You know the most important aspect of building a home is your foundation. That is where it all begins. If the foundation is built poorly your house will likely not stand the test of time.
Your Writing Task 2 (WT2) foundation is the same. Do you know how to lay the foundation for this IELTS task properly? If you said no. Rest easy. I have a plan that you can follow each time you practice WT2.
Let’s start with the basics
The WT2 is an essay, it is the same if you are sitting for the academic or general test. It is worth two-thirds of your score. You have 40 minutes to write and must include a minimum of 250 words. Why 250 words? Because that is a decent amount of readable language for the examiner to assess your writing.
Contrary to what some believe, there is no maximum word limit. However, do not try to write such a long essay that you lose coherence and cohesion.
Therefore, the best plan is to know how the essay will be marked and respond to the task. Want to know the marking criteria? Take a look at the band descriptors and this will tell you what you need to include to achieve your desired band level.
Do not panic or worry about the topic. You do not need to know anything to write your WT2. IELTS is NEVER asking you to be an expert. You will simply be asked to give your personal knowledge or experience. Period. Stop worrying about the topic and learn to plan your writing so you can write about anything.
How is it marked?
See above mentioned public band descriptors. However, things to keep in mind. You will be marked on:
Task response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
What stands out on the IELTS that is different from General English? In IELTS preparation you need to focus on task response as well as coherence and cohesion. You should already have a good grammatical range and lexical resource (vocabulary) before you prepare to sit for the exam.
How to build that foundation
You must come to understand there is no set model for WT2. You cannot go in with a pre-prepped or canned response. Do not even try! Do invest your time into learning how to build your foundation so you can write anything. Unlike many other academic forms of essay writing, the IELTS WT2 is not a 5-paragraph model.
You do need these key components:
Introduction -> What do I write?
Rephrase the topic. You must show you understand the topic. There is NO credit given for repeating the language from the question.
Introduce the key arguments you will present.
State your position. Yes, state your position in the introduction do NOT wait until the conclusion (you will re-state it there). Get it out and make it very clear. You cannot get higher than a Band 5 if you do not have a clearly stated position.
Body Paragraphs -> How many depends on the question and how many ideas you will discuss.
Must include a clear topic in each paragraph and a supporting position.
Conclusion -> Dos and Don’ts
Do NOT introduce anything new. Do rephrase key topics and restate your position.
Steps for Writing Task 2
1. Analyze the question
2. Brainstorm
3. Plan
4. Write the introduction
5. Write the body paragraphs
6. Write the conclusion
7. Check / Edit
Today we are laser-focused on the first 3 steps. Why? Because this is the foundation of your writing. Too often students do not even bother to do these steps, and then they wonder why they have trouble achieving their desired score.
Analyze the question
Read the question carefully. Then analyze it. This means deciding what type of question it is. How many parts are there in the question? The type of questions you will see:
• An opinion essay
• Problem and solution
• 2-sided argument
Seems easy right? Well, so many students blow by this and jump to writing…but they have the question WRONG! And when you are answering the question incorrectly you are not meeting the task response criteria. This means you cannot get above a Band 5, full stop.
Let’s look at examples and think about how many parts.
#1:
Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programs, for example, working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Break this down: Do you know which type of question this is?
Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programs, for example, working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
What is in blue? It is the stated opinion. (you need to identify this early so that you can have an opinion)
What is in lighter blue? An example. NOT another opinion. This is IELTS's way of helping you, by giving you an example of the stated opinion.
What is in red? This is the type of task -> Do you agree or disagree? That’s it.
This was an opinion essay.
Let’s look at another, #2:
In some countries, the average weight of people is increasing and their levels of health and fitness are decreasing. What do you think are the causes of the problem and what measures could be taken to solve them?
Which type of question is this? To find out let’s break it apart.
In some countries, the average weight of people is increasing and their levels of health and fitness are decreasing. What do you think are the causes of the problem and what measures could be taken to solve them?
Here the problem is stated in dark blue. The question is in red. Notice I underlined two words. This identifies what you need to do, which is to address the problems (causes) and the solutions (solve).
This was a problem and solution essay.
Final question type, can you guess by process of elimination?
We still need to break it into parts to be sure. Let's go #3:
Some people say that the best way to improve public health is by increasing the number of sports facilities. Others, however, say that this would have little effect on public health and that other measures are required. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Some people say that the best way to improve public health is by increasing the number of sports facilities. Others, however, say that this would have little effect on public health and that other measures are required. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
In red you see that you need to discuss both views and give your own opinion. Big hint!
In dark blue you see the first opinion and the lighter blue is the second opinion.
Therefore, this type of essay is a 2-sided Argument.
Brainstorm and Plan
Now what? We need to do some brainstorming to be sure we completely address the main parts of the prompt. Otherwise, we will not be able to earn higher than a Band 5 on our WT2.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes. But this step must not be overlooked. You may think you do not have the time to do it -but it will save you time when you write.
It can be easier to brainstorm by making a mind map or a chart. I like to make charts.
Use a T-chart (see the image above) to brainstorm. I draw a T and write ‘problem’ on one side and ‘solution’ on the other or you can write + on the left and – on the right side.
IELTS will always instruct you to: Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
Now let's use this opinion statement to practice-
Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programs, for example, working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Brainstorming ideas that we could use. (imagine the chart is drawn)
+ -
Learn practical skills Unfair work - unpaid work
Learn social skills No time -education too important
Sense of responsibility Not possible for all
Then think about expanding these with examples from your knowledge or experience.
+ -
Learn practical skills 1 Unfair work - unpaid work
- decorating old persons' flats/ - adults would be paid
gardening in public places
Learn social skills 2 No time -education too important 3
- dealing with the public: collecting for - schoolday full/ kids need higher skills, e.g. IT training
charity
- patience: teaching sports to kids
Sense of responsibility Not possible for all
-volunteer young, continue as an adult
Plan
Then decide from this list where you have the most examples that you can write about and use those examples. You can number them to know how many supporting paragraphs you will have. I am going to pull out three from my chart to use as topic paragraphs.
This is important because it will create coherence and cohesion in your essay, and if you remember from earlier, this was the second item that makes IELTS different from General English writing.
Rinse and Repeat
You can repeat this same brainstorming and planning method with each question type.
It is always the same process:
• Analyze the question.
• Make your chart.
• Brainstorm concrete ideas and examples.
• Decide on the best ones.
You’ve laid the foundation
I will follow this up with the next steps 4-7 in a second blog post. For now, practice identifying the question types and following steps 1-3.
Key things to remember when you are writing:
• Read and carefully answer the question
• Have a clear position throughout the essay
• Plan and organize before you write
• Use clear paragraphs
• Do not repeat ideas
• Do not use bullet points, you must write in complete sentences
• Stick to the topic, if you have brainstormed and planned this should be easy
• Check your work for mistakes
One last thing, this is a practice in slowing down to speed up. This means you have to get the first 3 steps locked in to move fast in the following steps for your writing. Take a breath and master these three steps.
If you found this information helpful, please share it with a friend, or consider joining The Digital IELTS Academy to learn how to implement this and all aspects of IELTS preparation.
Hope to see you in class soon!