the average score for IELTS writing last year fell short of band 6 and ranked last among
academic test takers surprised probably not that's been the main struggle for most IELTS
students I know and it's understandable why not only do you have to come up with a solid idea for
an essay on a random topic but you also need to meet a set of very specific assessment criteria
in just 40 minutes the good news is that with some practice and a good understanding of what
actually the examiners are expecting from you you can significantly improve your results in
quite a short period of time in today's video I've prepared a detailed overview of IELTS writing task
2 to help you get the score you need to pass this exam it's Asiya let's get started [Music]
the task 2 essay tests if you can write in English you may say and indeed your vocabulary and grammar
determine half of your mark examiners also assess your ability to organize and develop your ideas
according to the conventional academic style you would have to use when you study in English
that's what task response is all about as well as coherence and cohesion the other 50 of your mark
to be clear about what you're expected to do let's look at a task 2 sample
so this topic is from the Cambridge practice tests nowadays many people choose to be self-employed
rather than work for a company organization why might this be the case what could be the
disadvantages of being self-employed give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples
from your own knowledge or experience write at least 250 words there are five different types
of IELTS task 2 questions our example is the two direct questions type we have an opening
statement followed by two questions what about the other types look at how we can rewrite parts
of our example essay to create more question types advantages and disadvantages nowadays many people
choose to be self-employed rather than work for a company organization do the advantages of being
self-employed outweigh the disadvantages this task looks similar to our sample essay but here
the idea is to just compare arguments in favor or against a statement two views in your opinion
nowadays many people choose to be self-employed some think being self-employed brings many
benefits While others believe it is too risky discuss both these views and give your own opinion
a very common type to task it looks a little more complicated because you have to address two points
of view and give your own opinion opinion essay it is better to be self-employed rather than
work for a company organization to what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement
another popular type which asks for your opinion while looking at both sides of the argument
problem Solutions work related stress is now a problem in many countries around the world what
are some of the factors that cause the stress and how can it be reduced here I change the topic to
make the example clearer this double question task asks you to describe the causes of a problem and
offer Solutions you have 40 minutes to complete task two that's not a lot of time that's why it's
so vital to know where you're going to have a very clear idea of how to develop the essay
no matter which of the five possible essay types comes up in your exam it's better to keep to a
full paragraph answer there may be times when you can add an extra paragraph I'm not saying not
to but let's look at the classic four paragraph model paragraph one outline the task and your aims
paragraphs two and three cover the main arguments you're presenting paragraph
four state your conclusions this secret of task 2 is not to over complicate your life
that applies not only to format but also to the content look at these Preparatory notes for our
topic reasons potential to earn more flexibility working hours holidays vacation advantages
Financial uncertainty more responsibilities higher level of stress we see just two reasons
why that's enough three disadvantages I mentioned yes but notice how the first two
are linked to the third both Financial issues and added responsibilities can lead to stress
in other words keep it relatively simple but make meaningful connections relevance is a big part
of your school you need to answer the question no matter what type of question this is what you must
do in the first paragraph is outline the topic and your aims so here is paragraph one an increasing
number of people today opt to work for themselves instead of having a job this Choice has a number
of benefits and drawbacks which will be discussed in this essay notice how paraphrasing is used
look again at the question and how we can rephrase it the first sentence is similar
to the topic sentence nowadays many people choose to be self-employed rather than work for a company
organization why might this be the case these are our benefits what could be the disadvantages
these are our drawbacks you're also telling your reader The Examiner where you're going
now a little quote from a former IELTS examiner if the question asks for your opinion remember to
State it in the opening paragraph now paragraph two present the benefits of being self-employed
let's look more closely at the structure of this paragraph the first sentence is often
called the topic sentence it states the main point of the paragraph some of the
most common reasons for self-employment are the income and lifestyle that it may provide
we need to give examples and explanations so sentence two goes into more details with some
concrete examples of the benefits unlike employees whose responsibilities and income are determined
by their employers people who work for themselves are free to implement their ideas as quickly as
they can and they receive all the revenue the next sentence explains what that can mean in terms of
income that means that self-employed people can potentially earn much more than those with similar
skills and experience who work for salary and sentence 4 States the same in terms of freedom
moreover not having a boss means that people can choose their own working hours and number of
holidays among other things the last sentence has very general example of the reasons why
self-employment is becoming more popular and summarizes this paragraph not surprisingly
more and more people are leaving the safety of a salary job to become self-employed the pattern
of topic example explanation gives a coherent paragraph in my courses we look much deeper into
how to develop your ideas how to extend them and give examples examiners are looking for but now
let's have a look at the third body paragraph This paragraph looks at the disadvantages six sentences
a little longer but again we can clearly see the topic example explanation sequence sentence one
introduces the topic despite the obvious appeal being self-employed is riskier than working
for someone else the next sentence presents the first risk involved one of the risks is financial
uncertainty this is explained in the next sentence entrepreneurs and Freelancers are not guaranteed a
certain level of income nor are they eligible for a pension paid holidays or sick leave
the next sentence presents another drawback the workload may be higher too
again let's explain what this means unlike employees who can specialize in one function
the self-employed are responsible for all of the business operations from attracting clients to
delivering products or services to Preparing their financial accounts to name a few and the
final sentence of the paragraph links the two disadvantages to other negative consequences
the multi-deter issues that self-employed people have to manage may cause them more
stress and anxiety than full-time employees tend to experience and now the final paragraph which
offers a short two sentence conclusion to conclude more and more people are becoming self-employed
choosing the flexibility and unlimited potential that this career path provides
this is a summary of the reasons now the disadvantages on the downside these people
are not guaranteed any income and must take full responsibility for themselves
by the way you can download this for sample answer via the link in the video description
now think for a moment by changing the type of question do we also change the paragraph structure
no we don't we still have the same four paragraphs now out of the four assessment criteria two of
them task response and coherence and cohesion a closely connected to what we've been looking at
so far today in task response The Examiner wants to see if you've answered the question in full and
developed your essay with relevant extended and supported ideas paragraphing and links
within and between sentences which create this logical sequence of ideas all help you achieve
a high score incoherence and cohesion all these criteria will work through in depth in my courses
so you learn exactly what examiners are looking for and how to write essays for each type that
adhere to these requirements I'll leave the link to the courses in the video description if you'd
like to check them out now let's get to the next category lexical results or your vocabulary The
Examiner is looking for a good range of vocabulary which includes what they call less common items
this can mean words or combinations of words that have a precise meaning in a given context
look at this from paragraph two again and notice the sophistication of the word combinations
the adjective noun of financial uncertainty the verb noun phrase of not guaranteed a certain level
of income and the adjective proposition of are not eligible for examiners are not looking for
some big fancy words from you but they do look at how you use words and how you combine them
to convey precise meaning let's talk about your grammar or grammatical range and accuracy as it's
called in IELTS a good mix of complex sentences with some simple ones were appropriate is the key
notice how in our sample essay in the third paragraph there are two simple sentences which
introduce two of the main disadvantages one of the risks is financial uncertainty the workload may be
higher too they're both followed by complex sentences explaining each statement in more
detail don't suppose that a simple sentence should be avoided they can be very effective
The Examiner is looking at your ability to write accurate complex sentences and they don't need to
be so complex use cohesive links such as although to join two Clauses together in one sentence give
examples or explanations through conditional sentences if where appropriate use the passive
voice these are some of the grammatical features that will guarantee a high band score in your
grammatical range and accuracy and this sentence from the essay is actually quite a complex
sentence with five Clauses and you don't have to go to this level of complexity to achieve band
seven so far I've shown you the four main criteria examiners used to assess your essays but there are
more requirements in each of them that we touched on today so to succeed in your exam I suggest
that you should learn about each requirement and particularly about the signs of band 5 or band 6
or in other words the common mistakes that are noted in the IELTS descriptors and how to avoid
them you should also learn about each of the five types of tasks too and how to answer them
and how to write what to write about in each paragraph of your essay particularly how to
develop your ideas in your body paragraphs and if you'd like to learn all this information in
one place and study it step by step check out my IELTS preparation courses which include writing
Task 1 2 and IELTS speaking they're Linked In the description along with the sample answer from
today's lesson which is free to download to dive deeper into writing task 2 right now you can watch
this video on how to write a perfect introduction for your essay using a three sentence formula and
thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam bye