hi there it's asiya in this video i'd like to share with you some of the most important tips
on how to improve your ielts writing task 2 score quickly and avoid costly mistakes
we'll discuss some tasks have a look at some samples of ielts writing let's get started
the first tip is carefully analyze the question before writing your answer
at the end of the day there is nothing worse than giving a brilliant answer to the wrong question
the last time i took a computer-based ielts i was really surprised when a girl sitting next to me
started typing her answer before i finished reading my task i mean 20 seconds into the exam
i'm a firm believer in spending several minutes to carefully read the task decide what you need to
do plan your essay and then write let me show you how you should analyze your task here is a simple
question in the future more people will choose to go on holiday in their own country and not travel
abroad do you agree or disagree let's analyze the question let's read it again in the future
more people will choose to go on holiday in their own country and not travel abroad on holiday
this means that today some people go on holiday in their own country and some go abroad
and the statement is that more people will travel in their country and fewer people will go to other
countries than today so please also note that the question is about people traveling on holiday for
pleasure it's not about business travelers and if you mention business travelers this information
would be irrelevant and you lose points for going off topic do you agree or disagree
this task is not about what other people think it's only about what you think
so think what position you choose for the essay what ideas you include and then start writing
and try to ignore people who start writing very quickly if you start writing earlier it doesn't
mean you finish earlier and it definitely doesn't mean that you get a higher score
tip number two don't contradict yourself there is a band 7 requirement that says that you must
present a clear position throughout your response let's have a look at our essay topic again
you need to say if you agree or disagree basically the whole essay is about your
opinion and you can say that you agree or that you disagree or you can have a balanced opinion
that means that you agree with something and disagree with something else in our case
a possible balanced opinion would be i agree that in the future older people will spend their
holiday in their own country more frequently but younger people will continue to travel
abroad as often as possible in this opinion i've split people into two groups older and younger
and i agree with this statement as far as it concerns older people and i disagree
when it concerns younger people i don't contradict myself i don't agree and disagree with the
same thing a big mistake would be to write about reasons why you agree and reasons why you disagree
it would be something like i agree that in the future people would travel abroad less
for this and that reason and then i disagree that they will travel abroad less for
some other reasons then i directly contradict myself in my online courses i show how
to write an essay if you agree and if you disagree and if you have a balanced opinion
there are slight but important differences and i'll link the courses in the description box below
but right now the main thing for you to remember is this in an agree disagree essay you only talk
about your own opinion and not about other people and what they think an essay where you discuss two
opposing points of views is called two views and your opinion here is an example some people say
that everyone should go on holiday abroad to discover the culture and traditions in
other countries others think that it's better to travel locally and learn more about your
own country first discuss both these views and give your opinion so in your answer to this
question you do need to discuss opinions of other people give arguments in support of both views
and then say which view you agree with the next step is to develop your ideas indeed developing
your ideas is one of the key requirements in task 2. basically you should explain
your ideas to the reader provide examples and supporting points to make these ideas very clear
listen to this paragraph and think if the ideas here are developed or not firstly traveling abroad
is a valuable experience for individuals because people who discover different cultures
and ways of life develop a better understanding of the world and generally become more open-minded
and tolerant to others secondly the new experiences that people have on their trips
can inspire them to improve their communities by using ideas from other countries finally
people feel more relaxed and rested when they completely change their environment
which is harder to achieve without crossing the borders of one's own land so what do you think
ideas developed i would say no let's have a look at the structure we have the first
idea in the first sentence the second idea in the second sentence and the third idea in the
third these ideas are not explained there are no examples what's more i would say the third idea is
actually not relevant our topic is about traveling abroad to discover other cultures and traditions
it doesn't matter what's the best way to relax and there is one more problem there is no
topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph to tell us what's it all about this is not a very
good example even though vocabulary and grammar are complex and accurate compare it to the second
version i've written ideas are the same i've only changed the way they are presented first of all
i've added a topic sentence travelling is a valuable experience that opens people's minds
and hearts this sentence shows that we're going to learn how travelling opens minds and hearts here
is the first idea from the previous paragraph people who discover different cultures and
ways of life in other countries develop a better understanding of the world and generally become
more open-minded and tolerant of others now the second idea i've replaced firstly and secondly by
moreover which shows that we're not just naming ideas one two three but we're adding to the
previous idea we're developing it moreover the new experiences that people have on their trips
can inspire them to improve their communities by using ideas from other countries for example
this can be done by opening a new business again the second idea is the same as in the previous
version of this paragraph but i've added an example and now i'm going to explain this example
indeed entrepreneurs may get new ideas when they become acquainted with well-known or traditional
ideas or techniques in other corners of the world and finally a sentence that sums up all the ideas
and helps us to smoothly transition to the next paragraph without a doubt
traveling abroad is an enriching experience for every individual okay the paragraph is ready
the next point is really important write a clear conclusion the conclusion itself
is important because if your essay doesn't have one you'll be penalized your task response score
will go down and in case you're running out of time shorten your body paragraph but try it
at least a one-line conclusion ideally a conclusion is where you summarize your main points
express your opinion if the topic asks you for your opinion and optionally give a recommendation
or a forecast to improve further try to write a clear conclusion by the time we're finishing the
essay we've have forgotten what the question was and if you write a conclusion without rereading
the task it may not answer the questions that you were asked and again you will lose points
you should directly answer the topic question in our example the conclusion could be
although traveling around one's home country can help people better understand some aspects of
their culture and history many of the experiences they encounter on such a journey will be familiar
to them i view woe travel as a more enriching and diverse experience that cannot be achieved
as effectively without crossing the borders of one's own land in this conclusion i've summarized
the arguments for both views and gave my opinion it's not too long it doesn't include
any unnecessary details or new ideas to learn more about this type of task check out my courses
and download the ielts writing task to workbook it's a free pdf guide where you can find
recent task 2 topics information on different types of tasks requirements and the answer sheet
to practice thank you for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam