The 5 Task 2 Essay Types

Step-by-step instructions on how to plan & write high-level essays. Model

answers and common mistakes to avoid.

Opinion Essays

Advantages & Disadvantages Essays

Discussion Essays

Double Question Essays

Problem Solution Essays

How to Plan & Write

IELTS Opinion Essays
IELTS opinion essays, also known as ‘agree or disagree’ essays, come up
frequently in the writing exam. In this lesson, I’m going to show you how to
plan and write them step-by-step.
Here’s what we’ll be covering:

● 3 Common mistakes

● Essay structure

● How to plan

● How to write an introduction

● How to write main body paragraphs

● How to write a conclusion

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics.

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time
at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at
least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

The Question
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?

Here's a question from a past test paper.

A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.

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.

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and
writing an IELTS opinion essay.

3 Common Mistakes
These three errors are common in IELTS opinion essays.

● Not stating an opinion.

● Giving arguments for both views.

● Not supporting your opinion with clear reasons.

The most common mistake that students make is not giving an opinion. The
question will clearly state that you must choose one side of the argument. If
you fail to do this, you will get a low score for task achievement.

It doesn’t matter which side of the argument you take or even, that you agree
with it. Choose the one you can develop the best argument for.

Make sure that you don’t change your opinion part way through the essay,
and don’t give reasons for the opposing view.

Essay Structure
Now let’s look at a simple structure you can use to write opinion essays. It’s
not the only possible structure but it’s the one I recommend because it’s easy
to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and write a high-level essay.
1) Introduction

● Paraphrase the question

● Give your opinion ( do u agree or disagree)
● State two supporting reasons (1. What are the reasons make you
agree?)

2) Main body paragraph 1

● Topic sentence – outline 1st reason for supporting this view

● Explanation – explain this idea
● Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2

● Topic sentence – outline 2nd reason for supporting this view

● Explanation – explain this idea
● Example – give an example

4) Conclusion

● Summarise opinion and key reasons

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

We now need some ideas to add into the structure and we’ll have everything
we need for our essay.

How To Plan IELTS Opinion Essays

# 1 Decide on your opinion

The question I've chosen to work on is quite straightforward and easy to
understand so we don’t need to spend time analysing it. The first task, then, is
to decide on our opinion.
Here’s the question again:

A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.

Do you agree or disagree?

For this essay, I’m going to disagree with the statement and argue that job
satisfaction is more important than a big salary.

# 2 Generate ideas
The second task is to generate some ideas to write about.

Since I‘m going to argue that job satisfaction is more important than a large
salary, I need ideas to support this view.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on
the IELTS Essay Planning page.

With this particular question, I immediately thought of a couple of examples of

situations where job satisfaction did prove to be more important than a high
salary, so I’m going to use the ‘example method’ of generating ideas.

Once you’ve thought of an example or two, ideas to include in your essay

should come to you easily.

You might want to try this yourself before reading on for my ideas.

Here are my examples and some ideas they generated.

Both the examples are partly true but I've adapted them to better fit the essay.
It's fine to do this as the examiner won't check your facts.

Examples:

● Uncle Barry – boasted about high salary but hated his job. Nervous
breakdown – lost job & can’t work.

● Me – gave up teaching. Now enjoy my work and am much more relaxed

and happy even though I earn much less money.
Ideas:

● High-salary jobs are generally more stressful

● Stress leads to ill health, both mental and physical

● Money doesn’t bring happiness

● Better quality of life

● Sense of fulfilment

● Less stressed – healthier and happier

I’ve got more ideas here than I need so I’m going to pick two to develop in the
essay – one for each of the main body paragraphs.

Idea 1 – High-salary jobs are generally more stressful and can lead to ill
health.

Idea 2 – Job satisfaction gives a sense of fulfilment.

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS opinion essay but first, we have
one other small task to do.

# 3 Vocabulary
In an IELTS essay, it’s important to be able to say the same things in different
ways, either by paraphrasing and/or using synonyms. During the planning
stage, quickly jot down a few synonyms of key words you could use to save
you having to stop and think of the right language while you’re writing.
For example:

satisfaction – fulfilment, achievement, sense of accomplishment, content,

sense of well-being

salary – income, wages, pay, earnings

important – significant, valued, has more meaning

job – work, employment, position

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the
introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

A good introduction has a simple 3 part structure:

1) Paraphrased question

2) Thesis statement

3) Outline statement

An introduction should:

● Have 2-3 sentences

● Be 40-60 words long

● Take 5 minutes to write

1) Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.
 Question: A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.

Do you agree or disagree?

Paraphrased question:

It is argued that earning lots of money has more significance to people

than being content in their work.

Note that I’ve used some of the synonyms I listed, although it’s fine to repeat
one or two words if you need to. Above all, your language must sound natural.

2) Thesis statement
In IELTS opinion essays, the thesis statement is where you state your opinion.
For example,

Thesis statement:

This essay totally disagrees with that statement.

That’s all you need to say.

If you decided to agree with the statement, you would write:

'This essay completely agrees with that statement.'

3) Outline statement
Finally in the introduction, you must outline the two main points (ideas 1 and 2
above) that you’ll cover in the rest of the essay. Do it in one sentence, or you
can add them onto the end of the thesis statement if appropriate.
Outline statement:

I believe that people are increasingly concerned about the risk of stress-
related ill-health frequently experienced by people in highly paid
positions and they care more about feeling fulfilled at work.
So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

● It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

● It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

● It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body
paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – concerns about the risk of stress-related ill-health

Main body paragraph 2 – a sense of fulfilment at work

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

The structure of a good main body paragraph has 3 parts:

● Topic sentence

● Explanation

● Example

If you can’t think of an example, you can add further supporting ideas but we
already have our two examples so that’s not an issue here.

A common problem when writing main body paragraphs for IELTS opinion
essays is having too many ideas. Again, we have already chosen the two
ideas we are going to develop, so we are all set to start writing.

You can see how important the planning stage is and how it make the actual
writing of the essay far quicker and easier.

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it
needs to do so it doesn’t have to be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to
another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is,
what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will
get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our topic
sentence.

Main idea 1 – concerns about the risk of stress-related ill-health

Topic sentence:
Employees earning a large income are generally under significant
mental and emotional pressure to perform well and achieve targets.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence. This explains to the examiner

what we mean. It expands on our first idea.

Explanation sentence:

This causes many individuals to suffer high levels of stress which can
result in both mental and physical health problems.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. I thought of this in the
planning stage so I have it ready to use.

If you can’t think of a real example, it’s fine to make one up, as long as it’s
believable. The examiner isn’t going to check your facts.

Example sentence:

This happened to my uncle. He used to boast about his huge salary but
the boss kept increasing his sales targets and in the end, the stress
became too great and he had a nervous breakdown. Now he regrets
being driven by the money.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.
Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Job satisfaction gives a sense of fulfilment.

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:

Having a job that they enjoy doing, and in which they feel valued, is a
major concern for most of the modern workforce.
Now for the explanation sentence to explain this idea..

Explanation sentence:

A significant number of people are giving up well-paid positions to do

jobs which pay less but that they find more enjoyable and less stressful.
Finally, an example to support our main point. As before, I thought of this in
the planning stage so just need to form it into a couple of sentences.

Example sentence:

I am an example of this myself. A year ago I left the teaching profession

because the workload had become too great and I am now a gardener. I
feel really fulfilled in this work and I am much more relaxed and happy
even though I earn far less money.
That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.
Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS opinion essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

Conclusions to IELTS opinion essays should do two things:

● Summarise the main points

● State your opinion

This can generally be done in a single sentence.

If you are below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your
conclusion, you can add an additional prediction or recommendation
statement.
Our essay currently has 233 words so we’re on target and don’t need
this extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a
prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS opinion essays on
the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of
the most important.
A good conclusion will:
 ● Neatly end the essay

● Link all your ideas together

● Sum up your argument or opinion

● Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and
cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks.
Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS opinion essay with the
words:

● In conclusion

or

● To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this
is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Let’s give it a go.

Introduction:
Here is the same information formed into a conclusion:

Conclusion: I write less than 250, adding a recommendation, and prediction.

That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put
together.

Question:

A big salary is much more important than job satisfaction.

Do you agree or disagree?

Finished IELTS opinion essay.
Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully
understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS opinion essays from
past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improve your skills.
 How to Plan & Write
IELTS Discussion Essays
The Question
The first part of the question for an IELTS discussion essay will be a
statement containing two opposing views.

You will then be asked to discuss both sides of the argument and give your
own opinion. Here is some typical wording that might be used:

● Discuss both views and give your opinion.

● Discuss both these views and then give your own opinion.

● Discuss both sides of this argument and give your own opinion.

Here's a question from a past test paper.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.
Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild
animals.

Discuss both views 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.

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and
writing an IELTS discussion essay.

The key to identifying this type of question is the fact that you are required to
discuss BOTH views. This is different to opinion questions where you must
decide between two opposing views and make an argument to support your
own opinion.

Opinion essays, also known as ‘agree or disagree’ essays, a generally

worded in one of these ways:

What is your opinion? / Do you agree or disagree? / To what extent do

you agree or disagree?

The other essay type that students mistake for discussion essays
is advantages and disadvantages essays. With these, the statement will
contain just one view and the question will typically be written as shown in this
sample question.

School children are using computers in school more than ever.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this and give your own
opinion.

The consequence of incorrectly identifying the question type is that you will
use the wrong structure for your essay. This is a major reason why people
make the mistakes we’ll now look at.

3 Common Mistakes
These three errors are common in IELTS discussion essays.

● Not stating your opinion.

● Not giving arguments for both views.

● Not developing both sides of the argument equally.

The most common mistake that students make is not giving their opinion. The
question will clearly state that you must choose one side of the argument to
agree with. If you fail to do this, you will get a low score for task achievement.

It doesn’t matter which side of the argument you take or even, that you
actually agree with it.

However, you must give equal attention to both sides. A common error is to
provide a stronger argument for the view you favour. This leads to an
unbalanced essay and a low score for task achievement.

Essay Structure
Now let’s look at a simple structure you can use to write IELTS discussion
essays. It’s not the only possible structure but it’s the one I recommend
because it’s easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and write a high-
level essay.
1) Introduction

● Paraphrase the question

● State two supporting reasons
● Give your opinion

2) Main body paragraph 1

● Topic sentence – outline the view you don’t agree with

● Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people
● Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2

● Topic sentence – outline the view you do agree with

● Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people
● Example – give an example

4) Conclusion

● Summarise the key points and state your opinion

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

We now need some ideas to add into the structure and we’ll have everything
we need for our essay.

How To Plan IELTS Discussion Essays

# 1 Analyse the question

This is an essential step in the planning process and will ensure that you
answer the question fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3
different types of words:

1. Topic words

2. Other keywords

3. Instruction words

We’ve already considered the instruction words (the actual question) so we’ll
focus on the first two.

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.
Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild
animals.

So, this question is about ‘zoos’.

Many people do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in
general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task
achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand

exactly what aspect of zoos we're being asked to write about.
The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic you must write
about. They define the opinions stated in the statement.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.
Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild
animals.

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write
about the opposing views that zoos are cruel and should be closed down and
that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals. Your essay must only
include ideas relevant to these ideas.

# 2 Decide on your opinion

As already mentioned, it doesn’t matter if you genuinely agree with the view
you take in your essay or not. IELTS discussion essays are about your ability
to write a well-structured essay in the English language and you will not be
assessed on any opinion you might hold.

So, choose one view and make sure that your opinion is clear throughout the
essay.

For this model essay, I’m going to agree with the statement that zoos are
cruel and should be closed down.

# 3 Generate ideas
The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on
the IELTS Essay Planning page.
We’re going to use the ‘friends technique’. This is my preferred method as it
allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think
more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine you are chatting with a friend and they ask you
the question in a casual conversation. What answers would you give them off
the top of your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language
rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high level-
language, which isn’t necessary.

You might want to try this yourself before reading on for my ideas.

Here are my ideas:

Cruel – closed down:

● Cramped cages – animals distressed

● Unnatural environments

● Most animals not endangered

● Animals become a public spectacle for entertainment

Useful – protect wild animals:

● Research work to learn more about wild animals

● Breeding programmes for endangered species

● Some species saved from extinction

● Seeing wild animals close up inspires people to want to help protect

them

I’ve got more ideas here than I need so I’m going to pick two to develop in the
essay – one for each of the main body paragraphs.
Idea 1 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments, animals distressed.

Idea 2 – Breeding programmes for endangered species, some species

saved from extinction.

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS discussion essay but first, we
have one other small task to do.

# 4 Vocabulary
In an IELTS essay, it’s important to be able to say the same things in different
ways, either by paraphrasing and/or using synonyms. During the planning
stage, quickly jot down a few synonyms of key words you could use to save
you having to stop and think of the right language while you’re writing.

For example:

zoos – animals in captivity, collections of wild animals, menagerie, wildlife

park

cruel – to cause suffering, inhumane

protect – safeguard, preserve

animals – creatures, species

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the
introduction.
 How To Write an Introduction
Good introductions to IELTS discussion essays have a simple 3 part structure:

1) Paraphrase the question

2) State two supporting reasons (outline statement)

3) Give your opinion (thesis statement)

It should:

● Have 2-3 sentences

● Be 40-60 words long

● Take 5 minutes to write

1) Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.

Question: Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.
Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

There are various phrases you can use to do this. Here are three examples.
They all say the same thing using different language.

● Some people argue that… while others say that…

● It is considered by some…. while there are others who think….

● It is often argued that... whilst others disagree and think...

Choose one and add the details in the question statement in a paraphrased
form. I recommend putting the view you don’t agree with first.

Paraphrased question:

Some people argue that zoos help to preserve wild creatures, while
others say that they are inhumane and should be abolished.
Note my use of synonyms. You don’t have to replace every key word but
do so where possible whilst ensuring that your language sounds natural.
There aren’t any suitable synonyms of ‘zoo’ that I can think of, so I've
repeated this word from the statement.

2) Thesis and outline statements

Now we need to add an outline statement where you outline the two
main points that you’ll cover in the rest of the essay (ideas 1 and 2
above) and a thesis statement where you state your opinion.
Outline & thesis statements:

While the development of breeding programmes contributes to the

preservation of endangered species, I believe that the poor conditions
that many animals held in captivity are kept in make the existence of
zoos unacceptable.
So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

Introduction
This introduction achieves three important functions:

● It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

● It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

● It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body
paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – Breeding programmes for endangered species,

some species saved from extinction.

Main body paragraph 2 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments,

animals distressed.

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS discussion essays should contain 3 things:

● Topic sentence – outline the view you don’t agree with

● Explanation – explain why this view is held by some people

● Example – give an example

It is easier to begin by discussing the opinion you don’t agree with and
then present the reasons for the opposing view that you support. So,
we’ll start with idea 1.
Main Body Paragraph 1
The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it
needs to do so it doesn’t have to be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to
another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is,
what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will
get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our topic
sentence.

Main body paragraph 1 – Breeding programmes for endangered species,

some species saved from extinction.

Topic sentence:

On the one hand, there are many projects in existence in zoological

parks around the world where species facing extinction have been
successfully bred in captivity and their numbers increased substantially.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that expands on the idea. This
explains to the examiner what we mean or why this is the case.

Explanation sentence:

This is important for ensuring the survival of animals under threat from
poaching and the destruction of their natural environments.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. If you can’t think
of a real example, it’s fine to make one up, as long as it’s believable. The
examiner isn’t going to check your facts.
Example sentence:
A good example of this is the golden lion tamarin from Brazil which
nearly died out because of logging and mining activities which are
destroying its habitat. Today, a third of wild golden lion tamarins were
raised in captivity.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Cramped cages & unnatural environments, animals distressed.

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea. I started main
body paragraph 1 with the phrase ‘On the one hand...’, so main body
paragraph 2 will naturally begin, ‘On the other hand... .

These are great cohesive devices to use when making a direct contrast
between two opposing views and they link the ideas together well. They can
be used in most IELTS discussion essays and will help to earn you a good
score for cohesion and coherence.
Topic sentence:

On the other hand, a significant percentage of zoos house their animals

in cramped cages with very little space to move around or behave
naturally.
Now for the explanation sentence where we expand on this idea.

Explanation sentence:

This can lead to them becoming distressed and depressed as well as

suffering physically through lack of exercise.
Finally, an example to support this point.

Example sentence:

A friend of mine recently visited a wildlife park while on holiday abroad

and was very upset to see the lions pacing up and down in a narrow,
bare pen and eagles in enclosures so small that they were unable to fly.
That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS discussion essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

Conclusions to IELTS discussion essays should do two things:

 ● Summarise the main points

● State your opinion

This can generally be done in a single sentence.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your
conclusion, you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.
Our essay currently has 231 words so we’re on target and don’t need
this extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a
prediction or recommendation statement for IELTS discussion essays on
the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of
the most important.
A good conclusion will:

● Neatly end the essay

● Link all your ideas together

● Sum up your argument or opinion

● Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and
cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks.
Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS discussion essay with
the words:
 ● In conclusion

or

● To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this
is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Let’s give it a go.

Introduction:

Here is the same information formed into a conclusion:

That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put
together.

Question:

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down.
Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild
animals.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Finished IELTS discussion essay.
 How to Plan & Write
IELTS Problem Solution Essays
IELTS problem solution essays are the most challenging essay type for many
people. The way they are worded can vary hugely which can make it difficult
to understand how you should answer the question.

Generally, you’ll be asked to write about both the problem, or cause, and the
solution to a specific issue. Sometimes, however, you will only be required to
write about possible solutions.

The 3 essay types:

● Problem and solution

● Cause and solution

● Just the solution

Hence, it’s essential that you analyse the question carefully, which I’ll show
you how to do in this lesson. I’m also going to demonstrate step-by-step how
to plan and write IELTS problem solution essays.
Here’s what we’ll be covering:

● Identifying IELTS problem solution essays

● 6 Common mistakes

● Essay structure

● How to plan

● How to write an introduction

● How to write main body paragraphs

● How to write a conclusion

The Question
Here are two typical IELTS problem solution essay questions. They consist of
a statement followed by the question or instruction.

1. One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

2. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of endangered

species has increased significantly and we have witnessed more mass
extinctions in this period than in any other period of time.

State some reasons for this and provide possible solutions.

These are some examples of different ways in which questions can be
phrased. The first half of the questions relate to the problem or cause, the
second half to the solution.

What issues does this cause and how can they be addressed?

What are some resulting social problems and how can we deal with
them?

What problems arise from this and how can they be tackled?

Why is this? How might it be remedied?

What are the reasons for this, and how can the situation be improved?

Why is this happening, and what measures can be taken to tackle this
problem?
And here are a few questions where you only have to write about the solution.

How can this situation be improved?

What solutions can you suggest to deal with this problem?

How can this problem be solved?

What measures could be taken to prevent this?

It’s important that you are able to recognise the common synonyms, words
and phrases used in problem solution questions. Here are the key words and
their synonyms used in the questions above.
 ● Problem – issues, resulting, situation

● Cause – reasons, why

● Solution – deal with, addressed, tackled, remedied, improved,

measures taken, solved, prevent

Before we move on to some common mistakes, I want to quickly explain the

difference between a problem and a cause. Read the following examples.

Problem – I've missed the last bus home after visiting my friend for the
evening.

Cause – I misread the timetable and thought the bus left at 22.45 when it
actually left at 22.35.

The ‘cause’ is the reason for the ‘problem’. We’ll be looking at question
analysis in more detail in a minute.

6 Common Mistakes
These six errors are common in IELTS problem solution essays.

● Confusing problem and causes questions.

● Having too many ideas.

● Not developing your ideas.

● Not developing both sides of the argument equally.

● Not linking the problems and solutions.

● Not being specific enough.

It is common for an essay to consist of a list of problems and solutions without
any of them being expanded on or linked to each other. Sometimes, a student
will focus on just the problem or only the solution which leads to an
unbalanced essay. Both these issues will result in a low score for task
achievement.

You must choose just one or two problems and pick solutions directly linked to
them. Explain them and give examples.

Another serious error is to write generally about the topic. You need to be very
specific with your ideas. Analysing the question properly is essential to
avoiding this mistake. I’ll show you how to do this.

Essay Structure
Now let’s look at a simple structure you can use to write IELTS problem
solution essays. It’s not the only possible structure but it’s the one I
recommend because it’s easy to learn and will enable you to quickly plan and
write a high-level essay.

1) Introduction

● Paraphrase the question

● State 1 key problem/cause and related solution

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Problem or Cause

● Topic sentence – state the problem or cause

● Explanation – give detail explaining the problem or cause
● Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Solution

● Topic sentence – state the solution

● Explanation – give detail explaining the solution
 ● Example – give an example

4) Conclusion

● Summarise the key points

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

One Problem/Cause & Solution or Two?

Most questions will state problems, causes and solutions in the plural, that is,
more than one. However, it is acceptable to write about just one.

This will give you an essay of just over the minimum 250 words. To write
about two problems/causes and solutions will require you to write between
350 and 400 words which are a lot to plan and write in the 40 minutes
allowed.

It is better to fully develop one problem/cause and solution than ending up

with one idea missing an explanation or an example because you run out of
time.

The step-by-step essay structure I’m going to show you includes one problem
and solution but you can write about two if you feel able to or more
comfortable doing so.

How To Plan IELTS Problem Solution Essays

Here’s the question we’re going to be answering in our model essay followed
by the 3 steps of the planning process.

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

● Analyse the question

 ● Generate ideas

● Identify vocabulary

# 1 Analyse the question

This is an essential step in the planning process and will ensure that you
answer the question fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3
different types of words:

1. Topic words

2. Other keywords

3. Instruction words

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the
question and will be found in the statement part of the question.
One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

So, this question is about ‘traffic congestion’.

Many people will do this first step of the process and then write about the topic
in general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task
achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand

exactly what aspect of traffic congestion we're being asked to write about.

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic you must write
about.

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write
about the problem of traffic congestion in large cities. Your essay must only
include ideas relevant to these ideas.

The instruction words are the question itself. These tell you the type of
IELTS problem solution essay you must write. This is a ‘causes and solutions’
question.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?

# 2 Generate ideas
The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on
the IELTS Essay Planning page.

We’re going to use the ‘friends technique’. This is the method I prefer as it
allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think
more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine that you are chatting with a friend over a cup of
coffee and they ask you this question. What are the first thoughts to come into
your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language
rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high-level
language, which isn’t necessary.

You might want to try this yourself before reading on for my ideas.

Here are my ideas:

Cause:
 ● Too many cars on the roads – increasing numbers of people own cars,
more convenient than buses & trains

● Inadequate public transport – crowded, old & dirty

● Poor road layout

● Rush hour traffic – most people travel to & from work at the same times
each day

Solution:

● Car sharing, park-and-ride scheme, congestion charge

● Improve public transport – more frequent and better quality

● Improve infrastructure – bus lanes, cycle lanes will make it safer for
people to cycle

● Flexible working hours

For each cause you think of, immediately write down a possible solution. This
you will ensure that the problems and solutions you think of are linked.

You don’t need to spend long on this as you only need one or two ideas.

I’ve got more far more ideas here than I need as I spent more time thinking
about it that I would in the real exam. I’m going to pick just one cause to
develop in the essay and one or two solutions.

My advice on making your selection is to choose ideas you can quickly think
of an example to illustrate.

Here are my choices:

Cause – Too many cars on the roads. Why? – increasing numbers of people
own cars, more convenient than buses & trains

Solution – Park-and-ride schemes

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS problem solution essay but
first, we have one more task to do.

# 3 Vocabulary
During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to
mind as you decide which cause and solution you are going to write about,
especially synonyms of key words. This will save you having to stop and think
of the right language while you’re writing. For example:

● traffic jam

● heavy traffic

● queue

● vehicles

● commute

● rush hour

● private transport

● infrastructure

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the
introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

Good introductions to IELTS problem solution essays have a simple 2 part
structure:
 ● Paraphrase the question

● State 1 key problem/cause and related solution/s (outline

sentence)

It should:

● Have 2-3 sentences

● Be 40-60 words long

● Take 5 minutes to write

1) Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question.

Question: One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you
suggest?
Paraphrased question:

One of the most serious issues facing the majority of large urban areas
is traffic jams.
Note my use of synonyms to replace key words in the question statement.
You don’t have to replace every key word but do so where possible whilst
ensuring that your language sounds natural.

2) Outline statement
Now we need to add an outline statement where we outline the two main
points that we’ll cover in the rest of the essay, that is, the cause and the
solution I chose earlier. Here they are again.
Cause – Too many cars on the roads. Why? – increasing numbers of people
own cars, more convenient than buses & trains

Solution – Park-and-ride schemes

And, this is one way to develop them into an outline sentence.

Outline statement:

The main reason for this is that there are too many private cars on the
roads these days and a viable solution is to introduce more park-and-
ride schemes.
So, let’s bring the two elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

● It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

● It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

● It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body
paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – Too many cars on the roads

Main body paragraph 2 – Park-and-ride schemes

 How To Write Main Body Paragraphs
Main body paragraphs in IELTS problem solution essays should contain 3
things:

● Topic sentence – outline the main idea

● Explanation – explain it and give more detail

● Example – give an example

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s all it
needs to do so it doesn’t have to be complicated.

It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to
another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next, that is,
what the paragraph will be about.

If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you will
get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.

We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our topic
sentence.

Obviously, we’re going to write about the cause of the problem first.

Main body paragraph 1 – Too many cars on the roads

Topic sentence:

The number of people owning cars increases year on year, with most
families now having more than one car.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that develops the idea.

Explanation sentence:
Most people like the convenience of travelling at the time they want to
rather than being restricted to public transport timetables, so they prefer
to drive themselves around rather than taking the bus or train. This is
despite the fact that they frequently have to sit in long traffic queues as
they near the city centre.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. If you can’t think of a
real example, it’s fine to make one up, as long as it’s believable. The examiner
isn’t going to check your facts. Alternative, you could add another piece of
information to support your idea.

Example sentence:

Whenever I have to attend a meeting in the city, I always drive because it

means that I can leave home when I want to rather than getting stressed
about getting to the station in time to catch the train.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea 2 – Park-and-ride schemes

First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:

A solution that is proving successful in many areas is park-and-ride

schemes.
Now for the explanation sentence where we expand on this idea.

Explanation sentence:

This is where you park your car for free in a large car park on the
outskirts of the city and take a bus for the final part of your journey. The
fee you have to pay for the bus trip is usually very small and this public
transport system is generally very regular, running every ten minutes or
so.
Finally, an example to support this point.

Example sentence:

A survey carried out in the city of Exeter showed that the rush hour
congestion decreased by 10% when the council set up a park-and-ride
scheme to the north of the city. There was an additional drop of another
10% in traffic volume when a second scheme began operating to the
south.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.
Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS problem solution essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can
generally be done in a single sentence. It should never introduce new
ideas.
If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your
conclusion, you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.
Our essay is already over the minimum word limit so we don’t need this
extra sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or
recommendation statement for IELTS problem solution essays on
the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of
the most important.
A good conclusion will:

● Neatly end the essay

● Link all your ideas together

● Sum up your argument or opinion

 ● Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and
cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks.
Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS problem solution essay
with the words:

● In conclusion

or

● To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this
is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a good conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Introduction:

Here is the same information formed into a conclusion. I’ve also added a
personal statement at the end to link back to one of my example sentences.
You don’t have to do this but in this case, I think that it rounds the essay off
better.
That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put
together.

Question:

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

What do you think the causes are? What solutions can you suggest?
Finished IELTS problem solution essay.
 How to Plan & Write
IELTS Advantages and
Disadvantages Essays
Questions for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays can be worded in
several different ways. Here is some typical wording that might be used:

● What are the advantages and disadvantages of….?

● Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

● Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your opinion.

It is also common for synonyms of ‘advantages’ and ‘disadvantages’ to be

used, such as ‘benefits’ and ‘drawbacks’, as can be seen in this sample
question.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern

world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks?

I’ll be using this question to guide you through the process of planning and
writing an IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay later on in this lesson.

Here’s what the lesson covers:

● Understanding IELTS advantages & disadvantages essay

questions

● Essay structures

● How to plan

● How to write an introduction

 ● How to write main body paragraphs

● How to write a conclusion

Want to watch and listen? Click on this video.

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics.

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time
at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at
least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

The Question
IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay questions fall into two main
categories:

● Questions that ask for your opinion.

● Questions that do not require you to state your opinion.

The first part of the question will always be a statement. You will then be
asked to write about both the advantages and disadvantages of the idea
stated. You may also be required to state your opinion.

Here are two more sample questions for illustration. For the first one, you
must give your opinion but in the second, you should not.

1. Small businesses are disappearing and being replaced by large

multinational companies.

Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

2. Most career choices demand vocational skills or specialist

knowledge. However, despite this, most schools still teach academic
subjects such as history or social studies.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Essay Structures
Now let’s look at two simple structures you can use to write IELTS advantages
and disadvantages essays. They're not the only possible structures but are
ones I recommend because they are easy to learn and will enable you to
quickly plan and write a high-level essay.

I’ll explain later why I’m giving you two slightly different structures.
These structures will give you a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

One Advantage and Disadvantage or Two?

The question will state 'advantages' and 'disadvantages' in the plural, that is,
more than one. However, it is acceptable to write about just one.

This should give you an essay of just over the minimum 250 words. To write
about two advantages and disadvantages will require you to write nearer 400
words which are a lot to plan and write in the 40 minutes allowed.

It is better to fully develop one advantage and one disadvantage than ending
up with your second idea missing an explanation or an example because you
run out of time, but you can write about two if you feel able to or more
comfortable doing so.

Having said that, using essay structure 2, where you start with the examples,
will enable you to easily add more than one advantage and disadvantage
without having to write many more words.
It will be more suitable for some question than others so bear this in mind
when you're writing practice essays and try out both structures.

I’m going to use essay structure 2 to show you step-by-step how to write an
IELTS advantage and disadvantages essay. I’ll also give you a model answer
using essay structure 1 so that you can compare the two.

How To Plan
IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essays
The planning process only takes around 5 minutes but it is essential as it will
save you time overall and will result in a far better essay and thus, higher
marks. There are the 3 things you need to do:

● Analyse the question

● Generate ideas

● Identify vocabulary

# 1 Analyse the question

Analysing the question will ensure that you answer it fully. It’s quick and easy
to do. You just need to identify 3 different types of words:

● Topic words

● Other keywords

● Instruction words

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question and
will be found in the statement part of the question.
Here is the question we’re going to be working on. I’ve highlighted the topic
words in blue.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern

world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks?

So, this question is about ‘tourism’.

Many people do this first step of the process and then write about the topic in
general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task
achievement.

What we need to do now that we know the general topic, is to understand

exactly what aspect of tourism we're being asked to write about.

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific topic your essay
must be about.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern

world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks?

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to see that you are being asked to write
about the conflicting issues of tourism being ‘a main source of income’ in
many places, yet also being ‘a source of problems’.

Your essay must only include ideas relevant to this aspect of tourism.
The instruction words are the question itself. They tell you exactly what to
include in your essay.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern

world? Do you think that the benefits of
tourism outweigh its drawbacks?

Here, we are required to write about:

● The advantages of tourism in relation to income generation.

● The disadvantage of tourism in relation to problems it can cause.

● Our opinion as to whether the advantages outweigh the

disadvantages.

Note the use of the synonyms ‘benefits’ and ‘drawback’ in the second
sentence of the question.

# 2 Generate ideas
The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on
the IELTS Essay Planning page.

I’m going to demonstrate two of them for you here – the ‘friends technique’,
which is suitable for most IELTS essays, and the ‘example method’, which
perfectly fits essay structure 2.
The ‘friends technique’ is the method I generally prefer as it allows you to
take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine that you are chatting with a friend over a cup of
coffee and they ask you this question. What are the first thoughts to come into
your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language
rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high-level
language, which isn’t necessary.

Here are my ideas using the friends technique:

There are far too many ideas here to include in an essay of just over 250
words. Think up a few then pick one advantage and one disadvantage that
you think you can develop well.

With the 'example method', on the other hand, you start by thinking of
specific examples related to the question. They can come from your own
experience or be something you’ve read or heard about. These examples will
generate ideas that will become the main points of your essay.

It works particularly well for the model question I’ve selected for this lesson
which is why I’ve included the second essay structure.

Here are my ideas using the examples technique:

Now that we have some ideas, we’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS
advantages and disadvantages essay, but first, we have one more task to do.
# 3 Vocabulary
During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to
mind as you decide what you're going to write about, especially synonyms of
key words. This will save you having to stop and think of the right language
while you’re writing.

Writing an IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages

Essay
We’re ready to begin writing our essay. For the first model answer, I’m going
to take you step-by-step through essay structure 2. I’ll then give you a model
answer for essay structure 1.

Here’s a reminder of the question and the essay structure.

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern

world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks?
We’ll now start work on the introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

The introduction to an IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay should
have a simple 2 or 3 part structure:

● Paraphrase the question

● Outline the main ideas

● State your opinion (if required)

Our tourism question asks for our opinion so our introduction will have 3 parts.
1) Paraphrase the question
Start your introduction by paraphrasing the question statement.

Question: A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of

income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-

managed.

Paraphrased question:

Although holidaymakers contribute hugely to the economies of many

popular destinations, the influx of tourists can also cause serious
issues.

Note my use of synonyms for some of the key words. It’s fine to repeat one or
two words if you can't think of suitable synonyms. Above all, your language
must sound natural.

2) Outline statement
Now we need to add a statement where we outline the main points that we’ll
be covering in the rest of the essay, that is, an advantage of tourism and a
disadvantage of tourism.

Here are the two main ideas I’ve chosen to write about:

● Advantage – Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts

● Disadvantage – Displacement of local people

Outline statement:

This essay will demonstrate how tourism can transform the economy of
poor areas but will also show that this can lead to such problems as the
displacement of local people.
3) Opinion statement

The question also asks for our opinion and it’s essential that we include it in
the introduction.

Opinion statement:

Whilst acknowledging that there are drawbacks, the essay will argue
that the advantages of the tourist industry outweigh the disadvantages.

So, let’s bring the three elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

● It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

● It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

● It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body
paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts
Main body paragraph 2 – Displacement of local people

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays
written using structure 2, should contain 3 things:

● Topic sentence – give an example

● Explanation – explain the benefits/advantages

● Consequence – state the result

Main Body Paragraph 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. It plays
an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from one to
another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come next,
that is, what the paragraph will be about.
If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you
will get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.
In this instance, the topic sentence will introduce our first example, for
which I’ve chosen Thailand.

● Main idea – Poor areas are now prosperous tourist resorts

● Example – Thailand

Topic sentence:

One country that has experienced a significant economic boost from

tourism is Thailand.
Next, we must write an explanation sentence that states the main point of
our example.

Explanation sentence:

Over the past 50 years, many of its small fishing villages, where people
often struggled to make a living, have been developed into thriving
holiday destinations.

Finally, we explain the consequence or result of the situation. This is where

we give an example of one specific advantage. It is better to pick one and
develop it than to just add a long list.

Consequence:

With all the hotels, restaurants, shops and other tourist facilities that
have been developed, there are now enough jobs for everyone and the
general standard of living has greatly increased. Many local people
have spotted new business opportunities and become entrepreneurs
which has further diversified the economy.

That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

We’ll now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2

Main idea – Displacement of local people

Example – Venice
First, we write the topic sentence to summarise the main idea.

Topic sentence:

In Venice, on the other hand, the huge popularity of the beautiful canals
and stunning architecture with visitors from around the world has had a
negative impact on local residents.

Now for the explanation sentence that states the main point of our example.

Explanation sentence:

The growing need for tourist accommodation, places to eat and shops
has forced many people from their homes to make way for this new
development.

Finally, a specific example to explain the consequence.

Consequence:

Not only have these people suffered by having to move away from their
family and friends but the situation has also resulted in a lost sense of
community in the worst affected areas.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS advantages and disadvantages

essay is done.
 How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can
generally be done in a single sentence. It should never introduce new ideas.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion,
you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.

Our essay is already near the minimum word limit so we don’t need this extra
sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or
recommendation statement for IELTS advantages and disadvantages essays
on the Task 2 Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the
most important.

A good conclusion will:

● Neatly end the essay

● Link all your ideas together

● Sum up your argument or opinion

● Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and
cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks.
Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS advantages and
disadvantages essay with the words:

● In conclusion
 or

● To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one sentence.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this
is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Introduction:

Here's the same information formed into a conclusion:

That’s it. We’ve completed our advantages and disadvantages essay. Here it
is with the 4 paragraphs put together.

Question:

A lot of places in the world rely on tourism as a main source of income.

Unfortunately, tourism can also be a source of problems if it is not well-
managed.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of tourism in the modern
world? Do you think that the benefits of tourism outweigh its
drawbacks?

Finished IELTS advantages and disadvantages essay.

Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully

understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS advantages and
disadvantages essays from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to
improve your skills.
 Example IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages
Essay
for Structure 1
Now, here’s a model answer for essay structure 1. First, a reminder of the
structure and the ideas I generated using the friends technique.

Ideas generation - Friends technique

I’ve underline the ideas I’ve chosen to write about in this second essay:

Advantages of tourism – source of income:

● Provides jobs for local people

● Opportunities for local entrepreneurs
 ● Tourist spending boosts both national & local economy
● Brings improvement in local infrastructure & facilities which benefit whole
community
● Helps maintain traditions & culture

Disadvantages of tourism – the problems:

● Money goes to wealthy business owners not local people

● Increased crime
● Illegal activities, e.g. drugs
● More pubs & clubs – changes the local culture
● Increase in property values
● Destruction of the natural environment to build hotels, airports & other
facilities
● Displacement of indigenous people

The essay
See if you can identify the different parts of the essay and how I have
developed them.
That's it. Now it's time for you to get practicing.
 How to Plan & Write
IELTS Double Question Essays
IELTS double question essays are also known as ‘direct question’ or ‘two
questions’ essays. They are distinguished by two characteristics:

● They have one statement with two different questions after it.

● The questions may or may not be linked.

Here are 3 examples:

1) Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry

and fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when all
the world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

How can we conserve these resources?

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

2) Some parents buy their children whatever they ask for, and allow their
children to do whatever they want.

Is this a good way to raise children?

What consequences could this style of parenting have for children as they
get older?

3) The arts, including art, music and theatre are considered to be important
in society.

Do you think the arts still have a place amongst our modern lifestyles?

Should the arts be included in the school curriculum?

In this lesson, I’m going to demonstrate step-by-step how to plan and write
IELTS double question essays.

Here’s what we’ll be covering:

● 3 Common mistakes

● Essay structure

● How to plan

● How to write an introduction

● How to write main body paragraphs

● How to write a conclusion

Want to watch and listen to this lesson?

Click on this video.

Click the links to see lessons on each of these Task 2 essay writing topics.

Once you understand the process, practice on past questions. Take your time
at first and gradually speed up until you can plan and write an essay of at
least 250 words in the 40 minutes allowed in the exam.

3 Common Mistakes
These three errors are common in IELTS double question essays.

● Not answering both questions fully.

● Not outlining both answers in the introduction.

● Mistaking it for one of the other essay types.

Many students make the mistake of only answering one of the questions, or
focusing more on one question than the other which leads to an unbalanced
essay. Both these errors will seriously affect your score for task achievement.

You must outline everything you are going to write about in the introduction.
This is your blueprint for the whole essay. I’ll show you how to do this and get
your essay off to a great start.

It’s easy to mistake IELTS double question essays for one of the other four
types of Task 2 essays, especially opinion or discussion essays. Each should
be answered in a slightly different way.

Analysing the question properly is essential to avoiding this error. I’ll also
show you how to do this and give you a simple 4 part structure for planning
your essay.

Essay Structure
Let’s look at this essay structure straight away. You can use it to write any
IELTS double question essay. It’s easy to learn and will enable you to quickly
plan and write a high-level essay.

1) Introduction

● Paraphrase the question

● Outline sentence – state your answer to both questions

2) Main body paragraph 1 – Answer question 1

● Topic sentence – state your answer

● Explanation – develop the idea
● Example – give an example

3) Main body paragraph 2 – Answer question 2

 ● Topic sentence – state your answer
● Explanation – develop the idea
● Example – give an example

4) Conclusion Summarise both questions and answers

This structure will give us a well-balanced essay with 4 paragraphs.

We now need some ideas to add to the structure and we’ll have everything we
need for our essay.

How To Plan IELTS Double Question Essays

Here’s the question we’re going to be answering in our model essay followed
by the 3 steps of the planning process.

Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry

and fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when
all the world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

How can we conserve these resources?

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

● Analyse the question

● Generate ideas

● Identify vocabulary

# 1 Analyse the question

This is an essential step in the planning process and will ensure that you
answer the question fully. It’s quick and easy to do. You just need to identify 3
different types of words:

● Topic words
 ● Other keywords

● Instruction words

Topics words are the ones that identify the general subject of the question
and will be found in the statement part of the question.

Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry

and fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when
all the world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

So, this question is about ‘fossil fuels’.

Many people will do this first step of the process and then write about the topic
in general. This is a serious mistake and leads to low marks for task
achievement.

Now that we know what the general topic is, we need to understand exactly
what aspect of fossil fuels we're being asked to write about.

The other keywords in the question tell you the specific things you must write
about. For IELTS double question essays, these will often be in the
instructions, that is, the actual questions.

Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry

and fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when
all the world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

How can we conserve these resources?

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

By highlighting these words, it’s easy to identify the topics. Your essay must
only include ideas relevant to these ideas.
The instruction words are the questions themselves. These tell you exactly
what type of information is required and each will become the topic for one of
the two main body paragraphs.

How can we conserve these resources?

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

The first body paragraph will answer the first question (How?) and the second
body paragraph will answer the second question (What?).

# 2 Generate ideas
The next task is to generate some ideas to write about.

There are several different ways to think up ideas. I cover them fully on
the IELTS Essay Planning page.

We’re going to use the ‘friends technique’. This is the method I prefer as it
allows you to take a step back from the stress of the exam situation and think
more calmly.

Here’s how it works. Imagine that you are in a casual conversation with a
friend over a cup of coffee and they ask you this question. What are the first
thoughts to come into your head? Plan your essay around these ideas.

Doing this will help you to come up with simple answers in everyday language
rather than straining your brain to think of amazing ideas using high-level
language, which isn’t necessary.

You might want to try this yourself before reading on for my ideas.

Here are my ideas as I thought of them:

How can we conserve these resources?

 ● Become more energy conscious & more energy efficient

● Use more renewable energy sources – solar panels

● All new homes should be built with solar panels on

● Use car less – walk, cycle, public transport, only travel when really
necessary

● Energy-efficient light bulbs

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

● Solar power

● Wind power

● Wave energy

● Tidal energy

● Biomass energy

● Geothermal energy

Don’t spend long on this as you only need one or two ideas.

There is so much to write about this topic that we have to be very careful we
don’t try to include too many different ideas and just end up with a list for each
question rather than a well-developed essay.

Choose one main idea for each part of the question. My advice on making
your selection is to choose ideas that you can quickly think of examples for.

Here are my choices:

How can we conserve these resources?

● Use car less – walk, cycle, public transport

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

 ● Natural forces – solar & wind power, wave & tidal energy

We’re almost ready to start writing our IELTS double question essay but first,
we have one other small task to do.

# 3 Vocabulary
During the planning stage, quickly jot down some vocabulary that comes to
mind as you decide which ideas you are going to write about, especially
synonyms of key words. This will save you having to stop and think of the right
language while you’re writing.

For the ideas I’ve chosen, useful words will include:

● sustainable

● renewable energy

● energy-efficient

With that done, we can focus on the first paragraph of the essay – the
introduction.

How To Write an Introduction

The best introductions to IELTS double question essays have a simple 2 part
structure:

1) Paraphrase the question

2) Outline sentence – state your answer to both questions

It should:

● Have 2-3 sentences

● Be 40-60 words long

● Take 5 minutes to write

1) Paraphrase the question

Start your introduction by paraphrasing the statement part of the question.

Question statement:

Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry and
fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when all the
world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

Paraphrased question:

The world is currently reliant on oil, coal and natural gas for the majority
of its energy requirements but there will come a time when these run
out.

We are simply saying the same thing in a different way and using
different vocabulary.

2) Outline statement
Now we need to add an outline statement where we outline the two main
points that we’ll cover in the rest of the essay, that is, the answers to the two
questions.

We need to be very specific about what we are going to write about.

Here's a reminder of the ideas I’ve chosen to answer the two questions:

How can we conserve these resources?

● Use car less – walk, cycle, public transport

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

● Natural forces –solar & wind power, wave & tidal energy

Outline statement:

This essay will discuss how we can help to prevent our non-renewable
resources from becoming depleted by using our cars less frequently
and it will name some natural forces that can be harnessed to generate
power.

Note my use of synonyms to replace key words in the question. You don’t
have to replace every key word but do so where possible whilst ensuring that
your language sounds natural.

So, let’s bring the two elements of our introduction together.

Introduction

This introduction achieves three important functions:

● It shows the examiner that you understand the question.

● It acts as a guide to the examiner as to what your essay is about.

 ● It also helps to keep you focused and on track as you write.

The two ideas in your introduction will become your two main body
paragraphs.

Main body paragraph 1 – Use car less – walk, cycle, public transport

Main body paragraph 2 – Renewable energy / natural forces – solar & wind
power, wave & tidal energy

How To Write Main Body Paragraphs

Main body paragraphs in IELTS double question essays should contain 3
things:

● Topic sentence – state your answer

● Explanation – develop the idea

● Example – give an example

Main Body Paragraph 1 – Answer question 1

The topic sentence summarises the main idea of the paragraph. That’s
all it needs to do so it doesn’t have to be complicated.
It plays an important role in ensuring that your ideas flow logically from
one to another. It does this by acting as a signpost for what is to come
next, that is, what the paragraph will be about.
If you maintain a clear development of ideas throughout your essay, you
will get high marks for task achievement and cohesion and coherence.
We’ll now take the idea for our first main body paragraph and create our
topic sentence.
Main body paragraph 1 – Use car less – walk, cycle, public transport, only
travel when really necessary

Topic sentence:

Conserving energy is a responsibility of every individual and an

important way in which we can all do our bit is to use more energy-
efficient means of transport.

Next, we must write an explanation sentence that develops the idea.

Explanation sentence:

The easiest way to do this is to leave the car at home and walk or cycle
to our destination if it isn’t too far away, or take public transport for
longer journeys. Another way to reduce our fuel consumption is to car
share.

Finally, we add an example to support our main point. If you can’t think
of a real example, it’s fine to make one up, as long as it’s believable. The
examiner isn’t going to check your facts. Alternative, you could add
another piece of information to support your idea but an example is
better.
Example sentence:

Whenever my friends and I get together for coffee, we agree to meet up

at a café that we can each get to without having to drive our cars
there. We usually go on foot or ride our bikes. If everyone made small
decisions like this, it would make a real difference.
That’s the 3 parts of our first main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

We now follow the same process for our second main body paragraph.

Main Body Paragraph 2 – Answer question 2

Again, we’ll now take the idea I’ve chosen for this paragraph and create our
topic sentence.

Main body paragraph 2 – Renewable energy / natural forces – solar & wind
power, wave & tidal energy

Topic sentence:

The most sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels are the generation of

power from natural forces such as the sun, wind and oceans.

Now for the explanation where we expand on this idea.

Explanation sentence:

Solar and wind power are already widely used across the world but it is
wave power and tidal energy that have the greatest untapped potential
to provide for our energy needs in the future.

Finally, an example to support our main point.

Example sentence:
A report recently commissioned in the United Kingdom estimates that
tidal energy could meet as much as 20% of the UK’s current electricity
demands once the technology being developed is operational. Wave
energy converters are expected to prove equally successful in the long-
term.

That’s the 3 parts of our second main body paragraph complete. Here’s the
finished paragraph.

Now we need a conclusion and our IELTS double question essay is done.

How To Write a Conclusion

The conclusion is a summary of the main points in your essay and can often
be done in a single sentence. It should never introduce new ideas.

If you're below the minimum 250 words after you’ve written your conclusion,
you can add a prediction or recommendation statement.

Our essay is already over the minimum word limit so we don’t need this extra
sentence but you can learn more about how to write a prediction or
recommendation statement for IELTS double question essays on the Task 2
Conclusions page.

The conclusion is the easiest sentence in the essay to write but one of the
most important.

A good conclusion to an IELTS double question essay will:

● Neatly end the essay

 ● Link all your ideas together

● Sum up your argument or opinion

● Answer the question

If you achieve this, you’ll improve your score for both task achievement and
cohesion and coherence which together make up 50% of the overall marks.
Without a conclusion, you’ll score below band 6 for task achievement.

You can start almost any final paragraph of an IELTS double question essay
with the words:

● In conclusion

or

● To conclude

Now all you need to do is briefly summarise the main ideas into one or two
sentences.

Here’s a top tip. Go back and read the introduction to the essay because this
is also a summary of the essay. It outlines what you are going to write about.

To create a great conclusion, you simply have to paraphrase the introduction.

Introduction:
Here is the same information formed into a conclusion:

That’s it. We’ve completed our essay. Here it is with the 4 paragraphs put
together.

Question:

Fossil fuels are essential for producing electricity, powering industry

and fueling transportation. However, one day we will reach a point when
all the world’s fossil fuels have been depleted.

How can we conserve these resources?

What are some alternatives to fossil fuels?

Finished IELTS double question essay.

 (351 words)

Go through this lesson as many times as you need to in order to fully

understand it and put in lots of practice writing IELTS double question essays
from past exam questions. Practice is the only way to improve your skills.