Writing an IELTS essay might seem tough for most candidates. However, one can do it with flying colours if he or she knows how to do it and has a lot of practice before the exam. What should you keep in mind whilst writing an essay? How can you prepare yourself to get a higher score on the day of your Writing test? We are sharing some tips and tricks on IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 below.
Familiarize yourself with the most common topics
What is your biggest fear on the day of the exam? The majority of candidates admit that it is the fear that a question will come up that they cannot answer because they know nothing about it. Others tend to think that IELTS examiners look for some “best possible ideas” that answer the question and they will award the highest scores for this. Neither is true. What you have to do is to answer the question and justify your point using arguments and examples. What is important is the relevancy of the ideas.
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While preparing for IELTS, read more about different kinds of topics that you can come up with at the exam. This is the easiest and the most effective way to get ready not only for Writing but also for the Reading and Speaking sections of the exam. You can do this by reading international newspapers or magazines and by looking at old essay questions and sample answers.
There are also topics that will never appear in IELTS tasks, and these are ones connected to religion, politics and war. Thus, there is no need to research about these.
READ ABOUT: IELTS Academic Writing topics in 2020
Learn to generate ideas
While planning your essay, you need to brainstorm ideas about a particular topic or aspect. You will usually have to come up with 2-4 ideas depending on the type of your essay. DO NOT start writing an essay if you have no idea what you are going to write about. Generating ideas is a skill, and you need to develop it.
First, try generating ideas without writing an essay. Start with asking yourself wh-questions about the topic of the essay. For example:
Some people think that it is necessary to travel abroad to learn about other countries, but others think that it is not necessary to travel abroad because all the information can be seen on TV and the internet. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Who thinks that it is necessary to travel abroad to learn about other countries?
Probably young people. They have access to different exchange programs and international internships.
Why?
They don’t think about saving money, because they are still young, and they don’t care about the time when they retire.
Who thinks that it is not necessary to travel abroad?
Maybe their parents or grandparents. They grew up in the times of deficit. They got used to saving money. They think about retirement.
Where?
People in post-soviet countries like Ukraine or Russia. In these countries, older generations often live in between poverty and the air line.
This technique will help you generate some initial ideas. You can also try:
- simplifying the question
- imagining your teacher or friend is asking you the question
- generating ideas from the specific example
- using the internet
- developing focus questions (e.g. reason-solution: Why? What can be done?)
Also remember, if you have too many ideas, choose those that are easy to explain.
Structure your essay
When you have come up with the ideas for your essay, be sure you organize them properly in separate paragraphs. Your essay should consist of:
- Introduction (1 paragraph)
- Main body (2-3 paragraphs)
- Conclusion (1 paragraph)
Paragraphs give a clear structure to a piece of writing and they help the reader understand your message. Organise each paragraph around one main idea. Each of your supporting paragraphs should have a specific example that supports and illustrates your main point. If you put your ideas, explanations and examples into a clear structure before you start to write, you will get a higher band score.
READ ABOUT: How to write IELTS essay
Know Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation
Good grammar and accuracy will bring you 25% of the score. Even simple sentences need to be written accurately! Moreover, the highest score you can receive for grammar in IELTS writing if you write only simple and compound sentences is 4 (check IELTS TASK 2 Writing band descriptors). If you aim higher, learn to use a wide range of structures (Passive Voice, Subordinate Clauses, Conditionals, Modal Verbs, etc.), avoid mistakes, and master punctuation. Make sure each sentence you write is complete.
Manage your time properly
As you know, you will have 40 minutes to complete Task 2. Also, remember that Task 2 gives more to your final writing band and so you should make sure that you have enough time after Task 1 to write an essay.
We recommend that you spend at least 1 or 2 minutes thinking about your ideas and how you are going to present them. The last thing you want to do is to go off topic. Keeping your ideas focused and on the task with an outline will improve your writing. After this, divide the ideas into 3 or 4 paragraphs in a logical order. This will not take you long and the structure that this will give your essay will be well worth the time that you spend doing it. You could follow this timeline to complete the task:
plan – 5 minutes
write – 30 minutes
check – 5 minutes.
If you feel that you need more practice in completing Task 2, improve your writing skills and get an IELTS band score evaluation for your essay, sign up for the IELTS Academic Writing self-study course. You can start with a free trial version or purchase access to the full course and get more than 40 hours of practice, lots of strong examples of IELTS Academic essay model answers, tips and strategies from our IELTS experts.
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READ ABOUT: 5 easy steps to complete IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
