The content, Guided IELTS Writing Task 2 Tips and writing task 2 lessons with strategies, have been modified and compiled from numerous reliable sources. You may use these techniques, information, and remedies (if any) from here to maximize your IELTS writing score. Further, changes are periodically made to this page as and when needed. IELTS Writing Task 2 Tips, Strategies and Lesson have been divided onto different topics, and links are provided for the shake of your ease. Use it as your reference, enjoy. Good Luck!
Writing Task 2 Tips
With varying topics, you cannot learn an amazing sentence which you can insert into an essay, as it is very unlikely that you will be able to use it in your specific question that you have on the day of your test. However, there is a system to use that gives you a great balanced structure which will help you get a good mark for answering the question.
Your IELTS Writing Task 2 is based on 4 scoring criteria namingly 1) Task achievement 2) Cohesion ans Coherence 3) Lexical Resources 4) Grammatical Range and Accuracy. So, any tips that is suggested to you should be a step forward to score high in either of these four criterias.
Below you’ll find important IELTS writing tips to help you with task 2 of the IELTS writing module.
NB:- Remember that a detail and organised lessons are offered for each tip in the IELTS Writing Task 2 lessons part.
Tips for Task Achievement
- Task achievement in your introduction should be composed of two parts:- 1. General Statement(2 sentence max) 2. Thesis Statement(1 sentence)
| General Statement | It is often said that children benefit from caring for domestic animals, especially in today’s technology focused world. However, the issue is not entirely straightforward, and arguments can also be made against the idea. | |
| Thesis Statement | This essay will discuss the debate, and give a concluding view. |
- Present your arguments, ideas and evidence by the use of appropriate language. For which you will be using two sentence tools 1) modal verbs to express ideas 2) quantifiers (words and phrases showing quantity)
| There are also some advantages to cloning. Many couples are desperate to have children but are unable to have children naturally. Cloning may solve this problem. Cloning could also be used to create spare organs for surgery. Therefore, if you needed a heart transplant, you could be given a spare heart which has been cloned in an organ bank. |
- In any IELTS essay, the main body paragraphs must be carefully organised. The classic pattern is to have a topic sentence which signposts the content of that paragraph followed by two or three ideas in each paragraph.
- Try to summarize the main ideas from the main body, but also paraphrase(= use words which mean the same) so that you do not repeat vocabulary. When writing your conclusion, remember that you should not include any new ideas or evidence.
- Aim for at least 275 words so that you don’t fall below the minimum words required.
Tips for cohesion and coherence
- Use four paragraphed standard essay format for paragraphing your essay.
- If you use pronoun referencing, you improve the cohesion and coherence of your writing because you connect sentences smoothly with each other by not repeating the subject, thereby improving the flow too.
Notice the bold letters in the given examples:-
| An increasing older population would cause many problems for society. It would place a lot of pressure on the social welfare system. On the other hand, it could also provide great benefits to society by making more experienced workers available for a much longer time. |
- Signposts can be used to link your ideas between sentences and paragraphs and within sentences. Signposts that link ideas within a sentence are usually called conjunctions.
Table 1 Signposts usually found at the beginning of the sentence
| Function | Signpost |
| Introduce a new subject | Regarding With regard to As regards Concerning Turning to |
- A further way of achieving cohesion and coherence in your Task 2 essay is the use of academic phrases. An academic phrase is a group of words that is used to draw the reader’s attention to your personnel ideas making your arguments and ideas clear.
| Give your opinion | |
| I think I feel I believe I am of the opinion that It is my belief that It seems advisable that (more formal) It would appear that | smoking should be banned in all restaurants. |
Tips for lexical resource
- Apart from the need to use a variety of sentence structures in your Task 2 essay, it is important you use a wide range of vocabulary in your writing. To improve your vocabulary range, you need to use modifiers and synonyms.
Compare the two paragraphs below and decide which paragraph uses a better range of vocabulary.
| Paragraph 1 | Paragraph 2 |
| Teenagers are vulnerable to feelings of isolation, as they have not developed peer groups and lack strength. Use of the Internet could lead to the inability to communicate with other people and comes at the expense of activities such as meeting with friends. | Teenagers are especially vulnerable to feelings of isolation as they have not developed strong peer groups and often lack emotional strength. Excessive use of the Internet could lead to the inability to communicate effectively with other people in face-to-face situations and often comes at the expense of more social activities such as meeting with friends. |
- By using colocations, the writer shows that he/she can write in the formal, academic style used in business, colleges and universities.
- Use topic related vocabulary according to your essay topics.
Tips for grammatical range and accuracy
- In your essay, examiner will be looking for sentence variation when they grade you for your ‘grammatical range’. Hence you must know how to use simple, compound, and complex sentence correctly.
- Use conditional structures to talk about a condition, especially in result/consequence/problem/solution essay. Conditionals are complex sentences, which consist of an if-clause with main clause.
- In Academic English, the use of passive structures is extremely important. The examiner will look for passives in your essay, and you will not be able to achieve over Band 7 unless you show it.
- You should know the effective language to talk about the probability of something or the timescales in which things happen. Do this by including some of the qualifiers in your ideas.
- Adverbs are words which modify or give extra information about verbs, adjectives, other words or whole clauses. Use adverbs in IELTS to modify or give extra information.
- Use adjectives are used to describe either the nature or number of noun.
- Sometime to emphasize, and sometime, perhaps to contradict what someone else has said or for dramatic effect, we use emphatic sentence structure. We do this either by splitting one sentence into two parts.
- Since IELTS papers are checked and marked by university people, you are supposed to make your style purely academic. To achieve this we will choose formal style and formal vocabulary.
Useful websites with IELTS writing task 2 tips
- https://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-writing-tips.html
- http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/academic-english/write-the-perfect-ielts-writing-task-2-essay
- https://ieltstutorials.online/blog/11-tips-to-ace-ielts-essay-writing-task
IELTS Writing Task 2 Lessons and Strategies.
These IELTS lessons are a collection of over a decade of teaching experience amalgamated with hundreds of most popular IELTS books and websites. No matter which book you read, and website you visit, you will find these perfectly arranged IELTS Writing Task 2 Lessons above others.
| Lesson 1: Introduction to Task 2 Writing |
| The IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 asks you to write a short essay of a minimum of 250 words. The essay is usually a discussion of a subject of general interest. Click Here For More |
| Lesson 3: Focus on Task Achievement |
| To score well for task achievement, you must do 3 things; answer the actual question asked (i.e. don’t just write generally about the topic), answer all parts of the question, clearly express your opinion and support it with well-developed ideas and, ideally, examples. Achievement through expression Achievement through introduction Achievement through body Achievement through conclusion |
| Lesson 2: Scoring Task 2 Essay |
| The IELTS Academic Tasks 1 and 2 Writing will be marked in four areas. You will get a mark from 1 to 9 on Task Achievement, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Click Here For More |
| Lesson 4: Focus on Cohesion & Coherence |
| While coherence involves organizing information logically and in paragraphs making it is easy for the reader to follow, cohesion involves connecting sentences and ideas using techniques such as pronoun referencing, signposts and academic phrases. Click Here For More |
| Lesson 5: Focus on Lexical Resources |
| Lexical Resource means vocabulary so refers to the words and phrases you use in your essay. To score well for Lexical Resource you must use a wide range of vocabulary. We do this by:- Using Vocabulary Modifiers Using Collocation Using Topic Specific Vocabulary |
| Lesson 6: Focus on Grammatical Range & Accuracy |
| For a score more than 7, you should be able to prove the examiner that you can use wide range of grammatical structures that are very common in standard English. Click Here For More |
| Writing Task 2 Lesson Bonus: Band 7+ Samples |
| Most often, IELTS Essay is taken from any of the 20 topics and here is the collection of more than 500 band 7+ scored essays divided under such topic. Click Here For More |
Useful websites to learn IELTS Writing Task 2
Frequently Asked Questions:-
Is Writing Task 2 for academic and general same?
The Academic module is ideal if you want to study at undergraduate/postgraduate level or for professional registration. The General Training module is normally taken by those who want to migrate to an English-speaking country or study at below degree level. If you’re still unsure, we advise you to check with the institution you’re applying to. Irrespective of the test you are taking your writing task 2 module is same.
What are the topics asked in IELTS Writing Task 2?
A wide range of topics are covered and they are relevant and accessible to those wanting to study at university level. No specialist knowledge is required. Click Here to have a general idea.
Should I choose formal or informal writing style?
IELTS Papers are marked by University people, hence it is always a wise choice to pick the academic style. Click here to know about formal/academic style.
Is there a score for number of paragraphs?
There is no separate assessment for paragraphing. However, if you do not write a clear introduction followed by well organised body paragraph and a conclusion, you may be penalized under ‘Task response’ and/or ‘Coherence and cohesion’. Click here to know more.
How many words and paragraphs should I write?
For Task 1, three or four paragraphs totalling 150 words is sufficient, In Task 2, you should write four to six paragraphs (depending on the number of ideas you have) and at least 250 words.
How do I Know the number of words I’ve written in Task 2 without counting?
Before taking the test, you should practice the Writing module enough times to be able to know when you have written a long enough answer without actually counting the words. In Task 1, this would be a short introduction plus two substantial body paragraphs and perhaps a short conclusion. In Task 2, you should aim to write an introduction of several sentences, two to four substantial body paragraphs, and a conclusion of several sentences.
Where do I download Writing Task 2 Books?
There are many websites which offers you free books or click here. You can also buy books online or click here.
Thanks really helpful
These are the best writing tips I”ve read.
Some links are clickable.
May be you mean that some links are not clickabe. They are for premium users.
Great tips thanks.
Welcome
Podcast would be appreciated more of these writing tips
Thanks for your kind suggestion.
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These lessons are really helpful. Thanks sir.
Welcome vaita. More is coming on tips section.