For this kind of task you need to discuss both questions.
In the first question, you are given a situation and asked to explain why.
The second question requires a clear opinion so you must choose a side.
This is very important for your task response score.
If you don’t choose a side and support that ‘position’ clearly, you will lose marks for your task response. You will get a maximum of a 5 for task achievement if you do not choose a side.
It’s not important which side you choose as long as you choose one.
Here are the options for the second question:
1) Agree. You think it’s a positive development that governments are spending more money on public transport. You support r this opinion.
2) Disagree. You think it’s a negative development that governments are spending more money on public transport. You support this opinion.
Clear essay structure
I always recommend to my students that they give their opinion in the introduction as well as the conclusion (for all IELTS Task 2 questions).
Technically, it’s OK to write a very general introduction and leave your opinion to the end.
But I strongly suggest that you don’t do this because it’s not as clear.
Also, you might run out of time before you’ve got to your conclusion, so overall it’s a risky strategy. If you don’t choose a side and support that ‘position’ clearly, you will lose marks for your task response.
Therefore my suggested IELTS Task 2 essay structure is four paragraphs – an introduction, two main (or body) paragraphs and a conclusion.
The opinion is presented in the introduction and re-stated in the conclusion.
Ideally each body paragraph should discuss one main idea.
Now let’s look at the options in more detail.
Possible Essay structures
1) Agree – you feel it’s a positive development that governments are spending more money on public transport.
You need at least one good reason why it’s happening and one good reason why it’s a positive development.
Paragraph 1
(intro)
Paraphrase both questions and state your overall opinion (you feel it’s a positive development)
Paragraph 2
(body 1)
Explain and support your reason why governments are spending more money on public transport.
Paragraph 3
(body 2)
Explain and support your reason why this is a positive development.
Paragraph 4 (conclusion)
Re-state your overall opinion (you feel it’s a positive development) and summarise your main reasons.
2) Disagree – you feel it’s a negative development that governments are spending more money on public transport.
You need at least one good reason why it’s happening and one good reason why it’s a negative development.
Only the parts highlighted below are different from the first essay
Paragraph 1 (intro)
Paraphrase both questions and state your overall opinion
(you feel it’s a negative development)
Paragraph 2 (body 1)
Explain and support your reason why governments are spending more money on public transport.
Paragraph 3 (body 2)
Explain and support your reason why this is a negative development.
Paragraph 4 (conclusion)
Re-state your overall opinion (you feel it’s a negative development) and summarise your main reasons.
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Look at the question below then compare your ideas with this sample answer (written by an ex-examiner).
Check out our expert sample answer with line by line analysis and key vocabulary.
Living in large cities today poses many problems for people.
What are these problems? Should governments encourage more people to live in smaller towns?
Brainstorm some main ideas:
What are the biggest problems for people living in a big city?
What causes these problems? What are the effects on people’s lives?
Do think think the government should help people to move out of big cities to live in smaller towns?
If you plan effectively, writing your Task 2 essay will be easier and quicker because you know what you are going to to write.
So it actually saves youtime later and makes your writing clearer so you will get a much higher score.
If you spend a few minutes to come up with your overall ‘position’, your main ideas and supporting ideas then after that you’ll be free to worry about your grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling.
The idea is that by planning carefullyyou won’t have to worry much about your ideas and structure while you’re writing, which willhelp you feel more relaxed.
And the more relaxed you are, the easier it will be to think of good language to use to express your ideas and how best to link them together.
Four steps to reduce your planning time
Some IELTS students seem to take a long time to write their plan.
Other students seem to be able to get writing almost straight away – they hardly plan at all!
And yet they can still produce essays that achieve a high band score.
Here are four steps to planning efficiently and just focusing on the ideas you need.
1. Relevant but personal ideas – focus on the question but use your experience.
2. Simple main ideas – that you can easily support with explanation and examples.
3. Focus on your essay structure – think of the order and linking of ideas.
4. Do lots and lots of practice – so you see patterns and get quicker.
Now let’s look at each of these in more detail.
1. Focus on the question but make it personal
Your main ideas must be relevant (clearly answer the question) otherwise your Task Achievement score will be no higher than a 5.
However my IELTS students often complain that when they read the question they can’t think of any ideas and this might be because IELTS Task 2 questions are often written in a formal, academic way.
So one way of helping you to come up with ideas is to rephrase the question into more normal language that you might use with your friends or family.
Governments should spend money on railways rather than roads.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
So for the question above, imagine you read in the news that your government is going to spend more money on transport in your local area.
Would you prefer them to spend money on new roads or new trains? Would this make you happy? Why?
2. Simple is best
There are no extra marks for interesting or complicated ideas, or for ideas that follow your real opinions.
The best main ideas are ONLY those you can easily explain and support, ideally with a clear example.
Keep it simple and make it easy for yourself.
The most simple, obvious ideas that are often the first ones that pop into your head.
Your basic IELTS Task 2 essay has only two body paragraphs and I always recommend one main idea per body paragraph so you can fully support them.
If you have more main ideas than you need, quickly try to explain them and think of examples (on paper or in your head) and choose the main ideas that are the easiest to explain fully.
3. Focus on your structure
Now look at your chosen main ideas and add more supporting ideas if needed. I suggest using a mind map for this.
At this point it’s a good idea to put the supporting ideas into a logical order and quickly make a note (on paper on in your head) of which linkers would be suitable (these can change later).
Don’t be afraid to reject, change or reorder your supporting ideas at this point.
So now you have your main ideas, supporting ideas and your structure, so you’re absolutely ready to start writing a kick-ass Task 2 essay!
4. Practice is the key
The more you practise with different topics the more you will be able to generate good, simple main ideas in seconds.
Likewise, generating and organising supporting ideas will get easier and easier, as you practise developing your main ideas in relatively similar ways each time.
Eventually this will become an almost automatic process and by the time exam day arrives you’ll be an idea generating machine.
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Governments should spend money on railways rather than roads.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
For the above question, use our 4 step method to come up with some main and supporting ideas. Put your best ones in the comments.
Part 1 answers don’t always have to be as long as in the video – just answer the question and extend it naturally but don’t worry if you run out of things to say. The examiner will ask you the next question.
You should aim for around 10 – 30 seconds per answer. Sometimes you can give an extended answer, sometimes a shorter one.
Don’t always give extended answers and don’t always give shorter ones – these could both hurt your fluency score – be natural!
Make sure you include some good natural vocab in your answer and build up to practising the whole question.
You could use notes to help you but don’t rely on them. Your answer should be a different each time – that’s natural.
That’s also why I answered this question a bunch of times! I wanted to give you a sampling of different vocabulary and grammar and show you a good way to practice.
Instead of answering the question the same way each time, and memorising your answer until you sound like a bad actor reading from a script, instead you can try answering the same question with different answers each time.
You could tell the truth or have fun with it and lie or imagine that you are someone else answering the question. Enjoy practicing!
It is also a good idea to vary the length of your responses to be more natural. Some of my answers are short, some are longer…
Can you watch again and guess which ones are true/not true?
You might have noticed that my speaking style is a little bit fast – you don’t have to speak so quickly! I just do it because I am extremely intelligent.
Here is the tapescript from my speaking:
1.I’m glad you asked me that because I’ve got a whole range of hobbies that I’m really into. The main thing I’ll typically do is get out my paints and do a painting, I’ll sketch something on a piece of paper first and then maybe make a painting if I’ve got spare time, besides that I’m really into watching movies, Netflix is my favorite, so I might just veg out, sit on the couch, catch a movie – If I’ve got more time than that then I might call up a friend to see if they want to hang out.
2. I’m really active, I really like going out, I hate to stay at home, it’s the worst so whenever I’ve got a bit of spare time, I’ll call up a friend, see if they want to chill and I’ll go out with them, I might go to a coffee shop or, I love playing sports, I’ll play football with them, maybe I’ll catch a movie or just go for a walk and see what’s going on in my neighborhood.
3.I’m a bit of a homebody, I always stay home, I really like reading and recently I’ve kind of gotten into audiobooks, I downloaded an app called audible, which is from Amazon, and I can just spend a whole day, lying back, listening to an audiobook, and enjoying that.
4. I’m super into cooking so when I’ve got some time, I like to cook and I’ll typically make something that’ll last me for a few days so it won’t just last me one day. I can cook it, maybe I’ll cook some rice and put in – chop up some veggies – put it in there, maybe a little bit of meat but I’m not a big meat-eater and I’ll cook a big pot of it so that I can put it in some Tupperware and keep it in my fridge or my freezer, store it for even longer, so I can eat it for a while.
5. I’m really sociable – I like to go out with my friends, I’ll go out to a coffee shop nearby where I live because coffee shops are kind of like ‘the big thing’ right now, or a milk tea shop – that’s really popular in the country where I’m living and – and I like to gossip with them, I like to ask them about what’s been going on in their lives, their family, their friends and kind of catch up about that sort of thing – I’ll give ‘em an update on my life but I’m only going to tell them the good things – I never tell them what’s wrong with my life –
6.I’m really big into computer games, I didn’t used to be when I was a kid, it’s kind of a newer hobby for me but I’ve taken them up in the last few years so when I’ve got spare time I play on my computer, I’ve also got an Xbox and a PlayStation, so I’ll settle down on the couch and I can easily just spend the whole day playing computer games and looking up information about new games that are going to come out, watching previews for new games, talking to friends about games, I’m obsessed with games! I’ll play them on my phone if I’m in the elevator or waiting for something, I like mobile apps – I’m all about games in my spare time.
7.To be honest with you I don’t really have that much spare time because I’m so busy with work but if I do get a bit of time for myself I like to hang out with my girlfriend – because I’m busy all the time she gets a bit fed up with me that we don’t get that many chances to catch up and I don’t give her as much attention as I should but that’s something that I’m working on, I try to make more time, try to compartmentalize my life a little bit so that I’ve got more time to spend with my girlfriend and, in turn, she’s got more time to spend with me.
8.I’ve got a few pets and I like taking them out, I’ve got a dog, I’ll take him for a walk, I’ve also got a cat – you can’t really take a cat for a walk but you can just lie on the couch and pet them and that’s quite good for your health, I’ve heard, your mental health, as well as your – it can bring down your blood pressure, I’ve also got a couple of fish so I’ll feed the fish and every once in awhile I have to clean out their tank which is a whole ordeal to get through but since uh… – since I love my fish, I’m willing to do anything for them.
None of them are try FYI!
Here is another speaking model answer about free time from my friend Nick:
Some examples of good vocab are highlighted in the audioscript below:
“Well, one of the things I love to do is just hanging out with my friends. It might sound kinda obvious but my friends are really important to me, and believe it or not I’m kind of an introverted person so I’d rather meet up with them 1 to 1 than in a big group, you know. So maybe we’ll catch up over a coffee or grab some lunch. With my friends back in England, I try and keep in touch over facebook or whatsapp, have a bit of banter and I love getting all their gossip. I’m a bit rubbish sometimes in terms of keeping in touch but I try not to leave it too long without having a proper catch up.”
Vocabulary:
hanging out with my friends: spending time together
it might sound kinda obvious but: very clear/common
believe it or not: it is a bit surprising
introverted person:like spending time alone, quiet
meet up: hang out
1 to1: talking with just 1 other person, rather than a group
catch up over a coffee:get a coffee and talk about what is new in your life
grab some lunch: get lunch
keep in touch over facebook: talk over Facebook
banter: idle, casual conversation
getting all their gossip: learning news about other people
rubbish at keeping in touch: not good at contacting friends
try not to leave it too long: try to talk more regularly
having a proper catch up: spend some time atching up rather than just a short conversation
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Hang around is another very common but natural (and idiomatic) phrasal verb. It’s quite versatile so it can be used in a range of part 1 speaking topics.
So for example if you are asked about shopping you can say you like to hang around town or at the mall. If you’re asked about books, you can reply that you enjoy just hanging around at the library.
If you’re asked about the countryside, you can say you love spending your weekends, hanging around in the countryside and so on.
Make sure you practise vocab as part of a whole question. You could use notes to help you but don’t rely on them. Don’t learn it word for word.
It should be a different each time – that’s normal.
And remember, your answers don’t have to be 100% true. It’s not a truth test. It’s an English test.
So what does ‘hang around’ mean? It means: ‘To spend time in a place waiting or not doing anything’.
“Some guys I know like to hang around in bars, chatting to girls. Some girls I know like to hang around town, doing a bit of window shopping. Teenagers seem to love hanging around malls. A lot of people like to hang around in the park or at the beach, just enjoying the atmosphere.”
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Do you enjoy hanging around places? If so, where and why?
Try practising these questions by yourself. Let me know how it goes!
Hang out is one of the first phrases that I encourage my students to practise for the speaking test.
That’s because it’s an example of idiomatic vocab (required for band 7+), so it’s natural and commonly used by native speakers. Also it’s extremely versatile – it can be used in a wide range of part 1 speaking and even writing topics.
So for example you are asked about whether you like cooking and you reply that you enjoy just hanging out in the kitchen. If the examiner asks you about your weekends, then you can say that you love hanging out in the countryside. If they ask you about books, you can respond by saying that you like nothing more than hanging out with a good book. ..get it?
And by the way, your answers don’t have to be 100% true. It’s not a truth test. It’s an English test.
So what does ‘hang out’ mean? It means ‘To spend time with people or in a particular place’.
“Most people like hanging out with their friends or family. Some people like to hang out at a cafe, or the library, just people watching. Some people like to kill a few hours by hanging out with a good book. Others like to hang out in the park or at the beach, just watching the world go by. These days, a lot of young people enjoy hanging out on Facebook. Some people like hanging out with their pets. Others don’t like hanging out with anyone. I was hanging out at the park the other day and I ran into an old friend.”
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Who do you like to hang out with?
Where do you like to hang out?
If you want to both improve your English and feel comfortable, I now offer online lessons complete with feedback, videos, workbooks and more!
"The highest quality materials anywhere on the internet! Dave improved my writing and vocabulary so much. Really affordable options you don't want to miss out on!"
