{"id":307,"date":"2021-04-18T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T22:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?p=307"},"modified":"2021-05-04T16:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T23:41:03","slug":"brainstorming-ideas-ielts-task-2-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/brainstorming-ideas-ielts-task-2-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainstorming Essay Topics for IELTS Writing Task 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IELTS<\/p>\n

One of the most common mistakes students make when approaching their IELTS Task 2 Writing test is to just start<\/em> writing. If you start to write before you think about what you are going to say, your essay may be incoherent and irrelevant\u2014and your band score will suffer. The best way to fix this? Brainstorm IELTS Writing Task 2 topics before you write! In this post, we’ll take a look at how you can come up with essay topics for a variety of IELTS Task 2 Question Types<\/a> to create the most coherent and relevant opinion essays possible.<\/p>\n

Getting Started with IELTS Task 2 Essay Topics<\/h2>\n

Remember: on IELTS Academic Task 2 and the IELTS General Training Task 2, you’ll be writing a formal essay about an important issue facing the modern world or affective people’s lives. You won’t have outside resources with which to research the topic, so you’ll be relying on your own opinion. Because of this, factual accuracy is less important than the overall main ideas, cohesion, vocabulary (complexity, synonyms), and grammatical range (complex sentences) you show in your essay.<\/p>\n

The biggest problem when students don’t brainstorm in IELTS essay writing is that it can make their essay choppy and off-topic. Together, coherence and relevance make up 50% of your score on the essay<\/a>! (Vocabulary\/lexical resource and grammar are the other 50%.) Therefore, it is 100% essential that you spend 3 to 5 minutes planning your IELTS Task 2 writing<\/strong>—before you begin writing.<\/p>\n

As the bulk of your points will be picked up in your two body paragraphs, I recommend that you start your essay by first brainstorming what ideas you will write about and what relevant examples you will include to back up your own knowledge. Let\u2019s look at how to do this in IELTS writing Task 2<\/strong>. First, here’s the overall process that you’ll use.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Understand the type of question being asked.<\/li>\n
  2. Brainstorm ideas.<\/li>\n
  3. Choose an idea\/ideas.<\/li>\n
  4. Take short notes about your ideas.<\/li>\n
  5. Start writing!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    With that in mind, let’s look at each of these steps in greater detail.<\/p>\n

    Step-by-Step Guide to Brainstorming IELTS Writing Task 2<\/h2>\n

    Step 1: Understand the type of question being asked.<\/h3>\n

    In another post, we examined the 5 main types of questions <\/a>that you might see in the IELTS exam. Classifying IELTS questions into one of these categories according to common topics will help you make sure that you are answering the task response correctly. Look at the example Task 2 question below. How would you classify it?<\/p>\n

    Many large cities around the world lack affordable housing. What problems does a lack of affordable housing cause? How can these problems be overcome?<\/p>\n

    Write at least 250 words.<\/p><\/div>\n

    This is a Problem + Solution question type, so keep that in mind as you start to brainstorm!<\/p>\n

    Step 2: Brainstorm ideas.<\/h3>\n

    Let your mind wander for 30 to 60 seconds with all the possible ideas that instantly come to your mind. There is no need to make notes here, just mentally explore as many ideas as possible. These can be the negative effects or a negative impact of the problem, with a solution about how to avoid negative development of the situation\u2014or they can be a positive suggestion, coming up with better ways to address the issue through a more positive development of the topic.<\/p>\n

    As you’ll see, these are the same types of ideas, just framed differently. The main point? Be sure you come up with examples in response to the direct questions the prompt is asking you.<\/p>\n

    Below, I have written out some of the thoughts and IELTS Writing Task 2 topics that initially came to my mind when I read the questions above.<\/p>\n

    \nQ1: Homes unsold\/apartments unrented; very high property taxes; higher costs of living; difficulty attracting workers to city; homelessness<\/p>\n

    Q2: Use unoccupied housing for other purposes; limit rent prices; government support for the poor; tax breaks for charging less rent; workers telecommute\/live outside city<\/p><\/div>\n

    Step 3: Choose the idea.<\/h3>\n

    Whilst brainstorming ideas, several ideas should come to your head. You need to choose one for each question you need to answer. However, before you decide to go with an idea, ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n