IELTS – Intensive

WRITING TEST - FORMAT

1. How many tasks are there in the writing paper and what are they?

Task Academic Module General Module Word Count Time

(Minimum)
Task 1 150 words 20 mins

Task 2 250 words 40 mins

2. Which task would you do first? And why?

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WRITING TASK 2 - ESSAY

Types of Essays for Task 2

Opinion Essays Other Types of Essays

• Pure Opinion Essays
• Combination Essays (Other type of
Essay + Opinion)
• Advantages & Disadvantages
Essays
• Discussion Essays
• Problem & Solution Essays
• Direct question Essays

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3. Sort the questions in the box into the right column.

Opinion Advantages & Discussion Problem & Direct Combination

disadvantages Solution question

A. What is your opinion?

B. What are the advantages and disadvantages?
C. Discuss both sides
D. Why do you think it is and what are the solutions?
E. Do you agree or disagree?
F. Discuss both points of view and give your opinion
G. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
H. Do advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
I. What measures could be taken to prevent this?
J. What are the causes of this? How can this problem be solved?
K. Why is happiness difficult to define? How can people achieve this happiness?

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Writing Task 2 – Marking Criteria

Marking Criteria Explanation
Task Response your ability to answer the question properly
• Answer the actual question asked (i.e. don’t just write generally
about the topic).
• Answer all parts of the question.
• Clearly express your opinion and support it with well-developed
ideas and, ideally, examples.

Coherence & your ability to organise and present your ideas so that your essay is easy
to read and understand.
Cohesion
• Write an essay with clear ideas that are easy to understand.
• Organise ideas and information logically.
• Progress clearly from one idea to another.
• Use cohesive devices to link ideas, sentences and paragraphs.

Lexical Resource Lexical Resource means vocabulary so refers to the words and phrases you
use in your essay
• Use a wide range of vocabulary.
• Use it correctly and appropriately.
• Use topic specific vocabulary.

Grammatical Grammar refers to your ability to use a range of grammatical structures

Range & Accuracy and to use them accurately
• Use complex sentences
• Produce error-free sentences
• Use a good variety of appropriate sentence structures

Useful Links
A. More information on the marking criteria with sample answers analyzed:
https://www.ieltsjacky.com/ielts-writing-exam.html
B. Public Version of the Task 2 band descriptors: https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-
band-descriptors-task-2.ashx?la=en

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Writing Task 2 – Timing Structure

OPINION ESSAYS

IELTS opinion essays, also known as ‘agree or disagree’ essays, come up frequently in the writing
exam. The first part of the question for an IELTS opinion essay will be a statement. You will then
be asked to give your own opinion about the statement. Here is some typical wording that might
be used:
• What is your opinion?
• Do you agree or disagree?
• To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Combination (Other types of Essays + Opinion)

In addition, you may also get exposed to combinations essays where other types of essays like
problem and solution, advantages and disadvantages are combined with your opinion. The
structure that has to be followed is slightly different to pure opinion essay structure. Here is some
typical wording that might be used:
• Do advantages outweigh disadvantages?
• Discuss and give your opinion
• Why do you think that is and what are the solutions?

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Planning an Opinion Essay
1. Put the stages of planning in the right order from 1 - 10. (Home Study)

A. Decide your position – whether you agree or disagree with the statement.
B. Plan your paragraphs according to the given essay structure.
C. Underline the keywords
D. Check your answer properly using the given checklist.
E. Read the question carefully
F. Brainstorm ideas: Come up with 3 reasons for your position with examples to prove
them.
G. Identify the type of the question. Ex: Opinion, problem and solution etc.
H. Read the question after finishing each para to check whether you are on the right
track. Writing irrelevant ideas and examples will reduce your marks from Task
response marking criteria.
I. Start writing the essay and stick to the PEEL structure when writing the body
paragraphs.
J. Brainstorm some synonyms and paraphrases for the keywords underlined. This will
help you in varying the vocabulary throughout the essay.

2. Re-write the steps of planning below. (Home Study)

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3. Follow the steps and plan the opinion essay below.

Assignment 1 - (Upload to google drive): Opinion Essay 1

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Writestructure
Essay about the following topic:
Most artists earn low salaries and should therefore receive funding from the government in
order for them to continue with their work. Do you agree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Paragraph Structure for Opinion Essays

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation (optional)
- Paraphrase the question.
- Thesis statement/opinion

Body Para 1 - Point: Reason 1

- Explanation
- Evidence
- Link

Body Para 2 - Point: Reason 2

- Explanation
- Evidence
- Link

Conclusion - Opinion + Summary

- Recommendation (optional)

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4. Compare the two sample answers and find the differences. Then use the band descriptors
and assign a band score.
Sample Answer 1

In this scientific era, most people have lost interest in arts and as a result, artists are struggling
to make a living. Many people opine that they earn poor wages and, hence, should be financially
supported by the governing authority to continue their jobs. In my opinion, it would be mutually
benevolent if artists receive financial aid from the government and the reasons are analytically
presented in this essay.

To commence with, for many artistic content creators, art is their primary source of income and
inadequate earnings from it would force them to give up their pursuit of art or live a miserable
life. For example, even though my grandfather was a talented painter with immense creativity,
he and his family lived in poverty due to minimal earnings and eventually abstained from the
profession. Hence, a monthly stipend or government funded allowance to take care of their living
expenses would have allowed them stay committed to art.

Furthermore, art is an imperative to protect the cultural identity of a country which in turn would
boost the national income through tourism. Without art, many such cultures and impending
foreign income will disappear. India, for instance, could be considered a practical example of how
art as a prosaic part of their culture is used to attract travellers from all over the world. Thus, the
financial assistance for artists could benefit the country and equally protects its culture.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that artists need financial assistance to continue producing great
works of art as a part of their basic earnings. Not only that, but also it would conserve the cultural
heritage while garnering the foreign reserves of a nation. However, legitimate dissemination of
funds among the those who are in dire need of it should be ensured by the central planner.

(298 words)

How do you rate this essay? why?

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Sample Answer 2 (Home Study)

There is no doubt that these days, several societies are becoming more creative about artists to
make money from social media in that reason many professional artists are doing well in that
situation. The question is, most artists gain refused salaries and must hence obtain funding from
the government in request for them to continue with their business. In this essay I am going to
discuss my opinion.
In terms of the positive side, they are many artist who is bulid skill from Youtube and Instagram.
They are working everyday to develop these skillis, however, one of the painting recevie 1000$
dollars if he is make it correctly. The main reason given to support this claim is that it makes foucs
is more essential. as far as I know many people are doing that as mush as possible to areive his
dream. In other wors, nowadays the social media is the most powerful, as a result, it makes an
individual is more comfotable work especially in house that people are need it now.
Moreover, one thing that made this artistis are boring from what they are drawing it takes mush
more time to perform one panting. On the other hand, if something wrong of draw, it makes the
artistis more upset.
To sum up. althoght between these situations as I know artists these days is significant to our
societies which means major on worldwide. On the there hand one, error makes artitsts is not
good is take mush more time. Therefore, I believe that arts is one of the biggest main around the
world.
(264 words)

How do you rate this essay? why?

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Organizing paragraphs – Opinion Essay
In IELTS, it is very important to organize your paragraphs to get a good score in coherence and
cohesion marking criteria. We advise you follow the PEEL structure for it.
PEEL writing follows four simple steps; Point, Explain, Evidence, and Link. The PEEL structure is
used to make opinions and findings clear. Essays are pieces of persuasive writing and as such your
goal is to convince the reader of your academic opinion. In order to create something persuasive
it’s been recognised that the four steps of this writing style are a great way to bring readers
around to agree with you.
The PEEL structure slightly varies when it comes to essays that are not purely opinion based. The
trainer will explain you that when other types of essays are covered.
5. Below is an extracted body paragraph from a sample answer above. Match the sentence
colour with the parts of the PEEL structure.

A. Point:
B. Explanation:
C. Evidence:
D. Link:
On the one hand, for many artists, art is their primary source of income and inadequate
earnings from it, would force them to give up their pursuit of art or live a miserable life. For
example, even though my grandfather was a talented painter with great creativity, he and his
family lived in poverty due to minimal earnings. Hence, a monthly stipend or pension to take
care of their living expenses would have allowed them stay committed to art.

6. What are the cohesive devices used in the above paragraph and what effect does it have?

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Useful Links
1. More cohesive devices: https://www.ielts-mentor.com/49-ielts-vocabulary/vocabulary-for-
academic-ielts-writing-task-2/530-vocabulary-for-academic-ielts-writing-task-2-part-1
2. Coherence and cohesion marking criteria: IELTS Writing Coherence & Cohesion - YouTube
3. Task response marking criteria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSENKzdGYa0

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Writing Task 2 – Checklist

Use the checklist below to check your answers before submitting them on Edmodo and you can
also use this during the exam while checking the answers.

Criteria Yes Maybe No

Task response
Have I covered all the requirements of the task
sufficiently?
Word count is less than 275 words
Is my position clear throughout the response

Have I presented, extended, and supported main ideas

(PEEL)?
Coherence and cohesion
My answer has a clear progression throughout

Have I used cohesive devices appropriately?

Have I presented a clear central topic within each

paragraph?
Lexical Resource
Have I used less common and uncommon vocabulary
accurately?
Have I made any word choice, spelling, and / or word
formation related errors?

Have I used paraphrasing properly and varied the

vocabulary used throughout the task?

Grammatical Range and accuracy

Have I used complex grammar structures?

Have I minimized the grammar and punctuation errors?

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Further Practice: Discussion + Opinion Essay (Combination)

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
Planting trees is very important for the environment. Some people say trees should be planted
in the vacant areas of cities and towns, while other says housing facilities should be built
instead. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation (optional)

Body Para 1
(One side of the argument)
- Paraphrase the question.
- Thesis statement/ Opinion (balanced opinion if
necessary)
- Point 1: supporting one side of the argument
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: supporting one side of the argument
- Link

Body Para 2 - Point 1: supporting other side of the argument

(Other side of the argument) - Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: supporting other side of the argument
- Link

Conclusion - Opinion (balanced opinion if necessary) + Summary

- Recommendation (optional)

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Sample Answer: 7 – 7.5
An array of masses believe that trees need to be planted in spare spaces in urban areas because
they purify the polluted air while, others support building houses rather than planting trees
because it makes life more comfortable and convenient. However, in my opinion, they both are
significant and need to arrange in a balanced way.
To commence with, all living creatures need pure air to breath to stay healthy, planting trees
decline the pollution rate as trees act like filters that absorb all the harmful gases and keep the
environment clean. For instance, research proves that heat in cities can be better controlled by
having more trees which filter the sun's heat and offer shade as it ultimately lowers the
temperature. Moreover, trees offer urban wildlife a better environment to live in and lay a part
in the ecosystem a city. Hence, urban forestation can be beneficial due to number of reasons as
above.
On the other hand, constructing houses has several merits. Mainly, without more housing, a city
is unable to grow and develop which is essential in a world with an increasing population. For
example, it is observed that countries such as India opting for apartment projects or skyscrapers
as a solution for over population in urbanized areas. Further, shelter is a basic requirement for
life, but urban space is limited. Advantageously, by having more houses, there are more
opportunities for everyone to have access to their basic human needs.
To conclude there are several benefits to planting trees in vacant areas of cities like getting
exposed to purified air while housing facilities offer solutions to overpopulation in urban hubs.
Hence, it is recommended to implement eco-friendly housing projects so that the balance
between the two ends is maintained.
279 words

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 IELTS – Intensive
7. Follow the steps and plan the opinion essay below.

Assignment 2 – (In Class): Opinion Essay 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
Crime and Punishment: Some people think that women should not be allowed to work in the
police force. Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Paragraph Structure for Opinion Essays

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation (optional)

- Paraphrase the question.
- Thesis statement/opinion

Body Para 1 - Point: Reason 1

- Explanation
- Evidence
- Link

Body Para 2 - Point: Reason 2

- Explanation
- Evidence
- Link

Conclusion - Opinion + Summary

- Recommendation (optional)

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Assignment 3 – (upload to google drive): Problem & Solution Essay

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
Today, the quality of life in large cities is decreasing. Discuss the causes and solutions.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Paragraph Structure

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation

- Paraphrase the question.
- Thesis statement/opinion (if required)
Body Para 1 - Point 1: Problem 1
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Problem 2
- Link
Body Para 2 - Point 1: Solution 1
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Solution 2
- Link
Conclusion / Summary - Summary
- Opinion (if required)

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Cohesive Devices
https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/ielts_writing-_coherence_cohesion.pdf

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Further Practice: Advantage/Disadvantage Essay

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
With a growing population, many people believe that we should focus on producing more GM
food. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Paragraph Structure

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation

- Paraphrase the question.
- Closing statement
Body Para 1 - Point 1: Advantage 1
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Advantage 2
- Link
Body Para 2 - Point 1: Disadvantage 1
- Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Disadvantage 2
- Link
Conclusion / Summary - Summary
- Opinion (if required)

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Sample Answer: 7 – 7.5
In this modern era, a variety of food supplies are available at any instant. Due to increasing
population around the world, many people think that it must be more focused on genetically
modified (GM) food production. This essay will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of such
genetically engineered consumables.

To commence with, the major advantage is that it is a more nutritive compared to others food
components. Nowadays, most of the crops are grown with the excessive use of pesticides and
fertilizers which sometimes makes the crop poisonous. For instance, in present days, fertilizers
used in agriculture have large amount of chemical content that directly affect the food product.
In addition to that, this type of modified food has medical benefits and also reduce cause for food
protection. Accordingly, these possibilities make GM food more productive and advantageous.

On the flip hand, the foremost disadvantage is that it may cause allergic reactions in human body.
It states that genetic modifications add or mixes unwanted proteins that might result allergies in
some individuals. For example, there are people whose body reject certain kind of elements of
food which visible as bodily irritations. Therefore, the reform to food products might affect the
immune system of humans. Furthermore, it is also not safe to consume them because of the
possibility of new disease as a result of using different bacteria and viruses, thus, chemical
reactions inside the body may bring different sickness adding further reasons for the list of
negativities.

To conclude, genetically modified products have both pros and cons. The advantages are that it
is nutritious and reduced cost of food production while the disadvantages include the allergic
reaction in humans and the emergence of new diseases.

284 words

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Further Practice: Direct Question Essay + Opinion

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:
It is often quoted, “When in Rome, do as Romans do.” Is it right that when people visit a
different country, they should follow the culture of the country they visit? Do you think
culture can be accepted without learning the language?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or
experience.
Write at least 250 words.

Paragraph Structure

Introductory paragraph - Background/current situation

- Paraphrase the question.
- Thesis statement/opinion (if required)
Body Para 1 - Point 1: Reason 1
Answer to the first question - Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Reason 2
- Link
Body Para 2 - Point 1: Reason 1
Answer to the second question - Explanation
- Evidence
- Point 2: Reason 2
- Link
Conclusion / Summary - Summary
- Opinion (if required)
Some direct questions can include only one question and please adapt the above structure
accordingly in such situations.

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Sample Answer: 8.0 – 8.5
Cultural sensitivity is often considered to be crucial by some, when visiting a country. In my point
of view, I believe that accepting and adapting the mores of a host-state makes the journey far
more joyful as well as I am of the opinion that devoid of speech awareness is a great barrier to
explore the culture of the destination.
The main reason for accommodating themselves of the visitors to the customs and traditions of
any host country is that it provides a more enjoyable and deeper travel experience. In other
words, this may increase respect of locals for the individuals which, eventually, leads to more
interaction between them. Take the scientists who are planning to visit Africa with the aim of
exploration, for instance. They are prone to be more successful if they know and accept the
cultural identity of the indigenous people of that place according to a documentary named "Our
planet" by David Attenborough. Thus, a visitor with cultural knowledge of the spot they are going
tends to be in a rosy situation during their stay.
Although learning culture without knowing the local language is thought to be feasible by some,
I am of the view that one cannot dive into the civilization of the destination, being unaware of
the vernacular. For example, speaking in the mother tongue of the citizens makes talking to them
about their traditions, beliefs and history enable for a traveller. Consequently, by doing this, the
guest can gain deep insight into the values of the hosts. Furthermore, lacking communication
between the visitors and dwellers who are representatives of the culture of that nation causes
going astray of the cultural study. Hence, language is the key to learn any perception.
In conclusion, by accustoming to the lifestyle of locals, visitors stand a better chance to
experience more escapades, while learning the local dialect of the area stands them good stead
for discovering its cultural value. Therefore, language, as well as cultural awareness, is a must for
any humankind who is visiting a new country.

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