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INTRODUCTION

Time was once a constraint for test-takers, but given the current lockdown, you could utilize it to learn some important strategies to upgrade your writing skills and mastering Task 2 or Essay writing of the IELTS test. IELTS is one the world’s foremost English language proficiency exams, accepted worldwide for admission and immigration purposes. Therefore, it makes sense for them to place high demands on quality writing, which is based on four criteria – Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

Hurray - with 10 years of experience - offers you the best IELTS training in Bangalore from a  team of expert trainers, who can help you gain your desired band score – and secure your place abroad!

Essay Writing can be tricky but if you analyze your task, create the correct task response by planning the structure, include relevant points and write appropriate examples then, you can ace IELTS Writing Task 2. Remember while the total time for IELTS writing is 60 minutes, the essay writing time limit is 40 minutes. You are suggested to write at least 250 words and not less. Here are some key points that can help you understand how to structure your essay. To understand more about this read our blog on IELTS Writing: Tips For Essay Writing.

IELTS Essay-writing Task

The IELTS writing test is designed to test your ability to communicate via writing. 

Essay-writing is the 2nd task in the writing test – common to both IELTS Academic and IELTS General. 

You will be given a prompt i.e. a topic or question, and are expected to write an essay of a minimum 250 words. You are recommended to spend about 40 minutes on the task.  

Besides ensuring that you fulfil the task correctly, grammar and vocabulary, one of the major scoring factors of the task is ‘Coherence and Cohesion’. 

To ensure that you fulfill this criterion, it is essential that you pay attention to formulating the structure of your essay – i.e. the organization of ideas. Our experienced trainers, spearheading the IELTS training programmes, have put together a list of top tips and techniques to help you write the perfectly structured essay.

Structuring your Essay

1. Plan ahead

Before you begin writing, take the time to make a quick and basic plan, to help you organise your thoughts and ideas. 

Identify the main points you want to talk about and organise them into a particular order. About 3-4 points should suffice.

Planning in advance will ensure that you maintain cohesion i.e. that all the ideas are relevant to what you want to say.

We recommend that you take about 4-5 minutes to plan, leaving 35 minutes to write. 

And believe us – taking this extra time to plan will not limit your time to write. In fact, you will write faster and better, if you know what to write in advance!

2. Write in paragraphs

Divide your essay into paragraphs, such that each of your main points is covered in one paragraph, individually.

• Paragraph 1: Introduction and topic sentence
• Paragraphs 2-4: Main body
• Paragraph 5: Conclusion  

2.1. Introduction

The introduction must contain two primary components: opening sentence and topic sentence.

1. Opening sentence

You must begin your essay on the best note with a well-crafted opening sentence. In this sentence, you will establish what you will be discussing in your essay.

You can derive your content from the essay prompt itself. Furthermore, you must let your opening sentence hint at your main argument.

Remember – this sentence must be compelling enough to invite your reader to read more about why you are saying what you are saying.

2. Topic sentence

The topic sentence encompasses your main argument. It should follow soon after your opening sentence.

In this statement, you must clearly state your position – i.e. whether you are arguing for or against the essay prompt. Let the majority of the sentence reflect the key terms in the essay prompt.

Some of the phrases you can use include:

• “In this essay, I argue that…”
• “In this essay, I will demonstrate arguments for/against…”
• “I believe that… and will thus be arguing for/against it.”
• “My opinion is that…”

2.2 Main body

Here, you will support your main argument as established in the introductory paragraph, with your supporting arguments.

You can make use of the following structure for each paragraph. 

• Opening sentence – introducing the main idea/argument
• Supporting sentence(s) – explaining and justifying your argument
• Example/anecdote/evidence – to further justify your argument

Using such a structure will help you to maintain coherence i.e. a logical flow of ideas. This is typically accomplished through the use of words which help to establish the connection between ideas, such as: while, thus, for instance, furthermore. 

As you complete each paragraph you must also ensure that there is coherence in the flow from one paragraph to the next. You will use transitional sentences, words or phrases to establish this flow, as follows:

• Additionally/in addition to/besides this
• Similarly
• However/nonetheless
• In contrast/alternatively

These words/phrases connect your new idea with what you mentioned before.

2.3 Conclusion 

Your conclusion, like your opening sentence, must be strong. In the conclusion you will reiterate your main argument, in connection with the points you have made.

You can summarize your points in a word or phrase – however, do not repeat any of the details again.

These are some phrases you can use in your conclusion:

• In conclusion…
• To conclude…
• This essay concludes that…
• Based on/in light of/owing to (the evidence/examples/arguments) 
• As demonstrated in this essay…
• It can be established that…
• It is proven herein that…

At Hurray, our PTE trainers can help provide you more tips and practice opportunities, while honing your language skills and working on problem areas.

We also offer both IELTS classroom training and IELTS online training – offering you the flexibility you need, to adapt our programme to your own busy schedule! 

*Update for Covid-19: For all of you staying home, we are here to assist you with your IELTS preparation during the lockdown. All of our blog content can be used as frameworks guiding your practice and study efforts – so you can make the most of this time!

Reach out to us via email: info@hurrayedutech.com or phone: 8971357938, for more details.

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