IELTS Academic Writing Tasks Comparison

IELTS Writing Task One and Two tips simplest responses game

What things can be similar in your answers to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 questions and in your IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essays? What things must be different? What things should you never do in your answers to either Task One or Task Two?

Listen to your teacher describe things that people should do in IELTS Academic Writing and raise the “Task 1” card and/ or the “Task 2” cards depending on which part(s) of the exam you think each is good for. If it isn’t a good idea for either part, keep both down.

Cards to hold up

Task 1	Task 2
Task 1	Task 2
Task 1	Task 2
Task 1	Task 2
Task 1	Task 2

Write “1”, “2” or “1/2” next to the lines on the next page depending on which part or parts of the exam each tip is useful for. Put “X” next to anything you should never do in either part. You can also use “?” for things which you are not sure about, which depend on the exact task, which are not necessary but might be okay, etc.

Check your answers as a class or with the suggested answers. Then compare different kinds of IELTS Academic Writing Task One tasks in a similar way.

 

Preparation/ Planning

1. You should probably do this task first
2. Only one or two different kinds of question are likely in this part
3. You could possibly get a question that has never been seen in IELTS before
4. Underline important words in the instructions
5. Underline important words in the question
6. Brainstorm some ideas before planning
7. Write a very brief plan before starting to write
8. Use three or four minutes for planning
9. Use five or six minutes for planning
10. Plan for two (or possibly three) main paragraphs (=paragraphs in the body)
11. Try to think of a clever way of splitting the essay into paragraphs

Introduction/ Starting

12. You can start the body straightaway with no introduction
13. A one-sentence introduction is okay
14. A two- or three-sentence introduction is usually best
15. Rephrase the question at the beginning of the introduction
16. Explain some background to the topic such as its importance in the intro
17. Explain the structure of the essay in the last sentence of the introduction

Body

18. Start the body paragraphs with “First…” and “Second…”
19. Start body paragraphs with changing topic phrases like “Turning to…”
20. Compare and contrast
21. You can use “On the other hand” to contrast
22. Speculate
23. Give your own opinion
24. Support your opinions in different ways
25. Use your own experience
26. Use your own knowledge
27. Use personal words like “I” and “my”

Ending

28. You should always write a final summary or conclusion
29. You can add recommendations etc based on the summary

Time management/ Editing

30. It doesn’t matter if you don’t meet the word limit
31. It’s okay not to finish the task as long as you reach the word limit
32. Write exactly the number of words in the word limit
33. Count every word to make sure that you have reached the word limit
34. If you are under the word limit, add one sentence at the end
35. If you are under the word limit, you can write extra sentences anywhere on the sheet and then draw a long arrow to the right place in the text
36. Use an eraser every time that you edit
37. You can edit by crossing out, adding extra words, etc without using an eraser
38. Also add higher level/ more impressive language when you edit

Suggested answers

A question mark (?) means that it isn’t clear, it depends, it’s controversial, etc.

Preparation/ Planning

1. You should probably do this task first – 1/ ?
2. Only one or two different kinds of question are likely in this part – X
3. You could possibly get a question that has never been seen in IELTS before – 1/ 2
4. Underline important words in the instructions – 1/ 2
5. Underline important words in the question – 1/ 2
6. Brainstorm some ideas before planning – 2?
7. Write a very brief plan before starting to write – 1/ 2
8. Use three or four minutes for planning – 2?
9. Use five or six minutes for planning – X
10. Plan for two (or possibly three) paragraphs in the body – 1/ 2
11. Try to think of a clever way of splitting the essay into paragraphs – X

Introduction/ Starting

12. You can start the body straightaway with no introduction – X
13. A one-sentence introduction is okay – X
14. A two- or three-sentence introduction is usually best – 1/ 2
15. Rephrase the question at the beginning of the introduction – 1/ 2
16. Explain some background to the topic such as its importance in the intro – 2?
17. Explain the structure of the essay in the last sentence of the introduction – 1/ 2

Body

18. Start the body paragraphs with “First…” and “Second…” – X
19. Start the 2^nd body paragraph with changing topic phrases like “Turning to…” – 1/ 2
20. Compare and contrast – 1/ 2?
21. You can use “On the other hand” to contrast – 2
22. Speculate – 2
23. Give your own opinion – 2
24. Support your opinions in different ways – 2
25. Use your own experience – 2
26. Use your own knowledge – 2
27. Use personal words like “I” and “my” – 1?/ 2

Ending

28. You should always write a final summary or conclusion – 2
29. You can add recommendations etc based on the summary – 2

Time management/ Editing

30. It doesn’t matter if you don’t meet the word limit – X?
31. It’s okay not to finish the task as long as you reach the word limit – X
32. Write exactly the number of words in the word limit – X
33. Count every word to make sure that you have reached the word limit – X
34. If you are under the word limit, add one sentence at the end – 2?
35. If you are under the word limit, you can write extra sentences anywhere on the sheet and then draw a long arrow to the right place in the text – 1/ 2
36. Use an eraser every time that you edit – X
37. You can edit by crossing out, adding extra words, etc without using an eraser – 1/ 2
38. Also add higher level/ more impressive language when you edit – 1/ 2

Brainstorming stage

First of all without any help, brainstorm suitable phrases for doing these things mentioned above: 

Introduction

Explaining the background to the topic (in Task 2)

 

 

 

Explaining the structure of the essay

 

 

 

Body

Starting body paragraphs

 

 

 

Comparing/ Contrasting

 

 

 

Speculating (in Task 2)

 

 

 

Giving opinions (in Task 2)

 

 

 

Supporting your opinions (in Task 2)

 

 

 

Ending (in Task 2)

Summarising

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

 

(Optional) extra sentence with a recommendation etc based on your summary

 

 

 

Compare as a class or with lists of phrases.