I nte r nati o nal e n g LI s h lan g uag e testi n g syste m

Should I write my response in pen or pencil?

The 

IELTS Information for Candidates booklet

 states that IELTS Writing may be com-

pleted in either pen or pencil.

Will I lose marks if I scratch out sentences or large chunks of my essay?

No, you will not. However, try to be as neat as possible to avoid confusion. The exam-

iner will do what they can to overlook any scratched out text.

Some Task 2 questions use ‘do you agree or disagree’ while others use ‘to what 

extent do you agree or disagree’. Is there a difference between these action word 

combinations?

Despite the mild wording difference, both questions permit the candidate to entirely 

agree or disagree with the topic, which is the response approach recommended by 

this book. Thus, the thesis used to respond to either combination would be the same.

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IELTS Academic Task 2: How to write at a band 9 level

82

R

eview

What are the three areas you should identify when interpreting IELTS essay ques-

tions?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________

How many paragraphs should your IELTS Task 2 response be?

_______________________________

What is the most important sentence in an argument essay? What does this sentence 

do?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name one way argument essays and discussions essay are different.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is cohesion?

________________________________________________________________________________________________

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IELTS Academic Task 2: How to write at a band 9 level

83

Fill in the missing information in this argument essay outline:

Paragraph 1 – Introduction

•  Sentence 1 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 2 – Detailed background statement

•  Sentence 3 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 4 – Outline sentence

Paragraph 2 – First supporting paragraph

•  Sentence 1 – Topic

•  Sentence 2 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 3 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 4 – Conclusion

Paragraph 3 – Second supporting paragraph

•  Sentence 1 – Topic

•  Sentence 2 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 3 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 4 – Conclusion

Paragraph 4 – Conclusion

•  Sentence 1 – _______________________________

•  Sentence 2 – Restatement of thesis

•  Sentence 3 – _______________________________

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IELTS Academic Task 2: How to write at a band 9 level

84

Write an essay in response to this essay question: