This post will show you my strategies for thinking of better ideas for Writing Task 2 questions.
One of the biggest fears students have is opening up the writing paper, looking at the question and having no idea what to write. Students worry a lot about idea generation in IELTS Writing Task 2, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
The reason for this fear is natural, but there are easy solutions.
First World Problems
Most of the students I teach come from developing countries, and they often complain that IELTS Task 2 questions are biased towards ‘Western’ countries and are mostly ‘First world problems’. For example:
In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.
‘What the hell is a ‘gap year?” shouted most of the learners in my class. I did have some sympathy for them on this question. Most Vietnamese students I teach have no first-hand experience with taking a year off before going to University. This seems like a very ‘Western’ idea to them, and they felt slightly annoyed with the question, which is totally understandable.
Fortunately, questions like these are rare, and most of them will be on familiar topics that most people have an opinion on, such as health, education and the environment. Remember that this is a language test, not a general knowledge test.
Do my ideas have to be entertaining?
Many students also worry that their ideas are not interesting enough or they are too boring. The examiner is not looking for you to entertain her. They are looking for you to demonstrate an ability to write an essay in English supported by evidence and relevant examples. There are no extra points for interesting ideas. What the ideas must be is relevant to the question being asked. Have a look at my post on question analysis for help with that.
You can have the most boring ideas in the world and still get a band score of 9, as long as your ideas are relevant.
This may seem illogical to some people who have already been to university and know that your ideas should be both relevant and interesting. Stop thinking about how you write at the university level; this is an IELTS exam, not a university essay. Give the IELTS examiners what they want and nothing else.
Solutions
Below I will outline several solutions that have worked well for my students in the past. They are:
- Common Topic Familiarisation
- Brainstorming (least effective)
- Mind Mapping
- 5 Questions Method
- Personal Opinion Method (most effective)
No One Size Fits All
I have learned from teaching my students these methods that no one method is suitable for everyone. You have to try each of them out and see which one works for you. When you are practising, remember: the examiner is looking for relevant ideas that you can support by explaining them and giving examples. You should also use the one that gives you ideas quickly. You will only have 2 or 3 minutes for idea generation in the exam. Don’t worry if this is taking you a lot of time now; you will improve with practice. Pick a method below, set a time limit, and practice with old past exam papers.
- Common Topic Familiarisation
This means knowing the 10 common topics that come up in the exam and learning some vocabulary associated with these repeated topics. The wider your vocabulary, the easier it will be for you to think of ideas. If you have time, don’t just stick with the 10 most common topics; go even further.
When you have free time, have a look at some English newspapers and identify some topics that might come up in the IELTS test. When you do this, you should be doing two things. The first is simply noting down any unknown vocabulary, trying to guess the meaning from the context and then looking up the meaning to confirm on your smartphone or dictionary. This will really help you, not only in writing part 2 but also in all the other parts of the IELTS exam.
- Brainstorming
Brainstorming is basically thinking of as many ideas as possible relevant to your topic. It was developed by an advertising agency to develop new ideas for advertising campaigns. The technique involves putting keywords in the middle of a page and then writing down as many ideas associated with that idea as possible.
Some students, and many teachers, love this method and if it works for you, then continue to use it, but I have a few problems with it. Firstly, some students spend too much time on this stage and try to think of too many ideas. Secondly, because they are thinking very generally, their ideas are irrelevant. It then takes extra time, which you don’t have in the exam, to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant ideas.
- Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a way to visually organise your thoughts onto paper.
Some people love this method because it represents how their brains work and allows them to organise their thoughts. It is much more organised than simply brainstorming and can be done very quickly once you have practised a few times with different questions.
A good technique is to place the keywords in the middle and then place the micro-keywords on the branches.
The only disadvantage to this method is that some students spend too much time creating the perfect mind map. There are no points for creating beautiful mind maps; they are only there to help you with ideas, so do it quickly.
- 5 Questions Method
This method uses who/what/why/where/how question words to generate ideas for Writing Task. This works best for people who think very logically and know a little about the topic already.
Let’s look at an example:
In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.
Why- to gain work experience, to experience life in different countries, to understand different cultures, to make money before going to university, lazy, not mature.
Where- tourist destinations, developing countries, local business, an internship in a big company.
How- save money, permission from parents and university, apply for internship/job, travel to inexpensive countries.
So as you can see, in a couple of minutes, we have generated many ideas by asking ourselves just three of the five questions. These ideas are much more than we need to complete the task, so always remember to choose the ones you feel comfortable writing about after you generate your ideas.
- Personal Opinion Method (or coffee shop method)
I think this is the most effective method for generating ideas for writing tasks because it is the fastest and helps students focus on the question.
The method is simple. I ask students to imagine they are sitting with their friend or family member in a coffee shop, and they ask their opinion. In an exam, there is a lot of pressure on you, and you often find it difficult to think, but if you were in a relaxed environment with a friend, you would have no problem giving your opinion.
To think of more ideas, imagine that your friend has the opposite feelings to you about the topic and write their ideas down.
Let’s look at the example below:
Your friend- ‘Do you think it’s a good idea that young people take a year off between school and university to work or travel?’
You- ‘Yes. Many young people are not mature enough to go to university at 18, and travelling or working will help them mature. Working for a year could also allow them to save money and gain valuable work experience. If they go travelling, they will get to experience different cultures.
So you see, you have just thought about all the ideas you will need for this question. You can write your ideas down (recommended) or think about them for a minute.
This gives you a very clear idea about your opinion on the question and will help you stay relevant and write a coherent essay. Like any method, it takes practice, so try it out with a few past questions.
I hope this has been of help to you, and please let me know if you have any questions or feedback.
If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear from you.
Further Help
Click here to download your FREE study plan to guide you through your IELTS preparation.
Below you will find a video lesson that will show you how to think of ideas for Writing Task 2:
You can find more video lessons like this on my YouTube Channel and Facebook page.
Need more help with Writing Task 2?
No problem – see below for more resources to help you get ready for your IELTS exam.
This article is unique to anything we’ve published before. Read it now to access our 61-page Task 2 strategy.
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