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

In order to improve a country’s education system, high school students 

should be encouraged to publicly critique their teachers online. Do you 

agree with this? What are some other ways high school education could be 

improved?

The above question has two sets of action words. They are:

1. Do you agree with this?

and

2. What are some other ways high school education could be improved?

Set 1 is asking for the candidate’s position on the subject, and this can be answered 

in a single sentence.

The ‘what are some other ways high school education could be improved?’ question 

requires a more in-depth response. In this particular instance, the candidate is being 

asked to expand upon their opinion in a non-discursive way, so an argument essay 

structure is valid. Were the question to request the comparison of education sys-

tems, a discussion structure would be more appropriate.

In the following example essay, underlined text has been used to indicate where 

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

73

the essay addresses question 1 from the task. Green text indicates where the essay 

responds to question 2: