By British Council

29 September 2024 - 15:48

Test takers taking IELTS at a test centre

Is your writing holding you back from achieving the IELTS score you need? Relax! We’ve got just the thing for you—a how-to article on acing your IELTS Writing Task 2.

In this blog post, we will share some IELTS Writing Task 2 tips that will help you better your writing skills. Whether you're taking the test to achieve your study, work or migration goals, these tips can make all the difference to your IELTS score. 

IELTS Writing Task 2 accounts for a big part of your writing score, as it’s worth twice as much in marking as Task 1. To do well, you’ll need to write a clear, well-organised and relevant essay on a given topic. With proper preparation and practice, you can easily get the score you need.

Read on to discover some handy tips to get your Writing score up, such as understanding the question, planning your essay, organising your ideas and using a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures. You’ll also find practical examples and exercises to help you apply these tips. By the time you finish reading, you'll have gathered enough information and ideas to tackle IELTS Writing Task 2 with confidence.

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In this article:

Understanding IELTS Writing Task 2 Requirements

To produce an IELTS Writing Task 2 that stands out, it's important that you first understand what’s involved in acing the task (i.e. the requirements of the task). In this section you can find out more about the task format, scoring criteria and some common mistakes you should avoid.

Task Format

IELTS Writing Task 2 requires you to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. You must write at least 250 words, spending no more than 40 minutes on the entire task. Your essay should be well-structured and written in a formal or semi-formal style, presenting a clear argument supported by relevant examples. If what you write is not clearly related to the topic, you will be penalised. For instance, if the topic is a particular aspect (e.g. use of modern technology in the classroom) of a wider theme (technology, in this case), see that your answer focuses only on this aspect. Anything you write on the wider theme will be considered irrelevant.

Scoring Criteria

Your essay will be scored depending on how well you fulfil these four key criteria:

  • Task Response: Address all parts of the task and present a clear, well-developed position throughout the essay, supported by evidence and examples from your own experience. 
  • Coherence and Cohesion: Organise your ideas and information logically, achieving clear progression and using a range of cohesive devices (e.g. linking phrases, pronouns, conjunctions).
  • Lexical Resource: Use a wide range of vocabulary accurately and appropriately.
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Use a wide variety of grammar structures accurately and appropriately.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Test takers who don’t get the score they deserve in their IELTS Writing Task 2 often make costly mistakes. Here are some common mistakes to watch out for:

  • Not answering all parts of the question: Identify how many parts your task has at the very beginning and see to it that you address all of them.
  • Poor organisation: Use paragraphs effectively to structure your essay.
  • Repetitive language: Avoid using the same words and phrases over and over; instead, use synonyms (e.g. significant problem ↔ worrying issue), pronouns (e.g. 'they' instead of 'children'), and different word forms (e.g. advertisement, advertising, advertise).
  • Grammatical errors: Pay attention to subject-verb agreement, tenses, conditionals and punctuation. 

Effective Planning and Structuring Techniques

One of the most important IELTS Writing Task 2 tips is planning and structuring your essay effectively. Apart from helping you stay on topic and work out a logical structure, planning also enables you to write faster. And that’s good news for anyone wanting to boost their Writing score.

In this section you will find techniques for brainstorming, organising ideas and creating a coherent essay structure.

Brainstorming Ideas

Before you start writing, it's important to brainstorm ideas and write them down. This helps you remember relevant points and examples to support your arguments. Here are some steps you could follow to come up with relevant ideas for your essay:

  • Understand the question: Carefully read the question more than once to ensure you understand what you’re being asked to write about. Highlight key words and identify all the different parts of the question.
  • Generate ideas: Spend a few minutes thinking about different aspects of the topic. Write down any ideas that come to mind, even if they seem unrelated at first.
  • Group related ideas: Organise your ideas into categories. This will help you see which points can be grouped together in your essay.
  • Select the best ideas: Choose the strongest and most relevant ideas to include in your essay. Make sure the ideas you choose directly address the question.

Organising Your Essay

Once you’ve decided which ideas to keep, the next step is to put them in a logical order. A well-organised essay is easier to read and understand. Here’s how you can organise your essay:

  • Create an outline: Draft an outline that includes an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. This will function as a framework for your writing.
  • Introduction:  Start with a general statement that introduces the topic and your main point. Clearly state your position if the question asks for it.
  • Body paragraphs: Each body paragraph should focus on a single main idea. Start with a topic sentence, and provide evidence or examples to support your ideas. Create a logical flow that helps the reader move smoothly from one sentence to another, one paragraph to the next.
  • Conclusion: Summarise your main points and restate your opinion in the conclusion. Avoid introducing new information here.

Creating Coherence and Cohesion

In writing, coherence and cohesion work together to produce texts that are easy to follow. For your IELTS Writing Task 2 to be rated high, it will need to achieve both. While logical sequencing of ideas and paragraphing can help you achieve coherence, you would still need to take care of cohesion.

Here are some handy tips to get you started:

  • Use cohesive devices: Cohesive devices help to connect ideas in a text, making it easier to follow. They include discourse markers (e.g. First of all, as a result), conjunctions (e.g. although, even if) and pronouns (e.g. it, they).
  • Maintain consistent point of view and use of tenses:  Ensure that both your point of view and use of verb tenses is consistent throughout your essay to avoid confusion.
  • Refer back to your opinion: Regularly refer back to your opinion about the given topic to ensure that your arguments remain focused and relevant.
  • Review and change: On completing the essay, review your work and make changes if needed. Check for any gaps in logic or unclear transitions. 

Writing Task 2 Tips for Higher Scores

To achieve a higher band score in IELTS Writing Task 2, providing evidence of advanced writing techniques is a must. In this section you can find out more about complex sentence structures, advanced vocabulary and the effective use of examples to improve your writing.

Using Complex Sentence Structures

The ability to use a range of grammar structures (simple, compound and complex sentences) accurately and appropriately can get you a higher score in IELTS Writing Task 2. Compared to simple and compound sentences, complex ones are harder to get right. A complex sentence combines an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses. Here are some examples:

Example: Although many people believe that zoos are beneficial for education, others argue that they are inhumane and should be banned.

Example: If the government implements strict policies, pollution levels will decrease significantly.

Using Advanced Vocabulary

Let’s say you want to get a band 8 on vocabulary in your IELTS Writing Task 2. To make it happen, you would need to display skilful use of uncommon lexical items (i.e. vocabulary). Remember, this doesn’t mean cramping your essay with “difficult” or “high-sounding” words. Instead, use idiomatic language (e.g. phrases, phrasal verbs) and uncommon terms that are related to the topic. A sound understanding of collocations is also expected at this level, so you should know which words go together and which words are suitable to use for specific topics. Here are some examples:

Examples of phrases: school of thought, put simply, on balance, to go green.

Examples of phrasal verbs: use up, carry out, cut down on, look into.

Whatever you do, don’t forget the golden rule: if you’re unsure how to use an uncommon term, find a simpler equivalent you can use in its place. Too many lexical errors can bring down your score, so practise using advanced vocabulary in context to ensure accuracy and appropriateness.

Including Effective Examples

It is a good idea to use examples to support your ideas and arguments so that your essay is more compelling. For an example to be effective, it should be relevant, specific and clearly highlight the point you are trying to make. You’re not expected to include statistics in your IELTS essay, so do not “invent” figures (e.g. percentage, number) and add them to examples.

Example: Recent studies conducted in the UK, for instance, have found that students who engage in regular physical activity perform better academically.

Example: To illustrate, countries that have implemented strict gun control laws, such as Japan, have significantly lower rates of gun-related violence.

Using specific examples not only strengthens your arguments but also demonstrates your ability to apply knowledge effectively.

If you’d like to explore more useful tips and some practice questions for IELTS Writing Task 2, check out this informative video.

Practice and Feedback for Continuous Improvement

Improving writing skills involves getting in a lot of practice and receiving useful feedback on your work. In this section you can find out more about effective practice techniques and how to get constructive feedback.

Effective Practice Techniques

Regular practice is the key to improving your skills for IELTS Writing Task 2. Here are some ideas to help you make the most of your practice sessions:

  • Set specific goals: Setting goals for each practice session – such as focusing on complex sentence structures or improving coherence – is highly recommended. It means you can track your progress.
  • Do timed practice: Get used to real test time conditions by writing essays in no more than 40 minutes. There’s no better way of improving your time management before test day.
  • Practise a variety of topics: Practise writing essays on different topics to be more flexible. This will also give you the opportunity to learn or revise topic-specific vocabulary.
  • Analyse model essays: Take a close look at samples of high-scoring essays to understand what makes them effective. Pay attention to their structure, vocabulary and reasoning.
  • Use writing prompts: Use prompts from past IELTS tests or practice tests to practise writing responses to different types of questions. You can begin with the free IELTS Writing practice tests on our website. You will also find six other free practice tests on IELTS Ready Member. And if you book IELTS with the British Council, you get free access to 40 practice tests through IELTS Ready Premium. Find more details here.

Getting Useful Feedback

Feedback is important for identifying your strengths and areas for improvement. Here are some ways to seek get useful feedback:

  • Peer review: Exchange essays with other students or study groups to get different opinions.
  • Professional tutors: Consider hiring a professional IELTS tutor who can give you expert and detailed feedback. Why not give the British Council’s EnglishScore Tutors a try?
  • Online forums: Join online IELTS communities and forums where you can share your essays and receive feedback from other test takers and experts.
  • Self-assessment: Use the IELTS scoring criteria to evaluate your own essays. Identify common mistakes and find ways to fix them.

These IELTS Writing Task 2 tips can help you improve your writing and achieve a higher band score in IELTS Writing Task 2. For more practice and preparation materials, sign up for IELTS Ready Member.

Final Thoughts

Getting the IELTS Writing Task 2 score you need requires a combination of understanding the task requirements, effective planning, advanced writing techniques, and continuous practice.

Here is a summary of the IELTS Writing Task 2 tips we have discussed in this article:

  1. Understanding the test format and scoring criteria is crucial to IELTS success. Address all parts of the task, use a clear and logical essay structure and practise using cohesive devices. Avoiding repetitive language and language errors will go a long way towards helping you get a higher score.
  2. Planning and organising your essay well is extremely important. Spend time brainstorming ideas, creating an outline and organising your thoughts logically. This approach not only helps you work faster but also ensures that your arguments are clearly presented and well-supported.
  3. Advanced writing techniques – like complex sentence structures, advanced vocabulary and clear examples that support your arguments – show that your writing is fluent and to the point, suggesting a high level of English proficiency.
  4. Continuous practice and constructive feedback are essential for improvement. Get in regular timed practice sessions, review samples of high-scoring essays and get feedback from peers or professional tutors.

Remember, the IELTS Writing Task 2 tips we’ve shared here are tried and tested. Following them can greatly improve your chances of getting a high Writing band score. Good luck!