The Writing module of the IELTS test requires candidates to write an essay on the given prompt. The essay must be at least 250 words in length. Although the task 1 in the writing module is different in Academic and General IELTS tests, the task 2 i.e., essay writing, remains the same.
IELTS essay topics do not require technical knowledge to write; the prompts are based on general day-to-day affairs and cover a wide range of matters such as sports, academics, work life, travel, entertainment, development of children, art, history, technology, space exploration and so on. Only rarely do we see some tricky topics that are difficult to write about at length such as happiness, equality in society and so on. Nevertheless, neither of these will necessitate technical know-how but, one does need to be able to discuss it at length.
One common struggle that most candidates face when it comes to essay writing is to come up with ideas that are relevant to the topic. This is an issue that haunts even those candidates whose English proficiency is quite good and even those whose first language has been English all along. Many test-takers end up spending too much time thinking about what to write and once they do have an idea, they soon run out of time. On the other hand, many are too quick to develop ideas assuming that they are relevant to the topic and end up writing content that has no connection with the issue at hand. This could even happen due to a possible misunderstanding of the prompt. All things considered, writing an essay that is off topic, will cost you dearly.
Why are off-topic essays penalized heavily?
So, how do we ensure that our essay content is relevant? This article aims to shed some light on one strategy you can use to help you generate ideas that are not only relevant but also easy to explain. It is an entire exercise that you can start doing while practising writing. Initially it may take some time getting used to but with enough practice, the ideas will flow in naturally by the time you are taking the actual test.
The 27 topic areas every IELTS prompt connects to
As mentioned earlier, the IELTS Writing Task 2 prompts are based on general day-to-day conversation topics. To allow you to understand how to use this idea-generation strategy to your advantage, let us compile them into a list of broader areas. Keep in mind to remember this list:
- Art
- Artificial Intelligence
- Agriculture
- Business
- Crime
- Culture
- Children
- Entertainment
- Economy
- Environment
- Finance
- Globalization
- Government
- Gender equality
- Health
- History
- Media
- Personal life
- Society
- Sports and fitness
- Shopping
- Social media
- Transportation
- Technology
- Wildlife
- War
Please note these are very broad categories which may include a variety of smaller more specific topics. For example, Art is a broad term which may include modern art in the form of painting or some traditional artform such as a ceremonial dance or it could also be the art of storytelling. Another instance would be Business which is another broad term that encompasses specific topics such as trade, international trade, multinational corporations, local businesses and so on. The first step would be for you to think about every sub-topic or sub-category you can include in all the areas listed above. Once you have done that and noted things down, you should have a clearer picture — there is no right or wrong choice here, you can include one sub-topic as a part of more than one broad category.
How to implement the strategy
Having understood the list, you are now ready to learn how to implement it. First, take any essay topic, for example, and you will notice that it has something to do with either one or more than one of the areas listed above. Take a look at a sample prompt below:
Now, immediately, we can see that this topic has to do with two modes of transportation that are managed by governments. Once you have figured that out, it is time to go further. We know that there are two modes of transportation mentioned. Who uses transportation? People? Yes. What do they use transportation for? Travelling? Yes. Business? Yes.
Now, focus on the prompt; it says the government should spend more on railways. Let us, for the sake of generating ideas, assume that governments should indeed spend more money on railways. Ask yourself what would happen if your government actually did that. How would it affect your transportation? And by transportation, how would it affect your travel or your business? At this stage, you can ask yourself the same question using all the sub-topics you have listed under the main category of transportation. Once you do this, you will have enough clarity on how to extend your ideas for one part of your essay. This part will be from your personal perspective.
For the next part of your essay, you can extend your scope of explanation further. For this, setting your personal perspective aside, you need to ask yourself broader questions as to how one aspect or the other will affect one area or the other. In this instance, assume one condition first — the government starts spending more on railways. Now take area number 1 on the list and ask yourself, if the government spends more on railways, will this area be affected in a significant enough way for you to be able to discuss it at length? If yes, then is it being affected in a positive way or negative?
Now let us do just that. As you can see on the list, art and artificial intelligence would not be affected by government spending more on railways rather than roads. Next area is agriculture, and yes, there will be some impact, but not so significant that we can write an entire paragraph on it. Moving further down the list, we come across environment which can be affected significantly. For example, more investment in railways will push more commercial transportation off the roads and on to the railway tracks. This means fewer trucks on the road leading to lower emissions which eventually translates to betterment of the environment. Given that railways are capable of transporting a much higher number of people compared to a car or a bus, this could also lead to lesser number of vehicles on the road in general which further improves prospects for a cleaner environment.
Putting it all together — a summary
Once you have reached this far, you will have enough content for your essay. To summarize, the first step is to ensure you have clearly understood the prompt. Next, take the key parts of the topic and apply them to the areas in the list one by one while also keeping in mind the subtopics associated with each item. Keep noting every idea you feel is relevant and at the end of the list, filter out the ideas you cannot explain at length. Lastly, organize the content you have finalized in a flow that is easy to follow and do not forget to add examples. In your practice sessions, you might feel this is a time-consuming process but, stick to this method long enough and in no time, you will be able to do the whole process in your mind in just a couple of minutes before writing the essay.
Worked example — young people travelling before university
On a final note, let us take another example and plan the essay content. Take a look at the prompt below:
Keeping the above prompt in mind, below is what you can include in your essay:
What if youngsters travel before university? — Two areas from the list are relevant: culture and personal life. Through exposure to different cultures, youngsters can see improvements in their personal life as they become more tolerant. Another way their personal life improves is that while travelling alone, youngsters gain a sense of accountability by managing their finances, meals and personal chores by themselves rather than relying on their parents.
One disadvantage could be finances (also on the list of areas). If people choose to travel for some time before starting university, they may burn through their savings and end up having to take out loans for further study. This could disrupt their finances.
Now, you have two advantages and one disadvantage to discuss in your essay.
To summarize, this method of generating ideas works on almost all different types of essay topics. With little tweaks here and there, you can modify it as per your style and apply it to every topic you can find. All the best!
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