sides, you need to clearly show why one side is more important (for young people, in your country, in the future, etc) when you come to a conclusion
• If what you have written leads to a conclusion that is the opposite of your own opinion, write the former rather than the latter
• It’s okay to totally sit on the fence between two positions in your conclusion

 

Editing

• Make sure you leave at least three or four minutes for a final edit
• Count the exact number of words to check that you have reached the word limit
• Count the number of words in two lines, calculate how many words per line, then count how many lines to check that you have reached the word limit
• Make sure that the examiner can understand without having to read anything twice
• Make sure that your essay is really neat (= tidy = not messy)
• Use an eraser to get rid of all mistakes
• It’s okay to correct by crossing things out, using triangles/ arrows to add words, etc
• You can insert one or two extra sentences with an arrow to improve the structure or reach the minimum number of words
• Add higher level language/ more impressive language while you edit
• Also get rid of repetitions (rephrasing, using reference expressions, etc) while editing

Brainstorm useful phrases for doing the things in italics above.