Simon’s ielts writing task 2

 
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 
IELTS Writing Task 2: different essay outlines 
Today's lesson is a little longer than usual, so I'm attaching it as a document. In the lesson, I look at 
three different essay outlines for the 'extreme sports' question that I shared last week. 
Click here to see the lesson
There's also a warning about how not to structure your essay. 
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IELTS Writing Task 2
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Compiled by Diyorbek Hayitmurodov ielts-simon.com Page 162 
IELTS Writing Task 2: different possibilities
 
Let’s look at some different ways to answer the question below.
Extreme sports such as sky diving and skiing are very dangerous and should be banned. To 
what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?
Here’s the original essay outline that my students and I wrote. The numbers 1 to 4 refer to 
paragraphs in the planned essay. 
1. Introduce the topic, then
 disagree
2. Disagree with the idea that extreme sports are very dangerous
3. Disagree with the idea of banning them and taking away people’s free choice
4. Conclude 
Here’s a second possible outline:
1. Introduce the topic, then 
agree 
2. Agree with the idea that extreme sports are very dangerous 
3. Agree with the idea of banning them (to save lives etc.)
4. Conclude
And another possibility:
1. Introduce the topic, then give 
a balanced view
(e.g. while I accept that these sports are 
dangerous, I disagree with the idea that they should be banned completely)
2. Agree with the idea that extreme sports are dangerous
3. But disagree with the idea of a total ban - suggest stricter regulations instead
4. Conclude
But 
don’t
do this:
1. Introduce the topic, then say that you partly agree
2. Some people believe that…
3. Other people think that…
4. Conclusion
The outline above is for a “discussion” essay, not an “opinion” essay