Last Updated on April 17, 2025 by Caesar
IELTS writing task 2 is the second part of the writing section. This will require you to draft an essay on a particular topic to evaluate your writing skills in English. However, to ace this section, you need to practice and follow the guidelines well. Without it, you might find the task a bit tricky. Thus, to reduce your trouble, we have prepared a guide that will help you to have a complete understanding of the same. So, let’s get started.
IELTS Writing Task 2: An Overview
IELTS writing task 2, as the name suggests, is the second task in the writing section of the exam. It is a 40-minute task, and you need to draft an essay with possible topics where you have to respond to an argument, statement, or problem.
In this task, you need to write an essay of at least 250 words using a formal or semi-formal style. Besides, each essay must have a definite structure, including an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Moreover, you need to support your thoughts or argument with relevant evidence and examples. In short, writing task 2 analyses your ability to organize your ideas effectively and support them with relevant evidence, showcasing a strong grasp of grammar and vocabulary. However, you can come across different types of essay-writing tasks in this section. Thus, we will explain them in the upcoming segment to help you understand them.
Types of Essays in IELTS Writing Task 2
There are five different types of essays in IELTS that you can come across in the test. However, each one of them has some different properties and purposes of writing. Thus, read ahead to know what they demand:
- Agree/Disagree Type
This type of essay is also known as an opinion essay, where you are supposed to agree or disagree on a particular point of view. It is one of the most common types of IELTS writing task 2 that you will come across. Moreover, in the agree or disagree essay type, you can either completely agree on an opinion or disagree, or you can strike a balance between the both. To ace this type of essay writing, you need to be clear about which side you are on and keep your opinion the same throughout the essay. Additionally, provide the reasons for which you have chosen the particular side.
- Advantage/Disadvantage Type
As the name suggests, in this type of essay, you need to provide the pros and cons of something. Moreover, you need to structure the essay by starting with an introduction, followed by a body paragraph that will have advantages, a body paragraph two with disadvantages and a conclusion. Moreover, in this IELTS essay types, you might be asked to provide your opinion sometimes. In addition to this, you need to add examples that are relevant to the topic’s advantages or disadvantages.
- Problem and Solution Type
In this IELTS essay types, you will be provided with a problem, and you need to draft an essay that provides the solution. These are sometimes called cause and solution essays. Thus, you need to begin with an introduction, followed by a body where the first paragraph discusses the problem mentioned in the question. In the next paragraph, you will provide the solutions, their feasibility, and the examples and end the essay with a conclusion. Moreover, one thing to keep in mind while mentioning the solutions is that they should be practical and actionable and not hypothetical.
- Discussion Type
As the name suggests, you have to discuss the topic provided in the question in your essay. Thus, you need to provide your thoughts on different perspectives. Moreover, you need to discuss both sides of the issue and provide your opinion as well in the essay. The easiest way to approach this types of essays in IELTS is to choose a side to agree and another to disagree with. While drafting this essay, start with an intro, followed by the body for the side you have chosen, along with the examples. Moving ahead with another paragraph for the disagreed side and the conclusion.
- Direct Question Type
These types of essays in IELTS are also known as double-question or two-question essays. In this, there might be one, two or three questions for you to answer. Thus, you must answer all the questions completely. However, you must be careful not to provide too many ideas and confuse the reader. Besides, the questions can or cannot be linked together.
After learning about the different types of essays, you need to practice them to ensure you get good grades. Thus, to ease the process, we have listed some of the trending task 2 essay topics in the upcoming segment of the write-up.
Trending Task 2 Essay Topics
To score well, you need to practice on different topics. Thu, here we have provided the trending topics to have your hands on them.
- The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on society and employment.
- The importance of renewable energy sources.
- The inclusion of vocational training in school curriculums.
- Government spending on sectors like healthcare and the arts.
- The advantages and disadvantages of online shopping.
- The gap between rich and poor countries is increasing. How can it be resolved?
- The effectiveness of international environmental agreements.
- Having a good education is the best way to secure an ideal job opportunity. Do you agree?
- The question of whether education should be free.
- Some people think celebrities are poor role models for children. Do you agree?
- The balance of individual freedom and public safety.
- The ethical issues surrounding genetic engineering.
- Doctors recommend that older people exercise regularly. However, many of them do not get enough exercise.
These were different topics to practice and expand your understanding. Moreover, if you want to score well, you need to take a few free IELTS mock tests and use some effective strategies along with hard work. Thus, the next segment will help you explore them.
Tips to Ace Different Types of Essays in IELTS
To ace writing task 2, you need to know effective tactics so that you do not struggle to score well. So here are some of the enlisted:
- Understand the question type so you can draft an essay that has been asked.
- Plan before you write and collect all the thoughts together to clearly justify what you need to convey.
- Structure your essay properly as per the type it is. To practice this, you can take an IELTS writing mock test and analyse your preparation.
- Use appropriate sentence structures and vocabulary to enhance your writing.
- Do not forget to edit and proofread your essay at the end to eliminate all the minor mistakes you might have made while writing.
- Do not exceed the word count mentioned in the question.
- Find IELTS free mock test online to test your current progress and make necessary changes as per the result.
Conclusion
This was all about writing task 2, which you must consider before preparing for it. Thus, this write-up must have made you understand what the task is, what the different essay types it includes and the tips to ace the same. However, if you are not so confident about your preparation for the test, then taking writing, listening, speaking and IELTS reading mock test with answers will be beneficial. So prepare well and score higher.
