How to achieve Band 7 and 8 in

IELTS Task 2 Writing

A foolproof process

IELTS LEARNING TIPS

March 2014

Authored by: Berni Wall

IELTS Task 2 – The Process

Welcome!

Congratulations for taking to time to get hold of this report and for stepping up to make sure you

are approaching IELTS Task 2 in the right way to make sure that you get band 7 or 8 when you

take your exam.

Why not print this out, grab a cup of tea or coffee, get a pen and highlighter and find a nice, quiet

space to sit and study this report where you won’t be disturbed (yes! It’s really THAT important!);

and where you can really dig deep into the content and really learn the process that will make sure

that you can get band 7 or 8 in your IELTS exam.

In fact, reading this report will probably be the most important thing you can do for you IELTS

writing and will transform the way you prepare to write and also your performance in your actual

IELTS exam.

BY THE END OF THIS REPORT YOU’LL KNOW:

• How to analyse the question so that you can get everything you need from it to begin your

writing

• How to brainstorm your ideas to get as many as possible for the topic

• How to match these ideas to give you not only your main themes but also supporting

evidence to back up your answer

• How to organise these themes into paragraphs which will help you to write faster and with

more accuracy

Before we do that I want to speak a little about Band 7 writing and how you can transform your

own writing to be sure that every task 2 you write will be at the right level and so you will be

confident that you can get the band 7 or 8 that you want in your exam.

The first thing you have to understand is that techniques like this cannot be perfected overnight.

This report is NOT a magic formula – from this process to perfect band 7 or 8 writing you will need

to practise not only the process itself but also the sentences and vocabulary that you will be

actually writing in your essay.

The second thing is that of all the language skills (listening, writing, speaking and reading) writing

takes the longest to learn and is the most sophisticated of the skills. It is probably the one that we

do the least also in our daily lives so be patient and don’t expect to hit the ground running

immediately.

Finally, reading about IS NOT the same as DOING. This is the first step in a process that you will

need to learn, perfect and then allow to become ‘second nature’ so that you can follow it through in

the exam to perfection.

THERE IS A DANGEROUS BELIEF GOING ROUND AND I WANT TO TELL YOU

THAT WHATEVER YOU HEAR OR BELIEVE THIS IS NOT THE CASE

Some people believe that they can look at an IELTS question and jump in and begin to answer it

immediately without any planning or preparation. Even the most experience native-speaker writers

plan and prepare their work. Those people who believe this and write like this in their exams are

not giving themselves the best chance at a high band.

By not planning your writing well you risk two outcomes:

The first is that your writing will be a ramble. It will not have a clear structure and be in a good,

clear academic style. This approach will also cause you to make far more errors. Errors must be

kept to a minimum if you are going to score a band 7 and even more so for band 8.

The second is that you will not finish your writing in time. Now non-completion of your writing

carries a higher penalty than previously and you are guaranteed to lose marks if your task 2 is not

finished.

This might sound dramatic but ask around. How many students are not getting their band just

because of their writing. And here are some more statistics:

In any given exam session the average band that will be scored is 5.5. So if you are looking for

band 7 you are already in a rather elite, minority group

Secondly in any given exam session the writing usually had the lowest bands of all and the

listening the highest. This is proof that the areas that challenges MOST students is writing.

Now armed with that knowledge you can see how, if you are one of those students who needs a

high band in writing, it is really worthwhile spending some time to perfect the process that can help

you to deliver that level of writing. Also you remember, I used to be an examiner, so I do know

what examiners are looking for when they correct your IELTS writing and I want to share that

knowledge with you here in this report.

My name is Berni Wall and I’m an IELTS trainer and former examiner and I help students to get

high bands in all the sections of the IELTS exam.

I am a real IELTS trainer and with my team of IELTS trainers we help students every day to

improve their writing skills and I want to share my long experience of working with IELTS students

here with you so that you can get the high band in your task 2 IELTS writing. Imagine what it will

mean when you get the score you desire and the chance to walk away from the IELTS with the

band you want and a bright and secure future in front of you.

So, let’s get started. In the next few pages I will give you a step by step approach to IELTS Task 2.

This process is the same for both academic and general training.

Step One – Analyse the Question

Start right at the beginning - take some time on your analysis

To help you do this there are some questions that you can ask:

1. What does the examiner expect from me in this question?

o For example what keywords are in the question: discuss, how far, agree, disagree

etc.

o Underline these words – they will usually be at the end of the question

i. Some people believe that punishment is the only purpose of prisons, while

others believe that prisons exist for various reasons. Discuss both views and

give your opinion.

ii. Some people believe that work needs to be difficult to be profitable. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

2. What type of question is it?

o Is it a simple discussion or do you need to give your opinion as well?

o Or perhaps it is asking about problems and solutions but also asks you to give your

opinion on the best one

o Again look carefully at the words that are used in the question to get exactly the type

of question – this is important for the first band descriptor

i. The number of plants and animals is declining. Explain this problem and suggest

some solutions.

(This is a problem solution only)

ii. Many people around the world are choosing to move to live in cities. What problems do people experience in big cities? Should governments encourage people to move to smaller towns?

(This asks you to outline problems only and then to give your opinion about one solution)

3. What do I have to do in this task?

o Do I need to write about both sides?

o Do I need to choose one side only?

o Do I need to give my opinion or not?

i. Some people believe that punishment is the only purpose of prisons, while others

believe that prisons exist for various reasons. Discuss both views and give your

opinion.

(Here both sides are important and you are asked for an opinion too)

ii. Some people believe that work needs to be difficult to be profitable.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

(Now you need to choose one side of the discussion and argue this)

4. What is the topic/background to this question?

o Make sure you read this carefully – it may be similar to one you have practised

before but it won’t be exactly the same and it’s important to notice the emphasis in

the question

i Many people around the world are choosing to move to live in cities. What problems do people experience in big cities? Should governments encourage people to move to smaller towns?

(Cities)

ii Some people believe that work needs to be difficult to be profitable. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

(Work)

5. What is the emphasis or aspect of the topic?

o This information is at the beginning of the question

o It will say exactly how you must address the topic and it is rarely general it usually addresses a specific aspect of a topic say pollution or global warming rather than just the environment generally

i. Many people around the world are choosing to move to live in cities. What problems do people experience in big cities? Should governments encourage people to move to smaller towns?

(The problems of urban living)

ii Some people believe that work needs to be difficult to be profitable. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

6. (Do we need to work hard in order to be successful?)What kind of position do you as the writer

need to take?

o This relates to the earlier questions here

o Do you need to give your opinion if so where?

o Do you need to argue one side, if so what evidence should you bring?

o Do you need to suggest measures and solutions to problems?

o Or is it a combination of some of these things?

Step Two – Brainstorm

The examiner will be impressed with your English more than your ideas

Your ideas are almost the least important thing in Task 2. It is the way you express these; the

words and phrases – the language that you use to express your ideas NOT the ideas themselves

that will get you a high band.

Brainstorming helps you to combine ideas that can support each other and help you to relate your

ideas and sentences well together. You have to be ready also to reject any ideas that don’t fit in

well. It’s important that your ideas are well-supported and work together to produce a whole

paragraph.

In the exam you will have to do this stage very quickly but while you are still preparing you can

take more time to get this right.

1. First write down anything at all that you know about this topic. Make sure that you do this is

really visual way so you can see it all clearly and make connections between your ideas.

o Using a spider diagram is a good idea

o Don’t write too much, just words or short phrases

2. Now look at your ideas and see if you can group them to make small groups of similar

ideas.

o Ideally you are looking for 4 main ideas, 2 for each main paragraph and then some

related ideas to support and illustrate these

o Keep checking the question to make sure you are still on the right track for the

correct answer

Here for example; inspire, encourage and spend money to get children into sport go together (this

is a healthy thing and children should join in). A second group could include spend money on

health and on education (instead of on sport) and a final group could have economy, international

meetings and national representation (to emphasise the importance of sport for individual nations)

3. If there are any ideas which don’t fit into the groups just reject them.

o Remember the ideas are not so important and you won’t get marks for them only for

how you present them

o Don’t choose ideas because you think they are clever or unusual – choose those

that you are able to express well and simply – making an impact in IELTS writing is

usually about keeping things clear and simple but with great language – make life

easy and choose the ideas you can best express, explain and support

o Look at model Task 2 writing and you will see that it does not appear complex

4. Now organise your chosen ideas

o What is the main point you want to make?

o What can you use to support this idea?

o Can you give an example for further clarification

o As you build up these ideas you can also think about the linking words you want to

use to relate them and you will see now how the sentences and paragraphs are

starting to build.

Each of your main ideas (you’ll need 4 of these, two for each paragraph) will be supported by 2 or

3 supporting sentences and perhaps an example (don’t give more than one example in each

paragraph and make these objective i.e. don’t tell a story, use ‘I’, ‘he/she’ or ‘we’)

In the sport exercise we are talking about whether money should be spent on sporting events or

would it be better spent on other things. From the ideas on the spider diagram we can see that

although there is a suggestion that health and education could have more of the money, overall

spending on sport is important for reasons of health and team work and at a national and

international level sport can contribute a lot. So the two main themes are individual (especially

children) and international – these would be split with the individual/child element in paragraph 1

and the international economic argument in paragraph 2.

Step Three – Create a usable plan

You are probably thinking that this process will take a long time in the exam. Like all things in IELTS

practising will speed it up and you should expect to spend no more than 5 minutes on the planning stage

which gives you 30 minutes to write and 5 minutes to check – this would be perfect timing for an IELTS

Task 2 piece of writing.

The important thing to remember about planning your writing is that it will help you to produce a much

better answer, in a shorter time and with fewer mistakes and checking time to eliminate any that you have

made and can spot.

It is really important not to go from brainstorm to writing. Many students give me their plans that are little

more than a list of ideas (a mini-brainstorm) and this will not really help you in the exam. You have to know

how you will organise your paragraphs, how to sequence your ideas and give clear examples and do all

this in the language that will get you a band 7 or 8. You also need to minimise the numbers of grammar

errors you make and create a piece that is academic, clear and objective and will convince the examiner of

your point of view. This is a tall order and unless your English is really very good you will need to be very

much in control of every sentence you write. This requires a good, solid plan that you can flesh out with

good sentence structure and good vocabulary while remembering to use complex sentences, a range of

linking words and a breadth of vocabulary.

Your plan is your skeleton and your job after creating it is to add the ’flesh’ which is your language.

Your plan should look something like this:

Introduction:

Sentence 1 – general statement about the topic from the question

Sentence 2 – the position (that there are 2 sides, that there are problems etc)

Sentence 3 – your position (will you discuss, suggest solutions, give your opinion etc.) Say what is

going to happen now

Your introduction should:

o Show the reader where you are going

o Outline the topic and main arguments but not in detail

o Not start your arguments and ideas

o Never be more than 3 sentences

1st Paragraph

Make first main point

Say why this is the case (supporting evidence)

Add more evidence

Give an example

Make 2nd main point

Say why

Add more evidence

2nd Paragraph

Make first point

Support your idea as before

Give more evidence

Make 2nd point

Support this

Give more evidence

Give an example

Conclusion

Summarise what has been shown if appropriate

Re-state your position or the position on the question

Your conclusion should:

o Be satisfactory – there should be no surprises

o Be logical and follow naturally from the previous paragraph

o Mirror your introduction – you have achieved what you set out to do

o Compete the piece

Your conclusion should never:

o Add anything new

o Be more than 3 sentences long

o Repeat what you’ve said before except as a short summary

You will use around 25-30 words in your introduction and conclusion and 100 words in each of the two

main paragraphs to give you 250/260 – balance is important.

Try not to exceed 280 words or you may not finish and this will lose you marks.

Here is an example of a plan:

As populations grow and cities become more crowded, there is pressure throughout the world to construct

ever taller buildings to provide accommodation and offices. Many people object to such developments

citing the social as well as the physical dangers.

• What benefits do skyscrapers bring?

• Do you agree with the objections to skyscrapers?

Analysis and Brainstorm:

The first part of this question is background information which you can use in the essay.

Key words/ideas (brainstorm)

• Population growth

• Over-crowding

• Social dangers (isolation, lack of community, play spaces for children, lack of garden

• Physical dangers (falling, suicide, earthquakes)

The question is in two parts- you MUST address both:

i. Skyscrapers DO bring benefits – what are these?

ii. Looking at the social and physical dangers as objections (can also add aesthetics) do you

agree with these objections or not and why/why not.

Plan:

Introduction: (approx. 2/3 sentences) (should be around 30 words)

• Introduce topic – skyscrapers /feature/modern world

• Say two sides – good for accommodation/offices but not attractive/dangerous

• Signal that you will explore further

1st para:

List benefits (see key words) (9-10 sentences - should be around 100) words)

• Benefit 1, evidence (overcrowding, save space) more support or example (locate in centre of city)

• Benefit 2, evidence, (live & work in city, space for parks) more support or example (good views good life)

2nd para:

Your opinion on the dangers; supported by evidence and examples where possible. (9-10 sentences

should be around 100 words)

• Danger 1, why/why not example (physical) (earthquakes)

• Danger 2, why/why not example (social) (isolation, lack of green space - especially for children)

Conclusion (this should mirror your introduction) (approx. 2/3 sentences) (should be around 30 words)

• Necessary to accommodate population

• Some issues but advantages outweigh

• Best solution to city living

This should be obvious from your arguments. We should expect it. (3/4 sentences should be about 30-40

words)

Step Four – Write your task

Now you are almost ready to begin. Before you construct your first sentence of your introduction it is a good

idea to quickly write down any linking words, phrases or other vocabulary that you know you want to use in

your essay but you think you may forget as you begin to write. This can just help you to remember them

and you can cross them off as soon as you’ve used them. This makes sure that you don’t add anything

extra that you’ve forgotten about and spoil the balance of your essay and it makes sure that you have a

good variety of linking words and phrases to use.

Here are some of the things you should be using in your Task 2 to get a high band:

• Linking words:

o Nevertheless

o Furthermore

o Moreover

o However

o Therefore

o Consequently/As a consequence

o As a result

There are many others – choose the ones that you ca use the best, make sure you have a good variety and

that you can really use then appropriately. Don’t use anything for the first time in the exam – make

sure you practise all of the linking words you use and have them checked by your teacher so you

are absolutely certain you can use them well.

• Phrases

o Some people believe/think argue…..while others…….

o I personally believe/feel….

o Not only…….but also……

o Having said this, however, I believe…….

o On the one hand…. On the other….

o The advantages of ….. outweigh the disadvantages

o There is no doubt…….

Again there are other phrases that you can use and as with linking words make sure that you can

use these correctly and only use ones in the exam that you have practised and are certain about.

The time before your exam – especially if you are working with an IELTS teacher is a good time to

try new things. One thing that will keep your writing stuck at 6/6.5 is a lack of variety in vocabulary

and use of the linkers and phrases above. If you repeat the same types of phrase over and over

you will not get a high mark so it is worth experimenting with different things BUT unless you have

these checked and corrected you will not know if you are using then correctly and this can be very

dangerous for your writing.

OK you have a fantastic plan, you’ve decided which linking words and phrases you will use to

construct your easy so now you are ready to put pen to paper and flesh out your plan. Work

systematically; referring to our plan constantly and crossing out things you have used so you won’t

repeat them too often and know you are on-track. You will see your good, high band essay unfold

before your eyes.

A Model for the Skyscraper question:

Skyscrapers are a feature of modern cities in the world. They provide much needed accommodation as

both homes and businesses but some people feel that we should not build skyscrapers for safety and

aesthetic reasons. I think these factors need to be taken into account when planning such buildings.

Tall buildings can offer a solution to the problem of overcrowding that blights many of our cities today. They

can accommodate large numbers of families in a relatively small area therefore allowing for other amenities

such as parks and leisure facilities. Businesses can also take advantage of skyscrapers as it gives them

the opportunity of having their premises located in the centre of a city ensuring that their employees can

easily access their work. A final and not insignificant benefit of skyscrapers is that they can provide light

and airy spaces for city living and working offering spectacular views of the city which can be beneficial to

health and well-being.

Despite these advantages, there are many people who object to this type of architecture saying that

skyscrapers are dangerous, particularly in places where earthquakes occur. Another concern about tall

buildings is the danger of people becoming socially isolated as it is more difficult to meet people than it

would be at ground level and with a private garden. Moreover, this isolation can lead to further problems

such as suicide risks or extra health costs. Finally people feel that the lack of green space afforded to the

dwellers of high-rise flats is a distinct disadvantage, especially for children.

Given our current rate of population growth world-wide, however, I believe that skyscrapers are a necessity

rather than an option. Although such tall buildings have obvious disadvantages, if these are well managed

then the benefits of this type of architecture far outweigh the dangers. I personally feel that, having

considered the evidence, skyscrapers offer the best way of providing much needed accommodation in

many of the world’s cities.

Step Five – The Final Step – check

your work!

I am a native speaker of English; I am also an English language teacher and have been for over 30 years. I

have been an IELTS trainer for over 20 years and I know that I will have errors in my writing. These may be

punctuation errors, typing errors, missing words in a sentence (because I am thinking faster than I am

writing) or stylistic things that I can improve on after I have read my writing through. I find it hard to believe

that students believe that they will not have any errors in their IELTS writing and don’t allow time to check.

• Any errors you have made have the potential to lose you marks so why would you not

check?

• Secondly, the errors that you spot easily are generally ‘silly’ mistakes and these would cost

you marks for nothing!

• Finally – if you have planned well and managed your writing well any errors will be minimal

but checking and eliminating then can only be good for your score – so please allow yourself

the time to remove or amend them

In your practice work you should always check before you hand in your writing and part of your practice

should be working on your timing so that you know that in the exam you will be able to allocate a few

minutes at the end to checking your work.

Every stage outlined in in this report needs regular practice for it to become effective in your IELTS exam

and every step should become part of your IELTS writing practice every day.

By becoming expert in this process you will be able to improve your writing score in Task 2 and be well on

your way to your high band score in Task 2.

Good Luck ☺