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Wednesday, April 04, 2012

IELTS Writing Task 2: question types

Here are the four types of question from last week's lesson:

1. Opinion

2. Discussion + opinion3. Problem + solution4. 2-part question

Important points to remember:

1. An 'opinion' question asks for your view, not the views of other people, and you don't have to giveboth sides of the argument. Just make your opinion clear in the introduction, then explain it in the rest ofthe essay.

2. A 'discussion' question requires you to write about both sides of the argument, and you should write asimilar amount for each view. If the question also asks for your opinion, you don't need an extra

paragraph. Just make it clear in the introduction and conclusion which of the two views you agree with.3. Type 3 is easy. Simply write a paragraph explaining the problem(s) and a paragraph explaining the

solution(s). Some questions ask about 'causes' or 'effects': these would be part of the 'problem'paragraph.

4. For type 4, just answer the two questions. Write one paragraph about each.

Posted by Simon in IELTS Writing Task 2 | Permalink

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hi simon

i took my test recently.my tutor in an ILETS centre give us the stracture for introductionwriting 2 as follow:

there is an ongoing dabate over the issue of

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(the paraphrase).the focuse of the essay is to examine the adventages and disadvantages of (paraphrase).onbalance,i content that (your opinion).i wrote the task the same way and i got 6 in writing .Do you think there

is something wrong in this intro becus i used very good topic related words from your ebook.if posible answer me back please.

thanks in advence

Posted by: sabah | Wednesday, April 04, 2012 at 16:57

Hi Simon,

I really appreciate your teaching. I have read a topic essay in Cambridge book that I dont know which type it

belongs to:

"Do you believe that experimentation on animals for scientific purposes is justified? Are there any alternativesto animal experimentation?"

I think it can be type 3 or 4. Could you help me to classify this?

Thanks.

Posted by: Hung | Wednesday, April 04, 2012 at 17:37

Hi, Simon,

I hope I am not posting some repetitive questions asked before...I already went through all your lessons,ebook, and just a few comments, but I still have some queries related to Writing Task2 as below:

1) How to fully understand “address all parts of the question”? Apart from some relatively simple rules like

discussing both views or there are clearly two parts of questions you need to answer...Are there some'defined' principles to select the correct ones from all ideas cropping up in your minds?

2)Is there a list of right/relevant ideas 'designed' by IELTS people for examiners holding in hands tomatch/tick the right ideas while marking essays, rather than based on their own understanding for any

particular question?

3) Will candidates really get a penalty or minus marks if they write irrelevant ideas/points? How to define this"irrelevance", I mean some points could have indirect relationship with the issues being discussed.(e.g. income

inequality may cause anti-social behaviour because people can feel resentful...but some tutors says there is

irrelevant idea...)

4) Is Task Response(TR) for writing the weakest area for most candidates per your experience when you

worked as an examiner

Sorry to post up so many questions here, mainly for TR criterion which I was told by my private teacher thatTR is the biggest weakness for me and for most Asian candidates need to overcome to get a high score(band

7 or above)...

Posted by: cherrychen | Thursday, April 05, 2012 at 18:34

Hi Sabah,

As you probably know, I try to avoid memorised phrases like those you mentioned. However, they won't

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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really lower your score.

It's impossible for me to explain why you are not getting a higher score. My advice is to get someone tocheck your essays and give you some feedback about what you are doing wrong.

...

Hi Hung,

I'd say it's a type 4.

...

Hi Cherrychen,

1. “address all parts of the question” only refers to the simple rules you mentioned. There are no other defined

principles.

2. No, there isn't a list. Examiners use their own judgement.

3. Irrelevant means completely unrelated to the topic, or not logically connected to the rest of your argument.

If you provide a good explanation of why something is relevant or indirectly relevant, it's fine.

4. Not really. I saw a huge variety of strengths and weaknesses. However, I agree that TR is the basis of a

good essay, so it's really important.

Posted by: Simon | Thursday, April 05, 2012 at 20:58

Hi Simon,

I tried to post it before, but I had some problems. I hope I don't repeat!

Firstly, this website is really helpful, thank you!I have one question. What do you think about such a structure for essey - giving opinion.

1. introduction

2. supporting paragraph3. refutation (opposite argument and refutation it)

4. conclusion

Posted by: Justyna | Thursday, April 05, 2012 at 22:03

Hi, Simon,

Thank you very much for your kindly reply.

Referred to the Question 2, just want to further confirm whether candidates will get a penalty/minus mark if

we really write some irrelevant ideas/points?

If yes, then comparing with the problem of under word limit, which problem is more serious? E.g. essay A-230 words, essay B-250 words, they are almost the same in the 230 words’ part, but essay B’s extra 20

words are regarded as irrelevant, so which essay will get lower mark?

Posted by: cherrychen | Friday, April 06, 2012 at 13:15

Hi, Simon,

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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That should be the Question 3 above...

Posted by: cherrychen | Friday, April 06, 2012 at 13:22

Hi Cherrychen,

You don't really get penalties or minus marks (unless you write less than 250 words). Irrelevant points don't

cause you to lose marks that you have already gained - they just stop you from gaining more marks.

Posted by: Simon | Friday, April 06, 2012 at 17:03

Hi, simon,

Ok, I got it..

Thanks again for your great help!~

Posted by: cherrychen | Saturday, April 07, 2012 at 08:43

I need some ideas for this topic. Please help me out.

In some countries old age is highly valued, while in others youth is emphasized. Which viewpoint do youagree with?

Posted by: vera | Saturday, April 07, 2012 at 09:06

Hello Simon,

I have a really important question.My Ielts Exam is next week and i am very confused about one thing.In

many books and on a lot of sites i 've found different approaches of Writing Task 2 for this particular

question(To what extent do you agree or disagree?) As you said i understand that for an opinion essay youought to state your opinion in introduction and than sustain it by examples...However,on the courses provided

by british council i have a lesson in which i learned that there are actually two approaches for this kind of task

:that you have mentioned and the other one where you do not state your opinion in introduction and you have

to add one argument + counter-argument per every paragraph and finally in conclusion you must say whichargument do you agree with.What is more, you can use expressions like(it is sometimes claimed,on the other

hand it is also said and so on.)Please tell me if this one is a right one too.Hope you can answer as soon as

possible!!!

Posted by: Florin | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 15:22

Forgot to mention that an introduction for such an approach looks like: Topic+ there are people in favour andopposants...

Posted by: Florin | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 15:42

Hi Florin,

In my opinion, it's really important to give your opinion in the introduction for "do you agree or disagree?"

questions.

Posted by: Simon | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 16:41

ok thank you very much for your response.That part with argument+counter-argument/paragraph is good?

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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Posted by: Florin | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 16:44

Hi Florin,

I never use that format. For "do you agree or disagree?" questions, you will get a higher score if you state

your opinion clearly, and then support it in the rest of the essay. Counter-arguments that don't support your

opinion are not relevant. Use the "counter-argument" idea if the question asks you to discuss both views.

Posted by: Simon | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 16:48

ok thanks a lot !

Posted by: Florin | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 16:51

Hi Simon, could you please explain the effect of writing less than 250 word in task 2 ?? For example, if

someone wrote just about 190 word with a brilliant grammar, vocabulary and structure. How does that affect

on his grade? and what do you think he will get ??

Regards,,

Posted by: memo | Monday, April 09, 2012 at 21:42

Hi Memo,

You won't lose any grammar, vocabulary or coherence marks, but you will automatically lose points for "task

response".

Posted by: Simon | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 11:48

hello simon please help me in this writing urgent

the question is what are the effects of distance communication today on family relationships???

please give me resource or anything to make wrinting in this topic

thank you simon for best website to help people

good bye

Posted by: attou | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 16:35

please simon help me in my question i know that you can not answer all question but please only this i want.

this my question?

what are the effects of distance communication today on family relationships???

Posted by: attou | Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 16:56

Thanks Simon for answering me, I have another question, could you please answer it!! here is it:

In task 2,if the question was about my opinion,how can I make it 4 paragraph as my opinion will take 1

paragraph ??

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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intro+ main body (my opinion) + conclusion= 3 !!

regards

god bless you :)

Posted by: memo | Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 01:55

hello

please any person can help me in my writing

the topic is what are the effects of distance communication today on family relationships???

please help me in this topic or give me resource to take some information about this

good bye

Posted by: attou | Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 09:02

Hi Simon,

Initially,it is a very good website to get the efective ideas for improve english as well as for ielts. However, i

have a big problem to start my essay like a phobia to do that. planning is not effective for me. pls tell me what

can i do? i will wait for your response.

Thanks

Posted by: Payal | Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 09:34

Personally I find question tpye 4 baffling sometimes.This is because the 2 questions stated may overlap in the

content.For example,consider the following task:

"Ambition affects people's success.How important is ambition? Is it a positive or negative quality?"

Posted by: Brian | Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 08:56

hello simon\

please answer me in mu question

thank you for the best help website

good bye

Posted by: attou | Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 12:52

Simon,please help me with this question:"Ambition affects people's success.How important is ambition? Is it apositive or negative quality?"

How can I handle such a 2-part question without repeating the ideas of question 1 in the paragraph which

answers question 2?

Thanks

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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Posted by: Brian | Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 13:31

Hi Simon,It's my luck to find out your website as I find your instruction very useful. However, I have one question to

ask for this lesson. Can I classify all kinds of essay question into 3 groups? Argument-led essay, thesis-led

essay and problem-solution essay ? When grouping them in this way, I have, as in your order, 1 (opinion:

thesis-led essay: one side argument), 3 + 4 (argument-led essay: 2 sides ) and problem-solution.

Does it cover all types of IELTS essay questions?

Thanks and regards,

Feng

Posted by: Feng | Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 15:04

Hi Attou.

I'll try to help because I guess Simon is busy.

I think you could write one paragraph about the positive effects of technology on distance communication(email, Skype etc. allow us to stay in contact). The other paragraph could be about the negatives of distance

communication (it's never as good as face-to-face, we need real contact, we still feel lonely, it affects

relationships...)

These are just my ideas.

Posted by: Marc | Friday, April 13, 2012 at 11:41

Hi dear Simon

I appreciated to let me know in first type of questions(opinion)az you told 'you don't have to give both sides

of the argument ' ,does it mean if I devide this subject to two views like an argument and then I express my

view(some of the people hold the opinion...In contrast,others think),it makes my structure wrong?

I know how many times this question have been asked but actually this subject is so controversial due to I

found various views which make me confused! really thanks for your help

Posted by: faezeh | Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 16:00

Hello Simon,

Please answer for me the following question if you have any free time:How difficult is to obtain a band 5,5 in

speaking module ?

All best!

Posted by: Xpand | Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 17:18

Dear Simon I would like you help me only with your opinion. Because I had a teacher who told me that it is

not correct to put my opinion in the introduction, but I read in your site that it'simportant to add it in the

introduction, So now I'am practising with your advise. This is the topic:

Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth among poorer nations by providing such things as

food and education? Or is it the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to look after their citizens

themselves?

It is true that nowadays economic crisis is affected more to developing countries. For that reason, some

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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people believe that richest nations should help the poorest with alimentation and education. However, In my

opinion, leaders of each country have to solve their needs independently.

Is right the introduction?

Posted by: Grace | Wednesday, May 16, 2012 at 22:28

Hi Simone,

I have a question about the second type of question-- discuss both and give own opinion.

You adviced to spend similar amount of words in discussing both sides and state our own opinion in the intro

and conclusion. But do I need to say why I agree one or both of them? if so, where should I put it?

Hope you can reply on time since I am having the test in three days.

Thanks!

Posted by: Ariel | Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 10:23

Hi Ariel,

It's probably even better to put your opinion in 3 places, like I did in the essay in this lesson:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/04/ielts-writing-task-2-sample-discussion-essay.html

Posted by: Simon | Wednesday, August 29, 2012 at 18:08

Hi Simon,

Thanks so much for your answer and sample essay! I went through all your blog postings about writing 2 and

it blows my mind and now I have a new perspect about Ielts writing!

I would also like to ask that in the discussion & opinion question do I need to write more points in describing

one side than the other one to show that I am leaning to agree on that one? Or I have to write same amount

of points on both sides?

Posted by: Ariel | Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 09:51

Hi Ariel,

I usually write about the same amount for both sides. I think you'll get a better score if you can do that.

Posted by: Simon | Friday, August 31, 2012 at 09:26

Hi ,

Can you help me out with the type of essay

I am really confused about the following type of essay

"Should wealthy nations be required to share their wealth among poorer nations by providing such things as

food and education? Or is it the responsibility of the governments of poorer nations to look after their citizens

themselves?"

This seems to be a discussion essay to me but some of my friends say it is an argumentative essay .. i am

3/14/13 IELTS Writing Task 2: question types - ielts-simon.com

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really confused

can you please help out with it

B) do we have to clear out our stand about a topic in introduction of an essay in case of discussion essays ??

Thanks in advance

Posted by: raghav | Wednesday, October 03, 2012 at 17:10

Hey Simon! Just a simple question about task 2 Writing.

Is the ending question "explain your view about the matter?" and "give your opinion on the matter" means the

same?

Posted by: summer | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 07:10

Yes, that's the same thing Summer.

Posted by: Simon | Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at 11:26

Thanks a lot Simon! Your website is such an immense help! Great job!

Posted by: summer | Friday, November 23, 2012 at 05:25

Dear Sir,

I get 6 IELTS score, I have to take the test again next 14th Feb,, how can I improve my writing in task 2??

Posted by: Fatima Kunna | Wednesday, February 06, 2013 at 22:52

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