How to Write an IELTS Essay:

IELTS Essay
This starter lessons tells you in simple steps how to structure and write a basic IELTS essay.

Getting Ready to Write:

Identifying the Topic

Learn how to identify the topic of an essay question in order to help you answer it correctly.

Identifying the Task

This IELTS practice will help you identify the task of an essay question. The most important thing to make
sure you answer the question.

Brainstorming and Planning

In this IELTS lesson, learn how brainstorm ideas for your essay and how to extend those ideas and create
a plan.

IELTS Task Response

In this lesson we look at the dangers of not properly answering an IELTS writing task 2 essay question.

Ideas for IELTS

Candidates often worry about not having any ideas for IELTS essay topics. This gives you some advise on
how to generate ideas.

Parts of an Essay:

IELTS Essay Introduction

This lesson explains how you should approach writing an introduction for an IELTS Task 2 essay.

Writing a Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is an important part of your essay, so this lesson explains how to write thesis
statements for different essay types.

Paragraph Writing
Writing clear and well-organized paragraphs is essential for your essay, so here you will learn about the
basic elements that make up a good paragraph.

IELTS Essay Conclusion

Learn how to write a quick conclusion for an IELTS essay.

Coherency and Cohesion:

Writing Coherence
One way to improve coherency in your writing is to use transition words. This lesson teaches you how.

Pronouns
Your writing must be coherent, and this IELTS practice lesson shows you how pronouns can help you to
do this
Substitution
Learn how to use substitution in IELTS to improve your cohesion and quality of writing.

Getting a High Band:

How to get an IELTS Writing band 7

There is no quick way to achieve this, but this lesson provides some general guidance on what is required
to get an IELTS band 7 in the writing module.

Band 7 Transitional Phrases for Essays

Learn about useful phrases that can be used to improve the sophistication of your writing in
argumentative essays.

How to Score IELTS Band 8

This lesson tell you more about how the scoring works for band 8 writing and how long it can take you to
get a band 8.

Essay Types:

Problem Solution Essays

Learn how to write a problem solution essay for the IELTS test - a quick method that will produce a well-
organized answer.

IELTS Opinion Essays

Get an overview of the various types of essay that ask for your opinion in the test.

Advantage Disadvantage Essay

This lesson shows you how to write an IELTS advantage disadvantage essay that requires you to give an
opinion.

A Complex Essay Question

This lesson shows you how to answer a more complex IELTS essay question that does not have a
straightforward 'task' given to guide you.

Style and Tone:

Personal Pronouns in Essays

Can you use personal pronouns such as 'I', 'our' and 'we' in IELTS essays? Find out more in this lesson.

How do I Write an IELTS Essay?

In order to answer this, lets first look at a sample question:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

In the last 20 years there have been significant developments in the field of information technology
(IT), for example the World Wide Web and communication by email. However, these developments in
IT are likely to have more negative effects than positive in the future.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or
knowledge.

Write at least 250 words.

An IELTS essay is structured like any other essay; you just need to make it shorter. There are three key
elements:

1. Introduction

2. Body Paragraphs

3. Conclusion

We will look at each of these in turn, using the essay question above as an example.

1) Introduction

You should keep your introduction for the IELTS essay short. Remember you only have 40 minutes to
write the essay, and some of this time needs to be spent planning. Therefore, you need to be able to
write your introduction fairly quickly so you can start writing your body paragraphs.

You should do just two things:

• State the topic of the essay, using some basic facts (that you may be able to take from the
question)

• Say what you are going to write about

Here is an example introduction for the above essay question about IT:

The last two decades have seen enormous changes in the way people's lives are affected by IT, with many
advances in this field. However, while these technological advances have brought many benefits to the
world, I strongly believe that these developments in IT will result in more negative impacts than positive.

As you can see, the first sentence makes sure it refers to the topic (IT) and uses facts about IT taken from
the question. Note that these are paraphrased - you must not copy from the rubric!

The second part then clearly sets out the what the essay will be about and confirms the writers opinion
(some questions may not ask for your opinion, but this one does). The writer clearly agrees as he/she
thinks there will be more negative impacts.

View this lesson for more advice on writing IELTS essay introductions.

2) Body Paragraphs

For an IELTS essay, you should have 2 or 3 body paragraphs - no more, and no less.

For your body paragraph, each paragraph should contain one controlling idea, and have sentences to
support this.

Lets look at the first paragraph for the essay about IT. The essay is about the benefits and drawbacks of
IT, so these will need to be discussed in separate paragraphs.
Here is the first body paragraph:

On the positive side, email has made communication, especially abroad, much simpler and faster. This
has resulted in numerous benefits for commerce and business as there is no need to wait weeks for
letters or take time sending faxes, which was the case in the past. Furthermore, the World Wide Web
means that information on every conceivable subject is now available to us. For example, people can
access news, medical advice, online education courses and much more via the internet. These
developments have made life far easier and more convenient for many.

The controlling idea in this first paragraph is the 'benefits of IT', and there are two supporting ideas,
which are underlined. No drawbacks are discussed as the paragraph would then lose coherence.

Most of the essay will focus on the negative aspects of IT, as the writer says there are more negative
effects in the introduction. So the next two paragraphs are about these.

The topic sentence in the next paragraph therefore tells us we are changing the focus to the negative
points:

Nevertheless, the effects of this new technology have not all been beneficial. For example, many people
feel that the widespread use of email is destroying traditional forms of communication such as letter
writing, telephone and face-to-face conversation. This could result in a decline in people's basic ability to
socialize and interact with each other on a day-to-day basis.

The final body paragraph gives the last negative effect:

In addition, the large size of the Web has meant that it is nearly impossible to regulate and control. This
has led to many concerns regarding children accessing unsuitable websites and the spread of computer
viruses. Unfortunately, this kind of problem might even get worse in the future at least until more
regulated systems are set up.

3) Conclusion

The conclusion only needs to be one or two sentences, and you can do the following:

• Re-state what the essay is about (re-write the last sentence of your introduction in different
words)

• Give some thoughts about the future

Here is an example:

In conclusion, developments in IT have brought many benefits, yet I believe that these are outweighed by
the drawbacks. In the future these will need to be addressed if we are to avoid damaging impacts on
individuals and society.

The Full IELTS Essay

In the last 20 years there have been significant developments in the field of information technology
(IT), for example the World Wide Web and communication by email. However, these developments in
IT are likely to have more negative effects than positive in the future.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The last two decades have seen enormous changes in the way people's lives are affected by IT, with
many advances in this field. However, while these technological advances have brought many benefits to
the world, I strongly believe that these developments in IT will result in more negative impacts than
positive.

On the positive side, email has made communication, especially abroad, much simpler and faster. This
has resulted in numerous benefits for commerce and business as there is no need to wait weeks for
letters or take time sending faxes, which was the case in the past. Furthermore, the World Wide Web
means that information on every conceivable subject is now available to us. For example, people can
access news, medical advice, online education courses and much more via the internet. These
developments have made life far easier and more convenient for many.

Nevertheless, the effects of this new technology have not all been beneficial. For example, many people
feel that the widespread use of email is destroying traditional forms of communication such as letter
writing, telephone and face-to-face conversation. This could result in a decline in people's basic ability to
socialize and interact with each other on a day-to-day basis.

In addition, the large size of the Web has meant that it is nearly impossible to regulate and control. This
has led to many concerns regarding children accessing unsuitable websites and the spread of computer
viruses. Unfortunately, this kind of problem might even get worse in the future at least until more
regulated systems are set up.

In conclusion, developments in IT have brought many benefits, yet I believe that these are outweighed
by the drawbacks. In the future these will need to be addressed if we are to avoid damaging impacts on
individuals and society.

(290 Words)

Comments

The IELTS essay introduction talks in general about the increasing use of IT, thus introducing the topic
well. The thesis then clearly sets out the writers opinion.

The following paragraph mentions the present benefits of these developments, but the opening
sentence in the third paragraph is a qualifying statement (Nevertheless, not all the effects...), so the
writer can now focus on the negative elements.

The fourth paragraph provides two other negative examples (lack of regulation, viruses). Both
paragraphs suggest that these problems will continue in the future.

The essay concludes with a clear opinion that agrees with the statement.

Overall, it is a well-balanced text that mentions the present situation (...this has made life...) but
importantly, also refers to the future of IT (...likely to increase..., might get worse...).

Identifying the Topic in an IELTS Essay

If you incorrectly identify the topic of the IELTS essay question, you are in danger of getting a very low
score.

You could come down to a band 5 for Task Response. So identifying the topic is one of the first things
you need to do. Here we will learn and practice doing this.

How do I identify the topic?

Remember, in IELTS writing, you are usually presented with some issue or problem that is currently
affecting society and you need to discuss it.

So you need to read the question carefully and identify what the issue is. You will normally only be
looking for one or two key words.

Have a look at the following question. What is the broad issue?

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

You should have identified teenage crime as the topic.

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

What if I identified ‘crime’ as the topic?

Your essay would be wrong if you wrote about crime generally. When you have a topic, it may require
you to talk about a particular area, group of people or place.

In this case, the question specifically wants you to address the issue of TEENAGE crime.

When you identify the topic, always look carefully to see if it is being narrowed down to a particular area
that you need to focus on.

Practice

Have a look at the following essay questions and choose the best answer to identify the topic.
Remember, this is not a full analysis of the question - you are just looking for the broad topic area.

Sometimes more than one answer may be possible. In this case, when you identify the topic, choose the
most precise.

Choose the Correct Topic of Each Essay

1. 'Telecommuting' refers to workers doing their jobs from home for part of each week and
communicating with their office using computer technology. Telecommuting is growing in
many countries and is expected to be common for most office workers in the coming decades.

How do you think society will be affected by the growth of telecommuting?

Working from home

Telecommuting

Computer technology

2. To what extent is the use of animals in scientific research acceptable?

Animal research

Animals

Scientific research

3. We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses,

hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes.

What things will they be used for in the future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or
should we be more suspicious of their benefits?

The benefits of computers

Computers in businesses, hospitals, crime detection, and flying.

Computer dependency

4. In what ways has information technology changed work and working practices in the past 10
years?

Information technology and work

Information technology

Working practices

5. Blood sports have become a hot topic for debate in recent years. As society develops it is
increasingly seen as an uncivilized activity and cruel to the helpless animals that are killed. All
blood sports should be banned.

Discuss the main arguments for this statement and give your own opinion.

Animal cruelty

Blood sports

Blood sports and uncivilized activity

 6. A growing number of people feel that animals should not be exploited by people and that they
should have the same rights as humans, while others argue that humans must employ animals
to satisfy their various needs, including uses for food and research.

Discuss the arguments in favour of both these positions and state your own position on the issue.

Satisfying human needs

Animals and humans

Animal rights

7. Forests are the lungs of the earth. Destruction of the world's forests amounts to death of the
world we currently know.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The Earth

Deforestation

Death of the world

8. The idea of going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people. But
while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the
difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture.

To what extent do you agree or disagree this statement?

Studying abroad

Studying

Living in a different culture

9. Zoos are sometimes seen as necessary but not poor alternatives to a natural environment.

Discuss some of the arguments for and/or against keeping animals in zoos.

Natural environments

Alternatives to zoos

Keeping animals in zoos

10. Many countries are currently witnessing an increase in criminal activity among young people.
Discuss reasons for this phenomenon and suggest ways to deal with the problem.

Youth crime

Criminal activity

Increases in crime

Once you have identified the topic (previous lesson) for your essay, you need to identify the task.
The ‘task’ is the part of the question that tells you what you have to do to answer it.

This is one of the most important things you will have to do when you analyze the essay question. Why?

Because 25% of your grade for the essay is based on ‘Task Response’ - how you have responded to the
task.

In order to grade your task response, the examiner will be looking to see if you have answered the
question. If you have only partially answered the question, this will decrease your grade for this criteria.

Let’s look at the same essay question we looked at in lesson 1 when you identified the topic:

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

In the previous lesson, we identified the topic for this question as‘teenage crime’. The task - or ‘what
you have to do’ - is usually at the end of the prompt.

As you can see, you are being told to ‘Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and
suggest solutions’. It’s very common in task 2 IELTS essay questions to get asked to do two things, and
this question is a good example of this:

1. Why teenage crime has increased

2. Ways to solve this problem

You MUST discuss both those things to ensure you have fully answered the question and you must write
roughly equal amounts about each part. Doing any of the following things will reduce your score for task
response, and hence may reduce your overall score:

1. Only writing about reasons or only solutions

2. Writing most of your essay about reasons and only a small part on solutions (or visa versa)
 3. Writing about the reasons and solutions for crime in general, and not referring to teenage crime
(the topic)

4. Writing about neither reasons nor solutions

This is why it is so important to spend some time at the beginning making sure you identify the task so
that you know what you have to write about.

A Common Mistake

It is a common mistake for students to rush at the beginning to start writing as they are worried about
not finishing, and then write about the wrong thing.

For example, when you have finished identifying the task, you will brainstorm your ideas. You may come
up with reasons for an increase in crime such as ‘lack of parental supervision’ and ‘boredom’.

However, I have seen students come up with problems of teenage crime, such as ‘more young people
being put in prison' and ‘stress for their parents'.

This particular task asks you to write about ‘reasons’, not ‘problems’(though being asked to write about
'problems and solutions' is common). So if you do this you will not be answering the question. This
comes from rushing and not taking enough time to identify the task properly.

Other Question Types

The previous question was fairly easy, so to identify the task was hopefully not too difficult. Some
questions, though, will take more thought in order to identify what you need to write about.

Here is another example:

Advances in technology and automation have reduced the need for manual labour. Therefore, working
hours should be reduced.

To what extent do you agree?

Again, look to the end of the prompt to identify the task. You have to say if you agree or disagree with
working hours being reduced, or, in other words, automation (machines) taking over from some human’s
duties.
You must also say how much you agree or disagree ("to what extent"). Let’s assume you want to look at
both sides of the issue. You therefore need to discuss the reasons why you agree, and the reasons why
you disagree. Or put another way:

1. The advantages of reducing working hours

2. The disadvantages of reducing working hours

And of course in the introduction or conclusion you need to make it clear what your opinion is.

If you do all of these things then you will have answered all parts of the prompt. If you find more reasons
to agree than disagree, then you can write more about this side of the argument, or visa versa.

Identify the Task - Practice

Now you can have a practice identifying the task for some IELTS essay questions.

Pick the one that you think best describes what you would write about in order to fully answer all parts
of the question.

1. The rising levels of congestion and air pollution found in most of the world cities can be
attributed directly to the rapidly increasing number of private cars in use. In order to reverse
this decline in the quality of life in cities, attempts must be made to encourage people to use
their cars less and public transport more.

Discuss possible ways to encourage the use of public transport.

Why people have been using cars more and public transport less

How to get people to use public transport more

The causes of increasing congestion and air pollution.

2. Do the benefits of study abroad justify the difficulties? What advice would you offer to a
prospective student?

(a) A discussion of the benefits versus the challenges of studying abroad (b) Strategies to cope with
studying abroad

(a) The benefits of study abroad

(a) The benefits of study abroad (b) the difficulties of studying abroad
 3. Fresh water has always been a limited resource in some parts of the world. Today, however,
growing worldwide demand has made this a global problem.

What are the causes of the increased demand and what measure could governments and individuals
take to respond to this problem?

(a) The problems with using too much water (b) Government solutions (c) Individual solutions

How (a) Governments and (b) Individuals can solve water shortage problems.

(a) Reasons for increased demand for water (b) Government solutions (c) Individual solutions

4. As global trade increases, many goods including those we use on a daily basis are produced in
other countries and transported long distances.

Do the benefits of the trend outweigh the drawback?

(a) The benefits of this (b) The disadvantages of this (c) Your opinion on whether it is more beneficial or
not

(a) The benefits of this (b) Your opinion on whether is is more beneficial or not

(a) The disadvantages of this (b) Your opinion on whether it is more beneficial or not

5. Some people feel that animals should have the same rights as humans, but others think they
are not as equal or intelligent as us so should not have the same rights.

Discuss both opinions and give your opinion.

(a) The arguments for giving animals rights (b) The arguments against this

(a) Arguments for having animal rights (b) The arguments against this (c) Your opinion

(a) The reasons why animals are not as equal or intelligent as humans

6. Currently there is a trend towards the use of alternative forms of medicine. However, at best
these methods are ineffective, and at worst they may be dangerous.

To what extent do you agree with this statement?

(a) How alternative medicine differs from Conventional medicine

(a) The dangers of alternative medicine

(a) The benefits of alternative medicine (b) The drawbacks of alternative medicine (c) Your opinion
 7. Overpopulation of urban areas has led to numerous problems.

Identify one or two serious ones and suggest ways that governments and individuals can tackle these
problems.

(a) Problems of overpopulation in urban areas (b) Government solutions (c) Individual solutions

(a) The problems of overpopulation (b) The solutions

(a) How governments can tackle urban overpopulation (b) How individuals can tackle urban
overpopulation.

8. Computers should never have been invented.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

(a) The reasons why computers were invented (b) The benefits of computers (c) Your opinion.

(a) The problems with computers (b) Solutions to these problems.

(a) The benefits of computers (b) The drawbacks of computers (c) Your opinion

9. Unemployment has become an increasing problem in the recent past.

What factors contribute to an increase in unemployment and what steps can be taken to solve the
problem?

(a) The causes of increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem

(a) The problems with increasing unemployment (b) How to solve this problem.

(a) The reasons why unemployment is increasing.

10. Some people think that young children should be allowed to do paid work, while others think
that this should be illegal.

Discuss both opinions and give your opinion.

(a) The advantages of allowing children to do paid work (b) Your opinion.

(a) The advantages of allowing children to do paid work (b) The disadvantages this (c) Your opinion.

(a) The problems of allowing children to do paid work (b) The benefits of allowing them to do paid work.

Brainstorming and Planning an IELTS Essay

"I can't think of any ideas for my IELTS essay!"

That is a common statement from students preparing for the test and this is where brainstorming and
planning come in.

https://youtu.be/uBVrhU46C2U

Once you have analysed the question in the IELTS test you need to brainstorm some ideas to include in
your answer.

Lets look at the same question we looked at in the first two lessons:

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

Brainstorming is an important part of the planning process.

In order to get a good score it will not be enough just to put a list of ideas - you need to extend and
explain those ideas.

If you look at the IELTS prompt, it says this:

"Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or
knowledge".

So you need to support your ideas using reasons and examples.

Developing Focus Questions

For this question, you need to write about reasons for the increase in teenage crime and solutions.

In order to make sure you fully answer the question it is a good ideas to develop some focus
questions i.e. questions that will help you focus on what you need to write.

These are possible focus questions for this essay question:

• Focus question 1: Why has teenage crime increased?

• Focus question 2: What can be done about it?

You then need to brainstorm answers to these questions:

Why has teenage crime increased?

• Breakdown in the nuclear family

• Lack of things to do
What can be done about it?

• Government - Provide better support for families & stricter punishments

• Individuals – take responsibility

[Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a pair of adults and their children, as
opposed to single-parent families].

Extending and Supporting your Ideas

However, you now need to think about how your are going to extend and support those ideas you have
brainstormed. In other words, you need to ask yourself further questions about each of your ideas. For
example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?

What is the effect of this?

What is a good example of it?

Answering questions like these will make sure you have fully supported and explained all your points.

For example:

Why has there been a breakdown in the nuclear family?

- high divorce rates

What is the effect of this?

- no male role model; boys go astray & may commit crime

Planning

When you have extended your main ideas, this then provides the basis for your plan.

Here is an example of the brainstormed ideas with further support, which has now become the plan for
the essay:
Essay Plan

Why has teenage crime increased?

1) Breakdown in the nuclear family

- high divorce rates = no father as ‘role model’

– boys go astray, drugs & crime

2) Lack of things to do

- e.g. TV has shown nothing to do

– children see crime as entertainment

What can be done about it?

1) Govt - Provide better support for families

- e.g. more youth centres

– guidance and activities, sport

2) Parents – take responsibility

- provide loving environment, relative as role model

The essay can now be written. Here is an example essay written from the plan, with the main supporting
ideas highlighted in bold:

Sample Essay

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or
knowledge.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer
Over the last decade there has been a massive rise in the level of crime committed by teenagers in a
number of countries. It is important to establish why this has happened and to look at ways to solve the
problem.

One reason is the breakdown in the nuclear family. The high divorce rates have meant many children
have been brought up in one-parent families with no father to act as a role model, which is detrimental
to their development. This is particularly important for boys, who without this guidance are easily led
astray by bad influences such as drugs and crime. Another factor is the lack of things to do for the
young. For example, in the UK, many television programs about this issue have shown that teenagers
hang around in the evenings with little to do. When this happens, the boredom means they will find
their own entertainment, which is often crime.

There are, however, ways to tackle these problems. Firstly, the government should provide more
support for families. They could, for instance, invest more into building and staffing youth centres,
which would provide guidance through the youth workers and also enable teenagers to focus their
attention on sport and other activities. Parents should also be encouraged to take more responsibility
for their children. Ultimately, the onus is on them to raise their children in a loving environment, thus
ensuring they are less likely to turn to crime. They could, for example, find a male relative to act as a
role model.

Therefore, it is clear that there are various reasons for this rise in crime, but solutions are available. If we
begin to tackle the issue now, we may be able to prevent the situation from declining further.

(294 Words)

A common mistake is to have lots of ideas that are not explained properly.

However, you can see that as a result of brainstorming some key ideas and making sure you have
explained each of them, you have a fully supported and well organized essay.

IELTS Task Response

The IELTS Task Response is 25% of your score for your essay. When your essay is marked, you are given a
score for each of these criteria:

• Task Response - 25%

• Coherence and Cohesion - 25%

• Lexical Resource - 25%

• Grammatical Range and Accuracy - 25%

There are two key factors that are important for ensuring you get a high score for IELTS Task Response:

• Fully answering the question

• Developing and extending your ideas

In this lesson and following on from writing task 2 lesson one and lesson two, we will focus on the first
factor, answering the question.

Fully Answering the Question

This is very important because misunderstanding the question and not answering it properly can be fatal
for your IELTS Task Response Score.

These are the penalties:

• Your answer has no relation to the topic or question at all - Band 3

• The question has been misunderstood but some ideas are related to the question - Band 4

• The question has been understood but is only partially answered - Band 5

• Fully answered but some parts are more fully covered than others - Band 6

However, for band 7:

• All parts of the essay question are adequately covered and ideas are extended and supported
- Band 7

Developing and extending your ideas is obviously crucial as well to get a good IELTS Task Response score
but there is no point extending your ideas if they are the wrong ones because you have misunderstood
the question!

So the key starting point for a high IELTS Task Response score is to fully answer the question.

To understand the problems with this, we will look at a real IELTS essay exam question.

This is a question that several candidates reported they had problems with answering and when I
queried how they answered it, many had written about the wrong thing.

This is the question from the test:

Earlier technological developments brought more advantages and changed the lives of ordinary
people more than recent developments ever will.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Before carrying on with this lesson, it would be a good idea to analyse the question and makes some
notes on how you would answer and organise an essay like this.

You can then compare your answer with the suggestions below and see if you analysed it correctly.

Confusing Parts of the Question

The opinion in this essay question is indicating a comparison between two things:

• Technological developments of the past

• Technological developments of recent times

You simply need to say which ones you think have led to the biggest changes and benefits to people's
lives.

There are several things that resulted in confusion for candidates.

Earlier technological developments brought more advantages and changed the lives of ordinary
people more than recent developments ever will.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Ordinary People

One confusion was with the word ordinary people, which led some candidates to go off-topic and start
discussing the lives of poor people or other things not really related to the topic.

This simply refers to the everyday person in society, like you and me. Someone who studies or goes to
work everyday and therefore would make use of technology, such as phones, washing machines, cars,
computers etc., in the usual way.

So rather than focusing on companies for example, or extremely rich people, your essay would need to
be about the general population in societies.

You can of course still mention rich people as long as it is in relation to the question and ordinary people.
For instance you may argue that some technological developments were expensive and only benefitted
the rich so did not tend to improve most ordinary people's lives.

Ever Will

Another word causing confusion was ever will.

Seeing 'will' led some candidates to think they needed to discuss how current developments will change
in the future.

This would be wrong as the question is about past technological developments

and recent developments. 'Ever will' is just a phrase to emphasise the opinion that past developments
are not as influential as more modern ones and never will be, even in the future.

The future could be discussed in reference to the extent to which people's lives may change, but it is not
about which developments may arise in the future.

Earlier and Recent

Another problem candidates faced with this essay question was what is actually meant
by earlier and recent?
 Old Phone

Are you supposed to talk about technological developments from 30 years ago, such as the personal
home computer from around the 1970s, or much further back, such as the invention of the car?

Also you may not know exactly when most these things were invented or developed.

This though is quite subjective so it would not matter too much which period you chose. The examiner
cannot decide it refers to 20 years ago and mark you down for IELTS Task Response if you discuss things
such as the first ever phone invented in the late 1800s.

You just need to make your choice, stick to it, and make sure of course you give examples of the
developments you have chosen and say why they have changed people's lives.

And in terms of when things were invented, you do not have to refer to which years or decades you are
talking about anyway - you just need to say which earlier / recent developments you are talking about.

Agree or Disagree

These words in the prompt are important of course because they dictate what you need to do in your
answer with regards to the opinion you have been given.

It is up to you whether you agree or disagree; however, it is important for your IELTS Task Response score
to discuss both:

• Earlier technological developments

• Recent technological developments

There are dangers with only discussing one or the other.

For instance, let's say you disagreed, and thought recent developments were more influential on ordinary
people and you then go on to only discuss some recent developments.

The problem with this is the examiner may feel you have only partially answered the question (band 5
for IELTS Task Response) because you have not addressed something specifically referred to in the
question - earlier technological developments.

It's very difficult to justify why more recent developments are better if you do not even compare them
with earlier ones to show why more recent ones have improved and changed people's lives more.
Miniature Robots

Advantages and Disadvantages?

One common mistake is to rush into a question without reading it, which could be a big mistake.

Something you must not do, which some candidates said they did, is to have a general essay discussing
the advantages and disadvantages of technology on people's lives without making any reference to
earlier and later ones.

A careful look at the question should tell you that it is not asking this. However, some lower level
candidates who may have been struggling with the language just assumed it was simple pros and cons of
technology essay.

This mistake is likely to lead to a band 3 or 4 for task response:

• Your answer has no relation to the topic or question at all - Band 3

• The question has been misunderstood but some ideas are related to the question - Band 4

Answering and Organising the Essay

Based on the factors discussed above, answering the question as follows would mean a reduction in the
IELTS task response score:

• Writing about earlier technological developments and future technological developments

• Writing only about earlier developments or recent developments (not both)

• Not focusing on ordinary people

• Writing generally about the advantages and disadvantages of technology

There are various options of how to organise your essay to show the examiner you have understood the
question and answered it.

Here are some possibilities, all of which would help you get a good score for IELTS Task Response as they
all fully answer the question.

Earlier vs Recent Developments

Based on the fact you want to discuss both earlier and recent technological developments the easiest
way to organise the essay to ensure you answer the question is as follows:

• Intro: Opinion

• Body Para 1: Early Developments

• Body Para 2: Recent Developments

• Conc: Restate Opinion

Particular Areas of Development

You could also compare them though by specific developments that have been changed and updated
over time. For instance, you could write about the typewriter as an early technological development and
the computer as a more updated one which has more benefits.

• Intro: Opinion

• Body Para 1: Early vs Recent 1 (e.g. Typewriter vs Computer)

• Body Para 2: Early vs Recent 2

• Body Para 3: Early vs Recent 3

• Conc: Restate Opinion

[There is a model answer for this plan - the link is at the bottom of the page]

Pros and Cons in Each Period of time

You may think that the whole opinion is wrong because it is not a matter of distinguishing between
periods of time but depends on the actual technology.

In other words, some technology from the past was good but some bad, and the same for today.

For instance you may think mobile phones are a bad invention of today as they occupy people's time so
much but robotics are a good thing as they have led to advances in medicine and operations.

So you may organise it like this:

• Intro: Opinion

• Body Para 1: Early and Recent Developments that are beneficial

• Body Para 2: Early and Recent Developments that are detrimental

 • Conc: Restate Opinion

This is ok as long as you clearly organise your essay and explain your ideas.

IELTS Task Response: Extending and Supporting Your Ideas

This lesson has focused on answering the question fully. You should now hopefully realise the
importance of making sure you carefully analyse the question before you write.

It's easy to make mistakes and this could seriously affect your IELTS Task Response score.

But as noted above, extending and supporting any ideas you have is of course another key factor in IELTS
Task Response.

So once you have decided how you will answer the question and you have some ideas, you need to
provide support and maybe use examples to illustrate what you want to say and extend your points.

We looked at the this in the planning and brainstorming lesson.

What ideas for IELTS does the examiner want to see?

Many candidates tend to think that the examiner is looking for the best possible ideas that answer the
question, and that they will award higher band scores for this.

Actually this is not true. There is nothing in the grading system that the examiner uses that assesses how
clever your ideas are or to knock off points if s/he thinks they are too boring or uninteresting.

What is important is the relevancy of the ideas.

This means that they must answer the question that you have been asked. They must also of course be
properly explained through further support.

Once you come up with some ideas you should use what you think are the best ones, but the important
point about this is that you should not waste so much time at the beginning trying trying to come up
with what you think is going to be the best idea to impress the examiner to the point that you have too
little time to write a good essay.

With only 40 minutes to plan and write the essay there is not the time to do this. There is no point if you
then don't finish the essay or have poor grammar because you are rushing to finish it.

As long as your ideas answer the question and you can explain and justify them, that is fine.

What if the question is not relevant to my country?

Another concern of candidates is that as the exam is written in the UK and Australia, it will be questions
related to Western countries and not the country or culture that they come from.

This should not be the case as the writers of the test are aware that most people taking the test are from
other countries and cultures.

The questions are designed to be general in nature and based on topics and issues that are relevant to
most countries around the world.

If you take a look at the latest IELTS writing topics, you'll see that most are quite general topics that
should be relevant to most countries.

Very occasionally a topic may come up that is possibly not as relevant to your country as it may be for
some others, but if this is the case you have to think about the fact that examiners are not looking for
perfect ideas.

It's how you explain and support them that is key so you have to use the knowledge that you do have.

What strategies can I use to come up with ideas for IELTS?

Next we'll look at some strategies you can use to come up with ideas for IELTS essays.

1. Reading around relevant topics

You can broaden your knowledge of potential ideas for IELTS by reading around the kinds of topics that
come up in IELTS.
You should be doing this anyway as you want to improve your reading skills and also your ability to have
knowledge for the speaking test too.

Questions connected in some way to the following topics are fairly common in the exam:

• Education

• Health, Diet and Fitness

• Globalisation

• Work and Unemployment

• Crime, the Law, and Criminal Justice

• Children and Families

• Technological Development and Change

• The Environment

• Public Transport

• Advertising

But these are quite broad topics so the questions will be directed to a particular aspect related to these
topics. But keeping up-to-date with what is going on in the world by reading international newspapers or
magazines will help.

A good way though to find out more about the specific issues related to these broad topics that come up
is by looking at old essay questions and sample answers.

To do this, check out our IELTS Sample Essays.

As an example, on this IELTS sample essay page, if you look you'll see a number of essays related to
'Children and Families':

• Family Size

• Having Children Later in Life

• Family Closeness

• Living Alone

Read the essay but also go into an internet search engine such as google and find some articles on the
topic. Search for things such as "reasons for living alone", "advantages and disadvantages of living
alone".

Remember this is all reading practice, so even if the topic does not come up you are still developing your
reading ability and your critical thinking skills, both of which will help you with IELTS.

Note also that there are also topics that will never come up, and these are ones connected to religion,
politics and war. So you don't need to research about these.
2. Brainstorming Ideas

Brainstorming and planning is something that is covered in this IELTS writing task 2 lesson:

• Brainstorming and Planning

Brainstorming is when you write down any ideas that come into your head about a particular question or
topic. At first you are not dismissing any, you just write them down however good or bad they seem.

You then select which ones are the best. For an IELTS essay you will usually only need around four ideas
to answer a question, as with it being such a short essay, two are usually enough to provide support in
one body paragraph.

The important thing to remember again is that you are not getting marked on the ideas themselves (as
long as they answer the question) but the way in which you present them in terms of coherency,
cohesion and grammar.

3. Ask 'why' questions

Another way to come up with ideas for IELTS writing is to turn the essay question into shorter questions
and ask other questions to develop the ideas further.

This is an excellent way to not only develop ideas but also to develop support for you ideas as it helps to
focus your thoughts. This can mostly be done by developing 'why?' questions.

Let look at an example essay question to illustrate this. This is a recent IELTS essay question from

People living in the 21st century generally have better quality of lives than people born in earlier
centuries.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

So turn this into some simple questions to focus you on an answer:

Why is life better?

• People are healthier.

Why are they healthier?

• Because of more access to medicine.

Why else?

• Greater access to cleaner water and safer food.

By thinking like this you can start to come up with ideas and develop them into paragraphs.
You don't really have time though to start writing out all these question. This is just a way to develop or
train the way your mind works when you look at an essay question.

So when you next look at a question, try asking yourself 'why?' and may help you start to develop ideas
and extent them.

Summing it Up

So these are all potential ways for you to develop ideas for IELTS. Remember as always it's a very
personal thing, so do what is most suitable for you.

But the key thing to remember and take away from this is that you are not getting marked on how
amazing your ideas are.

Someone who comes up with a boring idea but who explains it well and uses good grammar and
organisation is going to get a better score than someone who thinks of a great idea but can't explain it
properly or presents it badly.