IELTS 101: How to Keep Up with the New Essay Topics

The IELTS Writing Task 2 is worth 40 marks and asks you to write an essay on a given topic. The length of the essay should be 250 words but remember – the essay is timed. You can be asked to write about the latest IELTS essay topics featuring arguments, advantages and disadvantages, problems and solutions, or a mix of these. No matter what type of essay you are asked for, you can use your skills, experience, and examples to support your ideas.

Tips to Ace Latest IELTS Essay Writing Task

Here are 7 tips that you can follow to score higher in the essay writing task –

• Understand

To get a high band score, it is essential to understand the question. Examiners expect writers to focus on the keywords and the key points in the question. They expect writers to identify the type of question being asked and its purpose.

• Map out Your Ideas

Before writing an essay, take five minutes to brainstorm some ideas. Take a pencil and write down as many aspects and possible perspectives you can think of related to the topic. This will help you get your thoughts in order and save time.

• Must Familiarise with Common Topics Beforehand

Practice tests and exercises help familiarize students with the IELTS exam format and improve their vocabulary. By reading newspapers frequently, students can increase their vocabulary while staying updated on current events. Always remember that the IELTS exam does not test your knowledge-rather your ability to communicate ideas in English. Thus, creative pieces stand out above all others.

• Ask Yourself Questions

An excellent way to think of more ideas is to ask yourself questions while reading the essay topic. You can ask yourself, “why?”, “what?”, “where?”, “who?” and “how?” to generate more ideas.

• Use Personal Opinion

To earn a band 7+ score, you need to include your personal opinion in the essay. Start by imagining that your friend has asked you a question about the topic, and write down what you believe. Use relevant examples or instances to illustrate your answer to make your response more logical and coherent.

• Manage Your Time

To ensure that you keep within the 40 minutes allotted for this part, you should develop good time-management skills. To do this, start writing your essay with a plan and a strategy. While writing, aim to complete the task within 36–37 minutes to allow yourself a few minutes, in the end, to proofread your essay and make sure it is free of spelling and other grammatical errors.

• Know the Lexical Resources

One of the four assessment criteria in the Writing Section, lexical resource, refers to using a broad range of vocabulary, accurate spelling, correct usage of collocations and word formation. Those unfamiliar with this tend to use repetitive words in their essay. However, an examiner looks for variety in vocabulary to give a positive impression of writing ability. Therefore, it is advisable to avoid repetitive words in your answer.

• Make Paragraphs

Many candidates finish the Essay Writing Task before time runs out by leaving their ideas incomplete in a single paragraph. It is not an effective way to use paragraphs because this approach will fail to demonstrate your ability to provide a clear and logical explanation for each point. Instead, you should complete your response by writing a separate paragraph with two or three description lines for each idea. This way, you will be able to provide a more convincing and thorough argument. 

• Complete Your Answer

Some students write only bullet points or short answers to finish the task before the time runs out. This practice is a mistake and you should not follow the same.

• Master Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation

Correct grammar, the spelling of words correctly, and proper punctuation marks are essential to do well on IELTS Writing Task 2. It is a good idea to practice ahead of time to ensure success so you don’t make any mistakes on test day.

• Use Formal Language

For the IELTS exam, it is important to use appropriate language. Using informal expressions and colloquialisms can offend the examiner, which might lower your score. Use formal language when writing for this test. 

Now that you are acquainted with the key areas of the latest IELTS essay topics for the writing section, it will be easier for you to achieve your desired score in this task. To improve your score, you need to avoid mistakes. Keep these tips in mind, and apply them to any writing task.