Essay Writing Strategy for IELTS

Writing an Essay in IELTS is no easy job. Hence it’s fundamental to have the understanding of how to plan and strategize the entire process. Be it the Academic Writing task or the General one, you should be aware of the following –

1. Preparation

Read the task question thoroughly and ask yourself what exactly you have to write about. Brainstorm and come up with ideas until you zero in on one. Once you have the idea, focus on the tone needed to convey it – informative or complaining. Next, you need to understand whether the style should be formal or informal.

2. Planning 

Structuring the essay is essential. Keep in mind that you’re not just throwing your ideas on the page. Writing them down according to their relevance and importance is the key to score well in this test. Having said that, it’s imperative to know that you have 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2. Hence you shouldn’t spend more than 5 minutes and 10 minutes respectively for Task 1 and 2 on this stage.

3.   Drafting 

It’s time to write down your ideas on the answer sheet as per your plan and preparation. Your handwriting should be legible. It’s much wiser to write with a pencil in case you made any mistake and had to correct things. Coming to time, this stage should take about 10 minutes for IELTS Writing Task 1 and 20 minutes for IELTS Writing Task 2. Try not to exceed since you’ve to spare time for the next stage as well.

4. Reviewing 

Reviewing and improving your work is of utmost importance. To score well, you’ve to deliver the Best Writing answer. You should check the following in this stage –

• Have you answered all aspects of the task?
• Are your writing style, tone, and structure appropriate?
• Is your paragraphing logical?
• Are the essays free of all grammatical mistakes?

Do spend about 5 minutes for Task 1 and 10 minutes for task 2 on this stage. Remember that your essay for Task 1 should be between 150 and 190 words. Task 2 essay should be somewhere between 250 and 280 words.

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