WRITING TASK 2- DAY 1

I. INTRODUCTION (3’)
- This is the second part of the writing section. It requires you to produce an academic
essay with the minimum length of 250 words within a suggested period of 40 minutes.
- There is no obligation of the maximum length.
- This part takes up 2/3 the overall score of the writing section.

II. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (7’)

An IELTS essay id marked in accordance with 4 different criteria, each of which shares an
equal proportion in the overall band score (25% each)

TR (Task Response) CC (Coherence & Cohesion)

- Assess your answer to the question - Coherence means your essay is easy
mentioned in the TOPIC to read and understand, which goes
- Your response in the with handwriting and language
INTRODUCTION, relevant ideas and used in the essay
supporting details in the BODY - Cohesion means your essay stays on-
- The length of the essay topic and does not provide any
irrelevant and redundant ideas or
details.

LR (Lexical Resource) GRA (Grammatical Range & Accuracy)

- How effectively and accurately you - Your flexibility and accuracy in using
can use your vocabulary to develop grammatical structures.
your ideas. Big words and phrases
might lead to your essay becoming
forced and unnatural

III. TYPES OF ESSAY (5’)

1. Opinion essays (40%)

2. Discussion essays (20%)
3. Advantage & Disadvantage essays (10%)
4. Cause & effect / Problem and solution essays (15%)
5. Two-part question essays (15%)
IV. IMPORTANT NOTES (5’)

 Contractions are not allowed (he’s, she’s. can’t …)

 No “YOU”
 Don’t raise a question
 Don’t use informal language
 Always use paraphrase when possible
 Never COPY the TOPIC
 The 4-paragraph format is recommended for IELTS task 2
 No IDIOMS (except a few typical idioms used in writing such as “do more harm than
good”)
 Don’t use “so on”, “…” and “etc”

V. SHARPENING YOUR WRITING SKILLS (70’).

1. Paraphrasing Skills: Expressing the same idea in different words, sentences and
structures. There is no need for you to replace all the words and phrases in the original
sentence.

Example: Both governments and individuals should be responsible for protecting wild
animals as human activities are destroying their habitats.

 Tip 1: Active – Passive structure

Human activities are destroying their habitats.
 Their habitats are being destroyed by human activities
 Tip 2: Word forms (Usually nouns => verbs and verbs => nouns)
Both governments and individuals should be responsible for protecting wild animals.
 Both governments and individuals should take responsibility for the protection of
wild animals.
 Tip 3: Dummy subjects (it & there)
Both governments and individuals should be responsible for protecting wild animals.
 It is both governments’ and individuals’ responsibility to protect wild animals.
 A combination of these tips
 It is both governments’ and individuals’ responsibility to protect wild animals as their
habitats are being destroyed by human activities.

2. Practice
 Using paraphrase technique to rewrite these topics – introduction (but focus on the
TOPIC first)

 It is more important for schoolchildren to learn about local history than world history. To
what extent do you agree or disagree?
 Many museums and historical sites are mainly visited by tourists but not local people.
Why is this the case and what can be done to attract more local people to visit these
places?
 Nowadays, more and more people read news on the internet. However, newspapers have
most of important information sources of news. Give your opinion from your experience
and give examples.
 Some people believe government should spend money on building train and subway lines
to reduce traffic congestion. Others think that building more and wider roads is the better
way to reduce traffic congestion.

3. Homework
 More and more young people from wealthy countries are spending a short time in
communities in poorer countries doing unpaid work such as teaching or building houses.
Why? Who benefit more from this, the community or these young people?
 In recent years, the family structure has changed, as well as family roles. What types of
changes are occurring? Do you think these changes are positive and negative?
 Some people think that it is good for a country's culture to import foreign movies and TV
programmes. Others think that it is better to produce these locally
 People in the community can buy cheaper products nowadays. Do advantages outweigh
disadvantages?
 In the future, it seems more difficult to live on the Earth. Some people think more money
should be spent on researching other planet to live, such as Mars. To what extent do you
agree or disagree with this statement?

BUILDING PARAGRAPH
 I. Structure of a paragraph
- 1 topic sentence: Main idea of the paragraph (answer the question “What is the
paragraph about?)
- 2 -3 supporting ideas: Explain the main idea
- Many supporting sentences: Explain the supporting ideas

Topic Sentence
Supporting idea 1 Supporting idea 2 Supporting idea 3
Supporting Supporting Supporting Supporting Supporting Supporting
sentence sentence sentence sentence sentence sentence

Eg: [Topic sentence] Examinations may have negative impacts on both students and teachers.
[Supporting idea 1] The first reason is that examinations are not able to evaluate one’s true
ability. They can only test one’s memory or the skill of working fast under pressure.
[Supporting idea 2] In addition, exams may encourage bad study habits because students
tend to lay emphasis on what will be tested. [Supporting idea 3] Finally, these tests lower the
standards of teaching. The reason for this is that teachers would spend their time instructing
exam techniques and tips instead of teaching.

Exercise 1

Find the Topic sentence, supporting idea and supporting sentence:

On the other hand, other people believe that exams could have several advantages. Firstly, this
practice is a factor that stimulates students to work hard. It is true that students tend not to study
if there’s no exam. Therefore, these activities are a good way to force students to focus on their
study. Moreover, exams are also a tool to assess the performance of both students and teachers.
That is because exams could provide regular feedback to students who would acknowledge their
shortcomings and work on them. Teachers can also have an opportunity to monitor and evaluate
their teaching methods according to their students’ progress.

II. Structure of an essay

 Introduction includes 2 sentences:
 Background sentence
 Thesis sentence: Answer the question

Body 1 includes 4 to 7 sentences, which is divided in several

 Topic sentence: Support Thesis statement
Support  Supporting idea 1 – supporting sentences
 Supporting idea n – supporting sentences Support

Body 2 includes 4 to 7 sentences, which is divided in several

 Topic sentence: Support Thesis statement
Support  Supporting idea 1 - supporting sentences
 Supporting idea n - supporting sentences

Conclusion: Restate the Introduction: paraphrase the Thesis statement

III. Brainstorming skills:

You can narrow the topic and focus on some main aspects to find the ideas:

- Personal aspect
- Social aspect
- Culture
- Education
- Economics
- Politics
- Environment
- Education
- Science and Technology
- Moral and Psychological Aspects…

For example:

Question: “Eating habits have changed over the last 50 years. In your opinion, what are the
reasons for this phenomenon?”

Step 1: Underline the key words and narrow the TOPIC

 TOPIC => reasons for change in humans’ eating habit

Step 2: Brainstorming: Try to use NOUN PHRASE when you brainstorm the ideas

 Individual aspect: people these days too busy with job and study => no time for home
cooking => consume more fast food or convenient food => Reason 1: Time constraints
 Culture and Tradition: different types of food from foreign countries => more choice
=> Reason 2: Integration of culture and tradition
 Social aspect or economics: People can earn more money => require more (variety of
food, flavor, nutrition value…) => Reason 3: Higher living standard

IV. Practice (30’)

Use brainstorming technique to find some supporting ideas for these TOPIC SENTENCES

Car should be banned from city centers.

Brainstorm:

Teacher can support students by raising some questions

 Why should cars be banned?

 What problems do cars cause in the city center?
Paragraph:

Cars should be banned from city centers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Answer

Brainstorm:

 Cars cause pollution

 Cars cause many accident
 Cars cause traffic congestion/jams
Paragraph:

Car should be banned from city centers. The first reason is that cars release a great amount of
carbon dioxide and other harmful gases into the air. Therefore, a ban on cars in the downtown
areas could reduce air pollution, which would improve people’s health. In addition, cars also the
main factor that leads to traffic congestion. This common practice often makes people waste a lot
of their time. Finally, cars cause thousands of accidents each year, so people should use public
transport like bus or subway instead.
There are several reasons why cars should be banned from city centers. Firstly, a ban of cars from
downtown areas will instantly reduce the output of carbon dioxide, which would also improve the
inhabitants’ well-being and the rate of life satisfaction. Beijing, for example, has seen a rise in
community health and happiness since the government imposed the new law banning cars from the
centers at certain times. Secondly, since cars are considered to be the main factor causing traffic
congestion, the prohibition can help mitigate the traffic-related problems, especially in rush hours. In
other words, people don’t have to waste so much time waiting in cars because of this common
occurrence, instead, they can spend time doing other healthy activities such as playing sports or
preparing nutritious home-cooked food for their family.

Homework
1. Young people should not spend too much time playing video games.

2. Using computers saves a lot of time.

Answer:

There are several benefits of fast food. First, this type of food is considered to
benefit those who are busy with work. In other words, as the residents of high-
developed cities might not hold enough time for home-cooked food, they tend to
go for fast food. Japan, for instance, is famous for its stressful workers of whom
more than 85% eat out at some popular fast food brands such as KFC or
MacDonald. Second, many people choose fast food due to its reasonable price,
which explains why fast food is one of the most preferable foods in developing
countries. In Vietnam, one survey shows that more than half of the total amount
of beef is used for fast food industry.

There is an array of reasons for smartphones to be a preferred item among the

youth. The first reason for the trend is that smartphones provide young people
with various utilities. Thanks to the technological advancement, especially the
invention of wifi, people can use their smartphones to connect the internet for
different purposes such as researching information, chatting with friends through
social networking or playing games online. When asked about the most vital
object to take outside, smartphones became a dominant choice with more than
95% of High School students in America going for it. Another benefit of
smartphones lies in its profoundness of helping students in their acquisition of
knowledge. For example, students in modern society tend to use their phones as
a handy dictionary with the purpose of English study.