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Making a Plan

Remember: Never start writing your essay without a plan!

Time: Take about 3-5 minutes to plan your essay.

IELTS Writing There are several steps to making a plan:

Task 2 1.
2.
Read the question carefully
Pick out the key words
Making a Plan 3. Brainstorm ideas and decide your opinion
4. Choose your best ideas
5. Decide on your structure (BP1 = ?)
6. Start writing

Let’s look at each step.

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Making a Plan Making a Plan

Step 1: Read the question carefully Question: International tourism has brought enormous
benefit to many places. At the same time, there is concern
Make sure you know what type of question it is (opinion, about its impact on local inhabitants and the
discussion, two part?) environment. Do the disadvantages of international
If you see new words, try to guess from the context what tourism outweigh the advantages?
they mean.
What are the key words here?
Step 2: Pick out the key words
Key Words:
Each question has several key words. • International tourism
If we miss them, we don’t answer the question properly. • Local inhabitants
Let’s look at an example. • Environment
• Impact
• Benefit

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Making a Plan Making a Plan

Step 3: Brainstorm ideas and decide your opinion Possible Ideas:

Poorer Children:
Brainstorm = think of as many ideas as possible. • Use money better
Note: Your opinion in your essay doesn’t have to be the • Have more self-discipline & determination
same as your opinion in real life. • Work harder
Choose the opinion that is easiest for you to show your • Mentally prepared for difficulties
best English writing skills. • Understand life deeper

Think of as many ideas as possible for this question: Richer Children:

Question: Children who are brought up in families that do • More contacts, help to solve problems
not have large amounts of money are better prepared to • Higher level education
deal with the problems of adult life than children brought • Higher ceiling of ambition from parental example
up by wealthy parents. To what extent do you agree or
disagree with this opinion? Opinion: Partially agree

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Making a Plan Making a Plan

Step 4: Choose your best ideas Step 5: Decide on your structure

Questions to consider: Which idea should go in which body paragraph?

Which ideas are easiest to write about?
Which ideas can I show my best English? BP1: Poorer children strength
Which ideas clearly support my opinion?
BP2: Richer children strength
Best ideas:
• Poorer children have more self-discipline &
determination
• Richer children have higher ceiling of ambition from
parental example

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Thank You