In this post, I’m going to discuss how you can develop a great writing plan. It will give you a very powerful framework which you can use to help you to write really clear and concise IELTS Task 2 writing essays every single time.
So how important is planning?
Well let me tell you this, and I’m sure that you will agree with this, that when faced with having to write an essay, the typical IELTS student has a quick look at the question and then immediately starts writing. In his or her mind they are practicing for the IELTS exam and so they need to finish as quick as they possibly can! Sounds familiar right?!
So what happens when you do this? There are a range of common errors that result from this approach.
- You often run out of ideas or get stuck halfway through – ‘writer’s block’
- When you write you have to focus on the ideas, the grammar and the vocabulary as well as the writing style; all at the same time!
- The chances of repeating yourself is extremely high
- You misread the question
- A very general answer is written
- Your writing is not clear and ideas are partially or totally irrelevant
‘But how does planning save me time???’
I hear you say!
So let’s understand the value of planning first. So I’d like you to answer these questions.
If you already had ideas,
- could you write faster and would you have to stop and think less?
- Would you make fewer mistakes?
- Would you decrease the time you spent rereading and changing what you have already written?
- would you be less likely to get confused?
Clearly, the answer to each of those questions is ‘yes’.
However, it is true that planning in the exam will take up some of the time, correct? But in reality, when you apply the techniques I am about to show you below after some practice you will find the time it takes to actually write the essay really decreases.
The worst case scenario for students that don’t plan is that they have to completely start the essay again – often they are not happy with what they wrote ‘off the top of their head’, or they realize that what they wrote doesn’t really answer the question. It can be very frustrating.
The hard truth is this: even IELTS examiners, teachers and native speakers think and plan before they start writing any piece of writing but especially an academic essay.
Thinking Of Ideas For Writing Task 2 IELTS Test. Click on the title.
Finding time in the IELTS Writing exam
IELTS recommends that you spend 40 minutes on writing the Task 2 essay and in that time you have to write 250 words.
So let’s take 10 minutes to plan and 5 minutes to check your work at the end. What you find is that you still have 25 minutes to write your essay.
On average a Task 2 essay is around 12 sentences long, which means that with a good plan, one sentence will take about 2 minutes to complete, so no matter what type of writer you are, I’m sure everyone can find the time to do that.
The good thing about having a solid plan is that you know exactly what you want to say and therefore what your sentence will be about. This gives you clarity and limits any doubt or confusion on how it should flow into the rest of the essay. That’s less time thinking about ideas while you writing and more time focusing on writing your ideas in the best way you can.
Question Analysis “IELTS Writing test”
Have you ever ordered something from a restaurant, but when it came it was the wrong order? The waiter mixed up the order. I imagine you weren’t best pleased! Well the same happens when you don’t understand the question properly in Task 2 – you don’t give the examiner what he wants and your score suffers as a result, it’s the biggest reason why strong writers end up doing so badly in the exam. You could say it’s the most important stage – if you get it wrong the rest of your essay will be irrelevant.
So first you need to find out what the actual question is, ask yourself what the question is asking you to do. From there you can conclude what type of essay you can write according to the question. Then you must make sure you understand which topic you should write about, here you can look for the keywords which indicate which topic the question is about. Next you need to double check that any specific aspects of the topic have been mentioned.
So here are the questions you need to ask yourself to help you in your analysis:
Ask yourself:
– What is this question asking me to do?
– What type of essay do I need to write?
– What is the topic?
– Are there any specific aspects of the topic mentioned?
Let’s see how this works using a real question:
‘Some educationalists think that international exchange visits benefit students at school. To what extent do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?’
Ask yourself what is this question asking me to do?
-To write about the advantages and the disadvantages of international exchange visits
What type of essay do I need to write?
-You must write on both the advantages and the disadvantages. If you fail to write on both sides you will answer the question in the wrong way and obviously lose marks.
What is the topic?
-the benefits of international exchange visits. We cannot write about the benefits of schools in general or school trips or visits in general.
Are there any specific aspects of the topic mentioned?
-international – meaning schools from different countries and not national – schools from the same country.
-exchange – meaning students from one school swap places with students from another school.
-international exchange visits.
Producing Quality Ideas
Idea generation is one of the most challenging aspects of writing, and there are lots of different methods that are taught out there, everyone having their own take on what to do.
By the most effective approach is the idea of targeted brainstorming. Brainstorming should not just be thinking of ideas around a topic, it must be ‘targeted’, meaning that it produces ideas that are directly related to the question.
In order to do this you need to understand the question and then break down the arguments into their different parts. Then you are ready to start thinking of relevant ideas.
So let’s take the example we used earlier:
‘Some educationalists think that international exchange visits benefit students at school. To what extent do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?’
There are often two side to the argument in Task 2 questions. Here they give you one side: international exchange visits benefit students at school, and we need to think of the other side. Simply put the given argument, international exchange visits benefit students at school, into the negative case: international exchange visits do not benefit students at school. Place these in two columns and now you are ready to start generating ideas. In this case we need to use the question how? How do international exchange visits benefit students at school? And then why international exchange visits do not benefit students at school?
So using the keywords for the topic: the international aspect gives us something to use to think about: students travel so they…..experience other cultures.
For the disadvantages, what does the international travel aspect cost in terms of money? It will most likely be expensive.
So which is the stronger argument? Weigh up which argument you think is a stronger. In this case it is dependent on the financial position of the student’s family, if they have enough money then a trip on an international exchange would be very beneficial for his or her experience of other cultures and their lives. A student from a poorer family would deprive their family of money for essentials if he or she was to travel and therefore it wouldn’t beneficial.
Vocabulary
One of the most common issues students have is using the same words over and over again which of course lowers our score because unfortunately, it gives the impression to the examiner that we don’t have a big range of vocabulary. The best way to deal with this is to identify the words that we think we are likely to use a lot, particularly those from the question, and then think of alternatives for them.
Next Steps
If you want to improve your essay writing, it’s important to set aside some time to plan. That way, you’ll know exactly what you’re trying to say in each sentence and every word will have a purpose. And remember, the examiner wants you to do this!
Taking advice from experts like us here at IELTS Accelerator and then practicing it is great for improving your essay writing. Next time you work on a Task 2 essay, try using my advice and I guarantee that your writing will get better.
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