Understanding the IELTS Task 2 Question

If you’ve ever attempted to write an IELTS academic task 2 essay, you’ve more than likely spent a bit of time mulling over the question. Sometimes the question is clear cut and the ideas behind it come out rather quickly while other times they don’t. There are several questions that can be asked in the IELTS Task 2 section of the exam.  Here is a small list of possible questions.

• Agree / disagree
• Discuss two opinions
• Advantages & disadvantages
• Causes (reasons) & solutions
• Causes (reasons) & effects
• Problems & solutions
• Compare & contrast

Not every essay will fall into these categories, but most do. You may get some of these tasks mixed up. For example, you could be asked to give your opinion on an issue, and then discuss the advantages or disadvantages of it.  The golden rule is to always read the question very carefully to see exactly what you are being asked to do.

Before beginning to write any task 2 response, there are a couple of things that need to be completed first. This article will look at the two make considerations pertaining to the question for the academic task 2 essay. Keeping in mind that there are literally dozens of question patterns, these techniques will provide you with a valuable platform in understanding the essay question. 

Let’s have a deeper look into one particular question.

The Question

The first thing that needs to be accomplished before writing the task 2 response is to quickly find and identify the topic for the essay. The topic is the purpose of the essay and the basis for the question. Often, candidates will end up writing about the wrong thing because the topic wasn’t fully understood.  If the essay doesn’t relate to the topic, the overall band score for that particular response will be substantially reduced.

So, how do we identify a topic? IELTS task 2 questions are often presented with some form of issue or problem that is currently relevant and affecting society today. The candidate’s mission is to write about that particular issue in a logical and meaningful way. Therefore, the question needs to be read carefully and the issue identified. Normally, there will be a couple of keywords that will help with identifying the topic.

Let’s take a look at this topic from a past IELTS Task 2 exam paper. 

There are two elements to this question, the issue and the task. For now, we’ll focus on the issue.

The crime rate among teenagers has increased dramatically in many countries.

After reading the issue, there are two keywords that stand out, crime rate and teenagers. From this, we can conclude that the issue being presented in this particular task 2 question is teenage crime and further reading tells us that it’s on an increase. The response for this essay will be focusing on teenage crime and the increasing effects of it.

You also need to ensure that issue is clearly identified. Some candidates may identify that the issue is “crime” alone and ignore “teenagers”. If this happens, the essay will be marked as wrong because the essay issue expresses “teenage crime”. When you identify the topic, always look carefully to see if it is being narrowed down to a particular area that you need to focus on. Be certain that the issue is clearly identified before proceeding.

The Task

The second element to this question is what is known as the Task. The “task” is basically the instructions for the essay response. It specifically states what the candidate needs to write about. The task is one of the most important elements of the response as 25% of the band score comes from answering the task correctly.

In order to grade your task response, the examiner will be looking to see if you have answered the question and the elements of the task.  If you have only partially answered the question, this will decrease your grade for this criteria.  

Let’s look at an essay question again and identify the task. 

The task indicated here is “Discuss some possible reasons for this increase and suggest solutions”.  There are two things that need to be answered in the response;

1. Discuss some reasons
2. Suggest solutions

Therefore, the essay will need to include these two elements in order to receive complete scores.

After identifying the task for the response, the candidate can then go ahead and prepare a plan or outline for the essay. In doing so, one paragraph can focus on the causes and the other paragraph can focus on the solutions. We’ll look at paragraph development in another article at a later time.

Let’s practice identifying the topic and tasks on a couple of other IELTS task 2 questions.

This is a common question on the IELTS task 2 module. The issue identified here concerns the positive and negative effects of studying aboard and that it would be more advisable to stay home and learn. An interesting topic indeed and often contemplated by many international students. Now comes the task and here we have a different one that needs a bit of explaining.

The task in this particular question is agree or disagree with the statement. There is also another element that can be beneficial if used correctly “extent”. The task is asking how much you agree or disagree with this issue. This is an excellent opportunity to provide one paragraph with advantages, the second with disadvantages, and a conclusion that states your opinion. 

A later article will explain this writing technique in detail.

Let’s look at one more question.

Here is another interesting issue currently in debate today. Though computers are useful, many feel they are causing problems amongst children and learning. The issue further suggests that teachers need to focus on traditional methods of education and avoid technology in the classroom.  The task again provides an excellent opportunity for the candidate to demonstrate his or her knowledge for supporting this statement or going against it. As well, the conclusion paragraph is a brilliant place to present the writers point of view wrapping the essay up in style.

In later articles, I’ll be discussing how to continue on after identifying the topic and task by explaining how to prepare an effective plan for the essay. If you have found this article useful, please click “like”, link and share with your friends. Any comments or suggests are always welcomed.