Welcome to the complete guide for IELTS writing task 2 – everything you need to know to get a top score!
The IELTS writing exam is a 60 minute test of your English writing ability and there are two parts – Task 1 and Task 2.
You can find all the most recent topics/questions (along with full sample answer essays) for IELTS academic here and general training here
Dave
What is IELTS task 2 writing?
For Task 2 you will be given an essay question and you have around 40 minutes to write at least 250 words.
This format is the same for the general or the academic IELTS exam.
The basic task 2 essay structure is four paragraphs – an introduction, two main (or body) paragraphs) and a conclusion.
You are expected to give your opinion and support it with reasons and examples.
You should avoid using personal examples as you should use a semi-academic style.
Here are some of my task 2 sample answers from the real test.
What does an IELTS Task 2 question look like?
Let’s look at some example questions:
Example 1
Some people think that governments should spend money on railways. Others believe that there should be more investment into new roads.
Discuss both sides and give your opinion.
Example 2
Nowadays governments are investing more in public transport such as buses and trains rather than in building new roads.
What are the reasons for this?
Is this a positive or negative development?
Example 3
The first car appeared on British roads in 1888. By the year 2000, there may be as many as 29 million vehicles on the British roads.
Alternative forms of transport should be encouraged and international laws introduced to control car ownership and use.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
By looking at the three examples above, you can see that a Task 2 question is divided into two parts.
1. Statements giving you Information about the essay topic
2. The essay question(s) you have to answer.
There are different kinds of Task 2 questions.
Some give you more or less information about the essay topic.
Some questions require you to discuss both sides, agree or disagree, to explain a problem and suggest solutions.
However, regardless of the topic and the question, the format of the exam remains the same.
You have 40 minutes to write at least 250 words, and you are expected to give your opinion, present main ideas (reasons) and support those with explanation and examples.
And no matter the question, you can use a basic Task 2 essay structure of four paragraphs – an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion.
How is IELTS Task 2 scored?
Your essay is marked by a qualified IELTS examiner.
They will score your writing equally using four criteria:
– TA – Task Achievement (Answering the the question)
– CC – Coherence and Cohesion. (Clear and well organised)
– LR – Lexical Resource. (Vocabulary and spelling)
– GR – Grammatical Range and Accuracy. (Grammar and punctuation)
For each of the criteria you will get a ‘band score’ of 0-9.
For each task, these will be added together and an average overall score will be calculated.
These two figures will then be added together accordingly with Task 2 counting for twice as many marks as Task 1 ie. Task 2 = 66%, Task 1 = 33%).
Finally, this figure is rounded down to the nearest half band score.
For example, Donald Trump gets the following scores:
TA |
CC |
LR |
GR |
Overall scores |
Final result(rounded down) |
|
Task 1 |
5 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
6.25 |
|
Task 2 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
5.75 |
|
Combined score (Task 1 = 33%, Task 2 = 66%). |
5.91 |
5.5 |
KEY TIP: Task 2 is worth double the marks so make sure you don’t spend too long on Task 1. If you are a slow writer, do task 2 first!
Also notice that being marked down in one criteria can wreck your chances of getting the score you need.
Therefore it isn’t enough to be getting close to your target scores when you are practising at home or in class.
In the lead up to your test, you should ideally be achieving higher than your target scores so you can be sure to achieve your goals on test day, especially as some examiners are very strict.
Comment any questions that you have below!
Thank you very much.
You’re welcome. I’d like to invite you to our Facebook writing group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/122572938408586/
Thanks for the great advises. As a beginner I really need this
You’re welcome! Don’t hesitate to browse our other resources on the website!
Hi dave,
somewhere in your posts you mentioned that there are 14 common topics in writing task 2.could you please list them here?
There aren’t exactly 14 but you can see the common topics here: https://howtodoielts.com/the-most-common-ielts-writing-topics-with-sample-answers/
Hi Dave,
On writing sheet, it is written. “Do not write below this line”. Can we write in that line, I am asking this because the last line of the sheet is smaller in size.
I don’t want to ask for supplementary sheet because it is very time consuming.
It shouldn’t take up that much time if you ask before you need it.
But it is fine to write on that line – the examiner will read and count what you write there.
Does that answer your question?
Yes, It means now I have total 37 lines on the writing sheet to work on.
Thank you
You’re welcome!
For paragraphing is it mandatory to leave a line or we could also indent the first line of paragraph?
Sorry for bothering you again and again.
No problem, Mani!
Both of those options are fine – indenting or leaving a line!
I want to learn how to put ideas about a particular topic and what idea should be written in first paragraph?
You should take a look at my sample answers and the analysis of each one: https://howtodoielts.com/category/writing-task-2/
Hi Dave,
I tried to pay for the monthly subscription for Writing but the payment failed and error popped up through pay-pal, appreciate if you could check on it so that I can proceed with the payment
Hi there, Naleema!
I think we are talking by email too.
If not, you can reply here and I will get back to you ASAP.
I like your blog. I wish I could know earlier. Goodluck.
Thank you, Bogi!