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IELTS Writing Task 2: plan, write and revise
Turn a question into a clear argument, then check the work that supports it.
A useful essay starts with a decision: what exactly must this answer explain, and what position will it defend? This guide takes one original discussion question from a short plan to a complete response. Use it to practise developing an argument that a reader can follow.
Try making your own plan before reading the example. The timetable and paragraph pattern are FocusED practice suggestions, not compulsory IELTS rules. The model is illustrative and unscored; it has not been awarded an examiner band. Reading or copying it cannot predict your result.
Know what the task asks for
For IELTS Academic Writing Task 2, write at least 250 words and allow about 40 minutes within the 60-minute Writing test. Task 2 has twice the weight of Task 1. Submit full, connected sentences, with relevant support for your argument. These format facts come from the official IELTS Academic Writing guide.
IELTS uses four equally weighted criteria for each task. Use these practical questions to review your work, alongside the official assessment criteria (PDF) and IELTS assessment explanations:
- Task response
- Answer every instruction. Make your position clear, develop relevant reasons and support them with an explanation or example.
- Coherence and cohesion
- Give each paragraph a purpose. Arrange ideas so that the reader can follow the reasoning and identify what reference words refer to.
- Lexical resource
- Choose accurate, appropriate words. A familiar word used precisely is more useful than an impressive word used with the wrong meaning.
- Grammatical range and accuracy
- Use sentence structures that express your meaning clearly. Check agreement, articles, punctuation and the boundaries between complete sentences.
A workable 40-minute routine
Practise this allocation, then adjust it after reviewing your own timed attempts. Planning should help you make decisions quickly enough to leave time for writing and checking.
0–3 minutes
Read the whole instruction
Mark the topic, the people concerned and every question or command. Distinguish “discuss both views” from “to what extent do you agree?” A discussion needs an explanation of each view; an opinion question needs your judgment. Stay within the named issue rather than writing everything you know about education.
3–6 minutes
Choose a position and two useful reasons
Write one plain sentence stating your answer. Add a qualification if it matters: when would your proposal work, and what must be protected? Choose reasons you can explain. Reject an interesting idea if you cannot connect it to the question or support it without inventing research.
6–8 minutes
Map the paragraphs
Give each main paragraph a claim, a reason why it matters and one concrete illustration. Check that both views and your opinion have a place. These notes can be fragments; your submitted essay must be connected prose. The four-paragraph example below is one workable arrangement, not a required template.
8–33 minutes
Write the argument
Introduce the issue briefly and state your position. Develop the planned reasons instead of adding a list of new ones. After an example, explain what it demonstrates. Use linking words only when they express the actual relationship. Finish by drawing together the judgment you have already supported.
33–40 minutes
Revise in two passes
First check task coverage, paragraph logic and consistency of opinion. Then check recurring language errors and unclear references. Correct a broken sentence before replacing a simple word with a difficult synonym. Check that you have met the minimum length; do not use the final minutes to attach an unrelated paragraph.
An original prompt and worked plan
Some people think secondary schools should set aside part of each week for students to work on projects that benefit their local community. Others believe this time should be used for academic lessons. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Write at least 250 words. Try planning before reading on.
- Scope
- Secondary-school teaching time. Compare community projects with academic lessons; do not drift into whether adults should volunteer.
- Position
- Support a small, supervised allocation for projects that apply classroom knowledge, while protecting essential subject teaching.
- Introduction
- Paraphrase the choice and state that qualified position. Avoid a general history of education.
- Body paragraph 1
- Explain why academic time matters: pupils need foundations and supported practice. Illustrate with a learner who needs help understanding fractions. Acknowledge that replacing too many lessons would be harmful.
- Body paragraph 2
- Explain how a well-designed project can apply learning. Use a class investigating safer walking routes: collect information, interpret it and write a proposal. Set limits on time and supervision.
- Conclusion
- Weigh the benefits: keep community work limited and connected to lessons. Preserve the condition about protecting core learning; introduce no new reason.
A complete illustrative response
300 words · Original teaching example · Unscored
Secondary schools must use a limited timetable to prepare young people for further study and everyday life. Some people therefore favour community projects during the school week, while others want that time reserved for academic subjects. I support a small amount of supervised community work, provided that it reinforces classroom learning and does not displace essential teaching.
Those who prioritise academic lessons have a strong argument. Pupils need secure knowledge of subjects such as mathematics and languages before they can use it independently. Classroom time also gives teachers opportunities to identify misunderstandings and offer help. For example, a pupil who struggles with fractions may need several guided exercises before being ready to apply the concept elsewhere. If a school repeatedly replaces these lessons with loosely organised activities, that pupil may fall further behind. Community participation alone cannot provide every learner with this necessary subject support.
Nevertheless, carefully planned projects can give academic work a practical purpose. A class could investigate safer walking routes near its school, compare information collected through a simple survey and prepare a proposal for local officials. Such a project would require pupils to interpret data, explain their choices and write for a real audience. It could also show them why listening to people affected by a decision matters. In my view, this is a worthwhile use of a short weekly session when teachers connect the activities to current lessons. Schools should limit the time involved, provide supervision and avoid projects that mainly occupy pupils without a clear learning goal.
Overall, academic teaching deserves protected time because it provides foundations that students cannot be expected to acquire through community activity alone. However, a modest, well-designed project can help them apply those foundations. Schools should therefore combine the two approaches, with community work supporting a strong academic programme.
Read the choices behind the writing
These notes explain decisions in this example. They are teaching observations, not an examiner report or a band prediction.
- Opening: a visible position
- The final sentence supports community work subject to two conditions. That gives the essay a judgment to defend. The opening names the actual timetable choice instead of beginning with a memorised statement about modern society.
- First main paragraph: explain the opposing view
- The paragraph takes academic learning seriously before presenting the preferred approach. The fractions example shows why pupils may need teacher support; it does more than announce that academic subjects are important. No invented survey or percentage is needed.
- Second main paragraph: show how the benefit works
- The walking-route project connects a specific activity to data interpretation and writing. The conditional recommendation then limits time and requires a learning goal. This answers the academic-time objection rather than assuming all community activities automatically teach useful skills.
- Conclusion: preserve the qualification
- The closing paragraph repeats the balance already developed: protect foundations and use projects to apply them. A different position or an additional argument here would leave the reader uncertain about what the essay actually supports.
Common mistakes to repair
- Discussing only your preferred view
- Give the other view a reasoned explanation before weighing it. Merely mentioning that some people disagree does not explain their argument.
- Adding examples without explaining them
- After describing a project, identify the skill it practises and why that benefit matters to the school-timetable decision. Make the connection explicit.
- Replacing reasoning with impressive vocabulary
- “Academic lessons facilitate everything” is vague. “Guided practice helps teachers identify misunderstandings” states a clearer mechanism with ordinary, accurate words.
- Using absolute claims you cannot defend
- “All pupils learn better outside school” overreaches. Say which pupils, activities or conditions your reason concerns, and acknowledge a relevant limitation.
- Inventing research to sound persuasive
- Use a clearly hypothetical example, as the model does, or relevant experience. Do not attribute a made-up statistic to a university or research organisation.
Your final revision checklist
- Coverage: underline where you explain each view and where you give your own judgment. If a requirement has no answer, repair that gap first.
- Development: find a reason and supporting explanation in each main paragraph. Cut a sentence that introduces a new point without developing it.
- Consistency: compare your introduction with your conclusion. Keep the same position and any important conditions throughout.
- References: circle words such as “this”, “they” and “it”. Replace an unclear reference with the specific idea or group you mean.
- Language: check your frequent errors, especially subject–verb agreement, articles, plurals and sentences joined with only a comma.
- Length and presentation: check the 250-word minimum and keep the final response in full paragraphs. The planning notes above are not an essay format.
For your next attempt, write from your own plan with the model closed. Compare the structure afterwards and choose one recurring weakness to practise. Ask a qualified teacher for feedback on a complete timed response when you need an informed assessment.