One of the most important parts of the IELTS Writing Task 2 Exam is a clear, comprehensive introduction that provides a thorough summary of the topic and yes although it’s normally brief, in an IELTS essay the introduction is really important if you want to improve your score in IELTS writing task 2, especially when you are targeting a Band 7 or higher.
In fact, like in other areas of the exam, it is the first thing that the examiner will see, and therefore it is the first impression that you are giving of your writing skills. It is then very important that you create a strong introduction since the first judgment the examiner will make about your writing will be in the introduction. Enjoy reading the free tips below and to further develop your skills be sure to sign up for our super value IELTS course, put together by examiners to help achieve the score that you deserve.
Typical student concepts of an introduction
If someone asked you what an introduction is, what would be your answer?
Many students have preconceived ideas about writing introductions and this is often a product of how they have been taught at school, what they have read about them or what they have learned from different IELTS courses, teachers, or websites.
For example students at the Band 6/7 level will simply say “well it’s the bit where you tell the reader what you are going to say in the essay” or “its when you introduce the topic” or ” it’s where you should give the background to the topic”. All of which are correct by the way!
IELTS exam score is evaluated on a scale of 0 to 9. You will be graded on your ability to read, write, speak, and listen. These points are then averaged to determine your overall score. Scores are always rounded to the nearest half-point.
Here we will explain what the various band scores represent and how to better understand your band score.
BUT this answer does not provide us with the sort of detail we need to be able to write an effective introduction in IELTS and in fact in many cases it actually adds to the problem of writing a good one. Why? Because in the student’s mind nothing is clear, so he or she will think about the topic in a general, roundabout way and as a result, often fall into typical errors. Have a look at these typical preconceived ideas and see if any of them apply to you and what you can do to change them!
What we need then is a better understanding of what an introduction is, a structure to follow, and a fast, flexible strategy.
What is an introduction?
It probably won’t come as a surprise to you but there are different ways to write introductions, some are more suitable for the IELTS exam and others are less suitable, so it’s not always that advice from IELTS experts is definitively either right or wrong.
An introduction performs several functions:
- Introduces the topic
- Gives background to the topic
- Tells the reader why we are writing about the topic
- Tells the reader what we are going to write about
Is there a specific introduction structure that I should follow?
As you may know there are specific task 2 essay structures that you should be using for your IELTS writing task 2 essay, if you don’t know about them you can read more about them here. On top of that, we recommend that you follow a structure for each individual part of the essay as well.
For the introduction there are 3 elements you can consider: the ‘background statement’, the ‘thesis statement’, and it is also possible to include an ‘outline’.
1. Background statement: This is where you will introduce the topic, and give some background and reflect the importance of the essay topic.
2. Thesis statement: Here you will simply reword the question.
3. Outline: This is where you can write what you are going to talk about in the rest of the essay. Try to avoid ‘In this essay, I will rather try a more indirect approach:
For more guidance and tips on writing an effective introduction, you can join our course.
Timing
Like in all parts of the IELTS exam timing is absolutely paramount, you can write as you much as you like but if you take too much time for a question or aspect of it, then while you might write something better or get that questions right, you will lose time in other areas, especially when other areas are worth more. The introduction is a good example of this.
As the prompt advises you, you should spend around 40 minutes on Task 2. Around 10 minutes of that should be preparing what you are going to actually talk about in the essay and the remaining 30 minutes should be you actually writing the essay according to your plan – see our other articles about how to plan your essay here, or sign up for our course here.
Typically many Band 6/7 students spend too much time on thinking about the best introduction they can produce and this of course means they have less time for the body and conclusion.
So the key is to not spend too much time writing your introduction, and so you need an effective strategy which enables you to to quickly produce a strong introduction and move on to the rest of the essay which is where you can really boost your score. Sign up for our IELTS course to learn our supercharged introduction strategy designed to cut down time and raise the examiner’s expectation of you and pump your band score.
How long should my introduction be?
Of course there is no actual rule as to how long your introduction should be, and there are some big names out there teaching long form introductions, in fact we have seen IELTS introductions taught 100+ words long! Yes that’s right you read it correctly – nearly half the recommended word count! One major IELTS test provider teaches such a strategy but as a guide, in an IELTS task 2 essay the approximate optimum length should be between 40-60 words. Anymore and you will be wasting valuable time and reducing the amount of words you will write in the rest of the essay.
Honestly speaking, because of the way IELTS writing tasks are marked, a really long introduction is unlikely to boost your score mainly due to the potential loss of quality and / or the impact this will have on your time and the development of the rest of the essay.
What sort of phrases should I use?
It is NEVER a good idea to memorize a specific set of sentences which you then try to ‘fit’ to the question by changing a word here and there. More often than not, this prevents you from answering the question properly, may lead to confusion later on in the essay and therefore in the vast majority of cases actually serves to prevent you from achieving a band 7 IELTS score in your writing task 2.
This approach is typically what you will see from a Band 6 and below.
Look at the examples question below and see how NOT to write the introduction:
“Mobiles phones have changed the way we communicate with other people. Discuss both these views and give your opinion”.
‘On one hand some people believe that mobile phones have their advantages and on the other hand other people believe that they have their disadvantages. In this essay I will talk about both the points of view and I will discuss my competent opinion for this little bit spread topic.
Paraphrasing
A paraphrase is a brief, simpler expression of the original that uses different words but conveys the same meaning as the original. It is a really important skill to have in general and is very useful when rephrasing the question in your thesis statement. You can paraphrase the question in your own words by changing the order of the words and using synonyms to ensure that you do not straight copy the question.
BUT be careful! If you copy the exact sentence from the question then these words will be removed from your word count and then you could possibly be in danger of not reaching the minimum word limit.
What’s next?
Be sure to read our other articles in our free resource blog and to sign up for our IELTS preparation course for in-depth video lectures, practice and feedback so that you can really boost your score!