IELTS Essay Writing Tips

The second part of the IELTS Writing Section asks you to write an essay on a contemporary social issue. The essay prompt usually contains a point of view, an argument or a problem and asks the students to express their opinion.

Some of the typical tasks that you are required to do are:

• Discuss the advantages or disadvantages of something
• Explain what causes a problem and suggest solutions
• Express your views on the given topic
• State whether you agree or disagree with a point of view
• Take a side in an argument

Your essay should answer all the points in the prompt. Its content must be relevant to the question. Remember that you need to organize and support your ideas in a logical manner. In addition, the paragraphs should be logically connected.

Use connecting devices to make the essay coherent and cohesive.

The second task assesses a student’s ability to:

• Express and justify a point of view
• Evaluate a given situation
• Compare and contrast opinions based on personal experience
• Explain the causes of a problem and suggest a solution

You can spend about 40 minutes on this task. You will need to write at least 250 words.

If you write fewer than 250 words, you will be penalized.

Scoring

Your score depends on three factors:

Task fulfillment

You should follow all instructions and include all key points. Your essay must answer the complete question.

Range of grammar and vocabulary

You should be able to use a variety of sentence structures and vocabulary. Spelling and punctuation, too, need to be correct.

Coherence and cohesion

You should be able to connect the ideas and sentences logically.