IELTS Writing Task 2 Questions & Responses Samples

Examine these IELTS Writing Task 2 samples below to help you with IELTS preparation at home. Learn English by studying these IELTS writing samples and crack the IELTS!

• Top 5 tips for improving Writing IELTS Academic Task 1 Skills
• Top 5 IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing Tips
• Top 5 tips to improve Writing IELTS Task 2 Skills
• Top 5 IELTS Task 2 Writing Tips
• Top 5 Tips for IELTS General Writing 1 Letters

What is IELTS Writing Task 2?

In IELTS Writing Task 2 for either the General or Academic Test, you need to write an essay about an issue, focusing on:

• choosing a side you think is correct or better
• discussing both sides of an issues
• describing causes of a phenomena
• explaining effects of a phenomena,
• providing solutions to a problem
• OR a combination of two of the above

For most IELTS Writing tests, you will be asked to focus on a combination of ‘choosing a side’, ‘discussing’, ‘describing causes’, ‘explaining effects’, and ‘providing solutions’.

Even though many students are familiar with writing essays, being able to write an effective IELTS Task 2 essay can be difficult. Therefore, it is very important to do as much preparation as possible for test day.

How long should you spend writing the IELTS Writing Task 2 response?

The IELTS suggests spending 40 minutes writing your Task 2 response, but we recommend spending 45 minutes. This is because your Task 2 response is worth more for your IELTS Writing band score, so you should spend time making sure your Task 2 response as good as possible.

Does your response need to be at least 250 words long?

No. Recently, IELTS has decided that shorter responses will not be penalized just because they are short. However, if you write less than 250 words, you will likely get a lower score because your writing response will likely not have demonstrated all the English skills and abilities needed to get a high score.

How is the IELTS Writing Task 2 response scored?

One IELTS Examiner scores your Task 1 and Task 2 writing responses. Each task is scored separately, then the scores are combined to give you one IELTS Writing band score. Click here to see the IELTS Writing Task 2 score descriptions.

If you feel that you did not get the IELTS Writing band score you deserved, your writing responses are sent to the national IELTS offices. There, your writing responses are evaluated by another IELTS examiner.

How to use these Task 2 Questions and Responses

1. Analyze each question to understand what the topic of the question is, as well as what kind of essay you need to write.
2. Think about how you would answer the question.

• What would your main ideas be?
• What kind of examples or evidence could you use to support your main ideas?
• How would you organize your response?

3. Then, click on the link below each Task 2 question to see a sample response for that question.

• Examine these responses for unusual vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation.
• See how phrases are used to introduce new ideas.
• Study how each response is organized, with clear thesis sentences, one main point in each body paragraph, and a short summarizing conclusion paragraph.
• Notice how pronouns, prepositions, and gerunds are used to introduce extra information in sentences.

“Choose a Side” Task 2 Question

“Choose a Side & Solutions” Task 2 Question

“Advantages & Disadvantages” Task 2 Question

“Advantages & Disadvantages & Choose a Side” Task 2 Question

“Causes & Solutions” Task 2 Question

“Causes & Effects” Task 2 Question

“Effects & Solutions” Task 2 Question

Summary

So, notice in the Task 2 responses above what vocabulary and phrases can be used to talk about opinions, advantages, disadvantages, causes, effects, and solutions. See how each response has a similar organization, and how many sentences have extra clauses which go more ‘in-depth’ on the main point of the paragraph. Review these IELTS Task 2 responses Writing section every time you are doing mock IELTS Writing tests, and you will see your IELTS Writing score improve!

Discover more IELTS test tips!

• Top 5 tips for improving Writing IELTS Academic Task 1 Skills
• Top 5 IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing Tips
• Advanced Grammar for IELTS Writing Academic Task 1

• Top 5 Tips for IELTS General Writing 1 Letters

• Top 5 tips to improve Writing IELTS Task 2 Skills
• Top 5 IELTS Task 2 Writing Tips

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• Use PELA’s 3×3 Method to learn English at home!

Do you need to study for the IELTS test?

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