kanchan suyash ielts writing task 2 academic general trainin

IELTS Task 2 FAQsIELTS Task 2 Essays Understand the 5 Different Types IELTS Essay Planning How to Structure Your Essay How to write the Introduction How To Write Task 2 Main Body Paragra

IELTS WRITING TASK 2 - ACADEMIC & GENERAL TRAINING MASTERBOOK

KANCHAN SUYASH

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ISBN-13: 9781234567890 ISBN-10: 1477123456

Cover design by: Art Painter Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309 Printed in the United States of America

IELTS Task 2 FAQs

IELTS Task 2 Essays

Understand the 5 Different Types

IELTS Essay Planning

How to Structure Your Essay

How to write the Introduction

How To Write Task 2 Main Body ParagraphsHow To Write a Task 2 Conclusion

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Success Stories

So far, we have a customer satisfaction rate of 99.8 percent, and I work hard

to keep it that way You may watch hundreds of our success stories here orread more good feedback below

I took the IELTS test last year and received a 7 in reading and hearing butonly a 5 in writing Kanchan demonstrated how to write in the IELTS style

He also provides wonderful free writing resources on his website, whichallowed me to progress swiftly After using her method, I received the 7.5 Irequired to attend school in the United Kingdom.

– Tanaya (India)

I was repeating the same grammar mistakes again and over, but Kanchan wasable to show me how to correct them, which greatly improved my essays Myessays were considerably clearer and easier to read after I corrected so manyfoolish errors I received the band 6.5 required to enter university in Canada

GRADING AN ESSAY

1 TASK DESCRIPTION

The IELTS test is designed as a tool to determine the ability of native speakers to use the English language in all ways possible Band scores ranging from 1 to 9 are given in each module, and these four scores are converted into an overall band score This overall score is used

non-by tertiary and other institutions to stipulate admission standards In other words, there is no “pass/fail,” as the overall score is only used as an indicator Each band corresponds to a level of English competence All parts of the test and the overall band score can be reported in whole and half bands—for example, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, or 8.0.

Due to its high quality controls, IELTS is the world’s proven test, and IELTS is accepted by thousands of organizations in more than 135 countries, including

universities, schools, training colleges, and tertiary institutes government departments and agencies

professional and industry bodies

multinational companies and employers

The IELTS for Academic Purposes test consists of four components

It is strongly suggested that students start by doing task 2 There are tworeasons for this:

1 Task 2 carries much more weight in the grading than task 1

2 Students often get bogged down in task 1 and then find themselves

with insufficient time to finish task 2, which carries much moreweight

It is also strongly suggested that students spend ten to fifteen minutescarefully reading the given topic and planning their essays This includesdeciding on the content and planning the paragraphing

It is common knowledge that to write a good IELTS essay, you need tomake the examiner feel good about your essay In other words, you’ve got toknow what will let you gain points and/or what will let you lose points

How does the examiner grade your essay? You receive points for thefollowing aspects:

task response

coherence and cohesion

lexical resource

grammatical range and accuracy

These four criteria are equally weighted, so you should pay attention toall of them

2 TASK RESPONSE

This means that your essay must show that you understand the giventopic correctly and completely In other words, you have to do what they areasking you to do That is why it is so important to spend a few minutes tomake sure that you fully understand what is required

3 COHERENCE AND COHESION

This means how well you are able to connect your paragraphs to eachother and how well your sentences inside each paragraph are connected Forexample, if paragraph 1 explains the advantages of tourism and paragraph 2

explains the disadvantages of tourism, then the last sentence in paragraph 1should say something like “In spite of tourism being to the advantage of theeconomy, its negative effects should not be overlooked.” This sentence willcreate the connection between the first and second paragraphs If you do not

do this, the examiner might think that you jumped from advantages todisadvantages without a reason The same applies to sentences inside theparagraph Every sentence should lead to the next one We use the “sentencestarters” to do this

HOW TO ACHIEVE A 7 BAND SCORE

Manage your paragraphing skilfully by preplanning

Logically organize your ideas and the information you arepresenting so that there is a clear progression throughout the essay

4 LEXICAL RESOURCE

This refers to the range of vocabulary you are using and the differenttypes of simple and complex sentences you are able to use Use your bestvocabulary, but do not go overboard and show off, become pedantic, or makemistakes that could be prevented by using simpler vocabulary that you knowwell

HOW TO ACHIEVE A 7 BAND SCORE

Use a wide variety of vocabulary to convey the meaning clearly

It is better to use a simpler word correctly than a more complicatedword incorrectly

5 GRAMMATICAL RANGE AND ACCURACY

This refers to your spelling and grammar in sentences Grammar skills areacquired by reading By reading, you will get the “feel” of the language Youshould of course be able to spell the words correctly It is better to use asimpler word whose spelling you are sure about than a complicated word that

you might spell incorrectly Do not forget to use the articles “a” and “the.”Punctuation is also part of grammar and should be correctly used.

IELTS Task 2 FAQs

Is it acceptable to use "I" or "my" in IELTS writing?

As an ex-examiner, my advice is that you should use phrases like "I believe" or "in my opinion" when the question asks for your opinion e.g To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some teachers tell students not to use "I" in academic essays, but thisadvice is really for university academic writing, not IELTS

Do you AGREE?

If the question asks whether YOU agree or disagree, don't write aparagraph about what other people think The whole essay should be aboutYOUR views

IELTS Writing Task 2: the confidence to be 'simple'

For many of the students I've taught, a breakthrough (or bigimprovement) came when they found the confidence to write in a more'simple' way

When you stop worrying about whether you need to include passives,conditionals or 'difficult academic words' in your essays, you are free to focus

on answering the question and explaining your ideas coherently It takesconfidence to change your approach and to believe that the 'simple' way willwork

Note: Remember that 'simple' is not the same thing as 'easy'!

I ELTS Writing Task 2: agree, disagree or partly agree?

Here's some advice for people who are still confused about "agree ordisagree" questions:

If you completely agree or completely disagree:

Make your opinion clear in the introduction and conclusion

Explain one reason for your opinion in paragraph 2 and another in

paragraph 3 Imagine that you are persuading the examiner thatyour opinion is right.

Don't write a paragraph about what 'other people' think If you do

that, you are in danger of writing a "discuss both views" essay Ifyou mention the opposite argument, make sure that you refute it(explain why you think it's wrong), like I did in paragraph 2 of thisessay

If you partly agree:

Make it clear in the introduction and conclusion that you have abalanced view i.e that you accept both sides of the argument tosome extent, like I did in last week's l esson

Write one paragraph about each side of the argument But do thisfrom y our point of view e.g On the one hand, I

accept that / On the other hand, I also believe that

Don't write a discussion essay e.g some people believe / other

people argue

IELTS Task 2 Essays Understand the 5 Different Types

There are 5 main types of IELTS Task 2 essays:

1) Opinion Essays

2) Discussion Essays

3) Problem Solution Essays

4) Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

5) Double Question Essays

Most questions fit one of these categories However, questions can bewritten in many different ways, which can make it difficult to determinewhich type they are

1) Opinion Essays

These are sometimes called ‘agree or disagree’ or ‘argumentative’ essaysand are one of the most common types of IELTS Task 2 question

The first part of the question will be a statement You will then be asked

to give your own opinion about the statement Here is some typical wordingthat might be used:

What is your opinion?

Do you agree or disagree?

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Key tips:

Choose one side of the argument.

State your opinion clearly in the introduction.

Keep the same opinion throughout the essay.

Give reasons why you hold this view.

It doesn’t matter which side of the argument you take or even that youagree with it Choose the one you can develop the best argument for

Don’t change your opinion part way through the essay and don’t givereasons for the opposing idea

Essay Structure

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question

Give your opinion

State two supporting reasons

2) Main body paragraph 1

Topic sentence – outline 1st reason for supporting this view

Explanation – explain this idea

Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2

Topic sentence – outline 2nd reason for supporting this view

Explanation – explain this idea

Example – give an example

Develop both sides of the argument.

Talk about the view you don’t agree with first.

A big mistake many students make is to fully develop only one point ofview This leads to an unbalanced essay and a low score for taskachievement

It is easier to begin by discussing the opinion you don’t agree with andthen present the reasons for your opposing view

Essay Structure

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question

Give your opinion

State two supporting reasons

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Negative Viewpoint

Topic sentence – outline the view you don’t agree with

Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people

Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Positive Viewpoint

Topic sentence – outline the view you do agree with

Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people

Example – give an example

solutions’ essays This type of IELTS Task 2 question starts with a statement,then asks you to discuss the problems or causes and the solutions.

Key tips:

Don’t list lots of causes and solutions.

Choose just one or two and develop them fully.

Be sure to link each problem/cause and its solution.

A common mistake is for candidates to list all the problems/causes andsolutions they can think of, not necessarily linking them together They alsofail to explain any of them in detail and don’t include any examples

The wording of this type of essay question can vary considerably

Essay Structure

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question

State 1 key problem/cause and related solution

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Problem or Cause

Topic sentence – state the problem or cause

Explanation – give detail explaining the problem or cause

Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Solution

Topic sentence – state the solution

Explanation – give detail explaining the solution

Example – give an example

4) Conclusion

Summarise the key points and state your opinion

4) Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

The first part of the question will be a statement You will be asked to

write about both the advantages and disadvantages of the idea stated.

Here is some typical wording that might be used:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of….?

Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion.

Here are 3 examples of advantages and disadvantages essay questions:

Each of these different types of questions fits into one of two slightlydifferent essay structures

Essay Structure

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question

Outline the view or views stated the statement

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Advantage

Topic sentence – state 1 advantage

Explanation – give detail explaining the advantage

Example – give an example

Result – state the result

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Disadvantage

Topic sentence – state 1 disadvantage

Explanation – give detail explaining the disadvantage

Example – give an example

Result – state the result

4) Conclusion

Summarise the key points

State your opinion if required

5) Double Question Essays

This type of IELTS Task 2 question is sometimes called a ‘directquestion’ or ‘two questions’ essay It has one statement with two differentquestions after it The questions may or may not be linked

Key tips:

You must answer both questions fully.

Don’t confuse it with an opinion or a discussion essay.

Be careful that you don’t end up with too many ideas to write about.

Essay Structure

1) Introduction

Paraphrase the question

Outline sentence – state your answer to both questions

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Answer question 1

Topic sentence – state your answer

Explanation – explain why you think this

Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Answer question 2

Topic sentence – state your answer

Explanation – explain why you think this

Example – give an example

4) Conclusion

Summarise both questions and answers

IELTS Essay Planning

How To Plan a Task 2 Essay

-It is essential that you understand how to plan your Task 2 IELTS essay On this page, you will learn:

4 reasons why you must plan your IELTS essay

4 simple steps of essay planning

4 strategies for generating ideas

4 part essay structure

Each year, many high level students fail to get the Band 7 or 8 score they are capable of achieving simply because they didn’t plan their Task

2 essay.

In case you are one of the people who insist that they don’t have time

to plan, here are four key reasons why you should.

4 Reasons Why You Must Plan Your IELTS Essay

1) Planning saves you time

If you plan your essay before you start writing, you will already knowwhat you are going to say and won’t need to keep stopping to think about thenext idea This means that you will be able to write much faster than if youdon’t have a plan

You only need to spend 5 minutes in the planning stage That leaves a full

35 minutes to write and check your essay

2) Planning results in a more relevant answer

Remember, 25% of your marks are for task achievement This includes,

Answering all parts of the question

Presenting relevant ideas that are well-developed

Having clear supporting points to extend the main idea

A common mistake in IELTS essay writing is the failure to answer allparts of the question

Part of the planning process involves thinking up ideas to include in youressay Taking the time to analyse the question and focus on generating a fewkey ideas with relevant examples will ensure that you answer the questionfully

3) Planning results in a better structure

Another 25% of the marks are for coherence and cohesion This includes,

Organizing your ideas into a logical order

Having a separate paragraph for each main idea

Linking your paragraphs appropriately

You can have the best ideas in the world, but unless you can developthem into a well-structured essay, you will not score highly for coherence andcohesion

The examiner needs to be able to understand what you are saying and see

a clear progression of relevant ideas Without a plan, this is difficult toachieve

Trying to write an IELTS essay without planning it first is like going on ajourney without a map You’ll probably reach your destination eventually butyou’ll undoubtedly take a random route with a few false turns along the way

It would certainly be extremely difficult for anyone else to follow yourmeandering path

Spending a few minutes planning your essay will give you an easy tofollow map taking you right through from your introduction to yourconclusion The result will be a well-structured essay and a very happyexaminer

4) Planning results in fewer grammatical errors

With your ideas and essay structure planned out before you start writing,you will have more time to focus on getting your grammar right Fewergrammatical errors means more marks

You should also be left with enough time at the end to check your essayfor mistakes and to correct them

The 4 Simple Steps of IELTS Essay Planning

Analyse the question

Generate ideas

Record synonyms

Plan the structure

Analyse the Question

The number one mistake many students make is not answering thequestion properly

The way to avoid this is to carefully analyse the question before you doanything else Knowing how to do this is so important that I’ve written awhole page on it Follow this link to read it:

How To Understand and Analyse IELTS Writing Task 2 Questions

Students regularly make these 4 mistakes:

1 They don’t spend time carefully reading and analysing the question.

2 They fail to recognise the type of question being asked.

3 They don’t fully understand the question.

4 They write about the general topic rather than answering the specific question.

Fortunately, there is a quick and easy way to analyse and understand Task

2 IELTS essay questions You just need to identify 3 different types of

These are the only aspects of ‘fear of crime’ that you should write about.

Do not write about ‘crime’ or ‘fear of crime’ in general or you will be given alow mark for task achievement

Instruction words

The instruction words are all the words that come after the questionstatement They tell you exactly what the examiner wants you to do Forexample,

What are the causes of crime in those areas and what can be done totackle those problems?

25% of your marks are determined by how well you answer the question.Our sample question is a ‘causes and solutions’ question It requires you

to give clear ideas on both the causes of crime in poor areas of largecities and some possible solutions

A common mistake is to write about just one side of the issue, e.g justthe causes, or to not fully develop both sides, resulting in an unbalancedessay

How to Structure Your Essay

The final step in the process of planning your Task 2 IELTS essay is toset out the structure, that is, to organise your ideas so that they flow logicallyfrom one to the next and answer all parts of the question

Most essays should have 4 paragraphs Each of the 5 types of questionrequires a slightly different structure which I go into in detail on theirindividual pages Here, I’m going to give you a general overview

The 4 paragraph structure:

1) Introduction: Paraphrase the question

If required, state your opinion

2) Body paragraph 1: Main idea

ExplanationExample

3) Body paragraph 2: Main idea

ExplanationExample

4) Conclusion: Summary of main ideas

If required, restate your opinion

This structure is easy to memorise Once it’s fixed in your mind, all youneed to do is to fill in each part with your ideas With all this planning done,the actual writing of your essay will be fairly straightforward

How to write the Introduction

Why the Introduction is So Important

Beginning your IELTS writing tasks well will immediately start stacking

up the marks for both Task Achievement and Coherence and Cohesion whichtogether carry 50% of the marks

A good introduction does several things:

It gives an excellent first impression.

It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

It gives the examiner a brief overview of what you’ll cover in the rest of the essay.

It focuses your thoughts and keeps you on track while writing.

The 3 Part Structure

A good introduction has a simple 3 part structure:

Before I show you how to write good introductions to Task 2 IELTSwriting tasks, I want to flag up some common errors students make to helpyou avoid them.

4 Common Mistakes

# 1 Not being specific enough

It’s tempting to start your essay with a general statement about the topic

of the question Don’t do this You need to be very specific Here’s anillustration of a poor opening sentence

Question:

Everybody should become a vegetarian because eating meat can cause serious health problems

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Bad first sentence:

These days, many people are worried about their health and changing their diet is one way that they try to improve it.

This is not a question about health in general but one specifically aboutbecoming a vegetarian for health reasons

A good first sentence will paraphrase the question, that is, it will state thesame information using different language and often, a different sentencestructure as well

We’ll be looking at paraphrasing and an example of a good first sentencelater in this lesson

# 2 Not writing a thesis statement

A thesis statement is a summary of the main idea of your essay When theexaminer reads it, they will instantly know whether or not you haveunderstood the question correctly It also acts as an outline for the rest of youressay

This makes the thesis statement the most important sentence in youressay If you get it right, you will have got off to the perfect start

There’s an easy to remember formula for writing thesis statements whichwe’ll be studying below For now, here’s an example relating to our sample

Thesis statement: This essay agrees that the world’s population should

stop consuming meat due to the related health risks.

# 3 Not stating your opinion

Task 2 IELTS writing tasks generally require you to give your opinion.Usually, this will be clearly stated in the question For example, theinstruction might say,

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

or

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

In other questions, it won’t be so clear that this is what you should do Forexample,

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern world?

However, your opinion – the main idea of your essay – is still required Ifyou always include it in the introduction, as well as throughout your essay,you won’t go wrong

# 4 Using inappropriate language

For Task 2 essays, you must use formal language Most studentsunderstand this

However, many candidates make the mistake of trying to use clever orcomplex language to add interest or to show off their high-level languageskills

Keep tight control of your language This is a very short essay and you

don’t have the time or space to get carried away with elaborate words andphrases.

Get the information across quickly and succinctly using everydaylanguage that includes topic words and their synonyms

Most importantly, use the language correctly The more complex youmake it, the more errors you’re likely to make

How To Write Task 2 Main Body

Paragraphs

The 3 Part Structure

All the IELTS essay writing tasks have easy to remember structures thatwill help you to write high-scoring essays An important part of yourpreparation for the exam is to learn these structures so that they come quickly

to mind in the test

For Task 2 main body paragraphs, the structure has 3 parts:

Topic sentence

Explanation

Example

3 Common Mistakes

Before we move on to writing these two main body paragraphs, you need

to be aware of three common errors that students make Knowing these willhelp you to avoid making them yourself

1 Having too many ideas

2 Having undeveloped ideas

3 Not including explanations or examples

All the IELTS essay writing tasks require you to write a short essay andfor Task 2 you will only be writing around 250-300 words If you have toomany ideas, you won’t have time to develop each of them fully You will losemarks for this and there are certainly no extra marks for including lots ofdifferent ideas

All you need is 1 or 2 ideas for each paragraph and to fully develop them

So, how do you fully develop your ideas? You simply,

explain what they mean

support them with good examples

How To Write Great Main Body Paragraphs

The structure of a good supporting paragraph:

Topic sentence

Explanation sentences

Example

Topic Sentence

The overriding objective when completing an IELTS essay writing task is

to give the examiner what they want to see A happy examiner means highmarks

Your essay must firstly, answer the question, and secondly, be structured

in such a way that the ideas flow logically from one to another Achievingthis will gain you a high score for task achievement and cohesion andcoherence

The topic sentence plays an important role here It states the main idea,acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is, what the paragraph will

be about

That’s all it needs to do so it doesn’t need to be complicated

How To Write a Task 2 Conclusion

Why a Good Conclusion is Important

High-scoring Task 2 IELTS writing essays have a simple 4 part structure:

1) Introduction

2) Main Body Paragraph 1

3) Main Body Paragraph 2

4) Conclusion

Although your conclusion will only be 1 or 2 sentences long, it’s asimportant as each of the other sections of the essay and you will miss out onvaluable marks if you don’t include one

A good conclusion will:

Neatly end the essay

Link all your ideas together

Sum up your argument or opinion

Answer the question

If you do this well, you’ll improve your score for both task achievementand cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overallmarks

Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement

4 Common Mistakes to Avoid

First, let’s consider what students should not do when writing conclusions

to Task 2 IELTS writing essays

You should not:

Introduce new ideas.