The IELTS Writing Task 2 is an essay question. You will be asked to read a passage and answer a question about it, giving reasons and/or examples to support your claim.
You normally have 40 minutes to complete your essay. Time will soon go so it is important to be prepared in order to use the time effectively.
The key to getting a Band 8 for IELTS Essays is to understand the task and what the examiners are looking for in a good answer.
The following tips will help you to do that.
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First of all it is helpful to know the criteria that the examiners use.
They use four criteria for marking the IELTS task 2 writing test. Each criteria is worth 25% of the total marks for task 2. Before criteria are:
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- Coherence and cohesion
- Grammatical range and accuracy
- Task Response
- Lexical Resource
Coherence and cohesion
This includes how well your essay is organised, the number of paragraphs and how well you link them together.
You will get a good score if you do the following:
- have a total of five paragraphs as follows:
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- opening paragraph
- three body paragraphs
- concluding paragraph.
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- use one topic for each paragraph,
- organise your thoughts in a logical manner,
- link them together using different linking words
- avoid mistakes in your linking words.
Grammatical range and accuracy
This is about sentence structure, avoiding mistakes and the correct use of Grammar and tenses.
To get a high band score do the following:
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- use a variety of sentence structures.
- Avoid mistakes in your punctuation and grammar,
- use the correct word order in sentences.
Common mistakes to avoid in this section are word order, articles and plural nouns.
Task Response
This is about how you develop your ideas to answer the question. To get a high band score do the following:
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- use main points and supporting points to structure your answer,
- answer all the issues raised in the question,
- stay on topic,
- right more than 250 words.
Lexical resource
This is about your vocabulary, paraphrasing, spelling and the number of mistakes you make.
To get a high band score do the following:
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- spell words correctly,
- use a variety of words that are relevant to the topic,
- when using collocations ensure that you use the correct noun with the verb,
- avoid errors (they can lower your score),
- do not use informal language.
Your essay will be marked on each of these four criteria and then the average of the four is calculated for your final band score.
2. Write The Essay First
You have one hour to complete Tasks 1 and 2 of the writing section. Task 2 carries the most marks so it is good organisation of your time to complete the essay first to ensure that you finish it on time. Allocate 40 minutes or less to Task 2 and 20 minutes to Task 1.
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Write in a Natural Manner.
It is better to keep your language simple with few mistakes than try to impress the examiner with complicated vocabulary. Use language that is natural to you and you will make less mistakes.
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Read it After You’ve Written it.
Read it to check that it does sound natural and to spot mistakes. Also, check for repetitions. For example, if you have used “very” several times then change it to “extremely.” “Nice” and “good” are also words that are used a lot. Look for alternatives.
Follow those four guidelines and you will achieve a Band 8 for IELTS Essays in Writing Task 2. If you would like to have more coaching for the IELTS exam then check out our one-to-one online lessons.
When it comes to Task Response, one of the suggestions for a high band score is to stay on topic. Well, I see this contradicting one of the opening paragraph, which states that you have to back your answers with examples. So, does it mean that citing an example that is outside the topic but still relevant to the question is punishable?
Ethan, it’s important to stay on topic. Each of your paragraphs should form a structure which flows smoothly.
The third part of the Essay writing got my attention since I always thought that one of the ways to impress the examiners for a high band score is through the use of high vocabularies, at least to show how proficient you are in the use of English language.
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