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A lot of my IELTS students struggle with how many ideas they need and how to structure their essay.
This article with explain clearly what you need to do and why. Read some real IELTS essays that I wrote by clicking here.
Let’s look at an example of this kind of question:
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?
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Dave
Clear position
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:
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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?
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Is this a good or bad idea? Why?
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Those who live in big cities face by far more challenges and difficulties compare to town residents. Traffic congestion and high property taxes can be considered as the main reasons of this reality. In my opinion, local authorities may persuade residents to move their residency to the outskirts. Traffic jam is a well-known trait of any major city worldwide. This reality is highly annoying during rush hours. As a result, people, especially working ones, spend hours on ends stuck in traffic, wasting precious life time, not to mention that arriving late for work is a guarantee. Another reason why living… Read more »
Sorry I didn’t notice this before! Great work!
Population migrating from small towns to live in big cities is growing substantially every decade, which poses many problems such as shrinking living space and public health concerns. However, I personally disagree with the suggestion of reversing this trend because apparently individuals receive higher education and have more job opportunities in big cities. It is true that people who live in large cities have to sacrifice personal living space due to the sky-rocket price of residential products. In some popular neighborhood, the average sale price of the apartments or condos has reached recorded high of over $100,000 per ft2. A… Read more »
Really well argued and written!
Be careful in your 3rd paragraph – tie it back more clearly to the overall essay question that this is why governments should not encourage people to live in the countryside.
Thanks Dave! I see why paragraph 3 seems loosely connected. Rewriting P3… Despite the relatively small living space and the potential health thread, big cities offer way more high-quality education and work opportunities compared with suburban areas. This is because mega cities are located with most universities, colleges and the head quarters of international businesses, which provides a better chance for its population to receive higher education and thrive in their professional careers. Those who live in the countryside, on the other hand, encounter greater challenges as they pursuit education and career. Therefore, the government should help people maximize their… Read more »
Much much better!
Thank you Dave! I sat my second IELTS academic on May 14th, and my writing score has not improved, still at 6.5. L8 R8 W6.5 S7.5 Writing task one was analyzing a bar chart, which compares the sales of five different consumer products one US department store from winter to Autumn in 2002. I paraphrased the question and wrote in overall description. However, I am sure I made a critical mistake in the end when I described the fluctuations of the two lowest categories. I said. “Finally, the sales of sportswear and jewelry experienced relatively minimal fluctuations throughout the year,… Read more »
Sorry to hear about the writing score, Jing. That is really common for a lack in writing and based on the level of your other scores it could have been a bit of bad luck but probably also related to task achievement. Your language ability is good enough to get a higher score so task achievement is the most likely problem. The mistakes you describe for your graph doesn’t sound like the biggest problem. What was your overview? For your task 2, it might be wiser to have a firmer opinion, just to be safe in case if that was… Read more »
A country’s economy is directly related to its infrastructure. Governments these days are spending a major portion of their budget on increasing the capacity of public transport instead of building new roads. This easy will discuss the reasons for it, and also elaborate that on the whole, this is a very welcome development. Firstly, the reason for increasing the number of buses and trains is that the public transport system is one of the major sources of traveling in any country. For instance, a large number of people in cities travel daily to their jobs using local transport. Another main… Read more »
Well written Hasad! Make sure that you add a final thought to your conclusion. Also try to limit your body paragraphs to one main idea, fully developed with a specific example!
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? Nowadays, people are moving from rural areas to cities in search of a better environment, jobs, and homes. As a result, cities are getting more and more crowded. The government is putting money into the infrastructure of cities and making more buses and trains available to its denizens. In awe of making more public transport available, authorities are forgetting that they also need to spend money on building… Read more »
It’s a good start, Mannat!
I don’t have time to check writing this week but you can sign up for some corrections here: course.howtodoielts.com/band-scores-corrections
Keep up the the good effort!
(Here we go. My first ever essay. My writing is crap and I hate it, But I did this to better remember your structure. Thanks for sharing it with us. <3 ) Life in the big cities is accompanied by a variety of issues, many of which, are unheard of in small towns. In this essay, I will be discussing some of these difficulties and the reason why I believe governments should encourage people to move into small towns. There is no doubt that life as we know it has changed dramatically over the last 100 years, forcing many people… Read more »
That’s a great way to remember the structure, Lena. I hope a lot of other students copy your approach!
Your writing is really high level though the 3rd paragraph needs more detail.
What score are you going for?
Hi Dave, thank you so much for the reply I wasn’t expecting it! I’m hoping for no less than 6.5.
I’ve actually edited it after I posted because I realised I forgot to mention the the reasons, I’ll need to practice a bit more.
By more details, do you mean elaborate on how these changes will be done, rather than just say what they are? I wasn’t sure how to phrase it. Thanks again!
There are some little issues with formality related to academic writing that could hold you back but you are firmly in that range.
I meant that in the 3rd paragraph you need to write 4-5 sentences and include more detail. The best way to do that would be with a specific example, fully developed.
That will help your task achievement and cohesion/coherence scores a lot! A specific example will also bring out a lot of high level vocabulary – practice your examples!