IELTS Writing Task 2 Tips

Table of Contents

How to write an impressive Essay

The total score of IELTS WRITING is split in two areas. For the Essay the maximum score is 6 and for Graph / Letter, it is 3. Together they constitute a band score of 9. Since Essay Writing can get a 6 score in comparison with 3 for Task 1, you should excel in Essay Writing.

It is not that difficult to write an essay, if you follow these steps:

1. Develop the essay in a global perspective

Think beyond what you were taught at schools and colleges. Most of the essay questions of IELTS and TOEFL have a good dimension. These questions should not be approached from a local or a national perspective. For e.g., if the question states that ‘stress and tension is on the increase’, what is meant that globally there is an increase in stress and tension. As such, you have to broaden your horizons of knowledge to answer the question in a global perspective. To enable you to do that, it is imperative that you read extensively and listen to world news in English and analyse then to have a view of your own.

2. Develop your logical thinking

Your task will be marked according to Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resources and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. And your ability to present your views logically is very important. Objective analysis must be developed beyond personal or national perspective. You can express your subjective view (=personal view), if it is asked for; but it should be substantiated logically. Listening to discussions on television, reading essay books and participating in group discussions will take you a long way in organizing your thoughts logically.

3. Brainstorming and organizing ideas

Brainstorming and organizing ideas are skills that can be learnt, if you have an urge to learn. You should learn how to organize your ideas logically to support your thesis statement and to restart your thesis in the conclusion, without deviating from the focus of the question. You have to be resourceful, think laterally and then, narrow down your thoughts to develop an argument. The use of a pencil will keep you focused, since the tip of a pencil is sharper than your brain.

4. Learn to organize your essay well

Organization of the essay depends on the type of the question. ‘To what extent do you agree’ and ‘Discuss’ type questions need different organization to write. Your thesis statement must express your view and your topic sentences in body paragraphs should logically introduce the topic to follow in that paragraph. Most of the questions are abstract in nature, as such, you have to narrow them down with statements and examples.

5. Focus your answer

It must also be noted that task response must be achieved, and your stand must be expressed logically. If the question is about ‘the impact of the internet on tertiary education’, your answer should not be about the advantages of the internet or its impact on different areas. You should limit your answer to the impact of the internet on tertiary education.

6. Improve your sentence structure

If you read critically and take note of different grammatical structures, you can be good at writing effective sentences in different ways.

7. Variety of sentence

Since examiners look for a variety of sentence structures such as simple, complex and compound, test takers should be adapt at grammar to write well.

8. Learn the use of linking words

To make your essay cohesive and coherent, connective words such as but, although, even though, therefore and however should be used.

9. Development of the topic is vital

You should develop the question on different dimensions, to make it more specific, by writing appropriate statements and citing examples. For e.g., ‘Progress is always good’. To what extent do you agree? Here you have to develop it in a global level, and state a few areas of progress and substantiate whether they are always good. The key word is always.

10. In addition

you should be good at punctuation and able to write legibly. Examiners are human beings and they also tend to develop a first impression from the style of your writing. You can improve your handwriting, if you want to improve.

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