How to plan an IELTS Writing Task 2 essay

IELTS Writing Task 2 gives you about 40 minutes. The useful first minutes are not the first sentence of the essay. They are a paragraph-level Outline: what each paragraph must do so the finished piece answers the Prompt.

This article is that plan. It is not a pack of memorisable templates, not a catalogue of essay types, and not a finished essay.

Why a paragraph-level Outline

Task 2 is one extended response to one Prompt. What you are judged on includes whether you address every part of the question, keep a clear position when the Prompt asks for one, and develop ideas instead of listing them.

A one-line sketch — introduction, two points, conclusion — is too thin. It does not tell you what each paragraph is for. A sentence-by-sentence script is too slow for 40 minutes, and it tends to become the essay before you have chosen a position.

A paragraph-level Outline sits in the middle. For each paragraph you write one job and the idea that will carry it. Then you write.

Spend the first minutes on the Outline

A workable split for about 40 minutes:

• A few minutes to read the Prompt and mark every part you must answer.
• A few more minutes to decide the position (if the Prompt asks for one) and to assign paragraph jobs.
• The rest of the time to write from that Outline.

The exact clock is personal. The rule is the same: do not start the first sentence until the Outline covers the whole Prompt.

Rehearsing with a timer is a different skill. This article is what the Outline contains.

What goes in the Outline

The Prompt in your own words. Write the task as a short instruction to yourself. If the Prompt has two parts, both parts appear here. If it asks “to what extent,” the Outline must include a degree, not only a yes or no.

A position, when the Prompt asks for one. Agree or disagree, discuss both views and give your own, weigh advantages and disadvantages with a judgement — the Outline names the stance before the first body paragraph. If you cannot state the position in one sentence, you are not ready to write.

Paragraph jobs. A common Task 2 shape is an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. That shape is a starting point, not a template you paste onto every Prompt. Each paragraph gets one job:

• Introduction: restate the issue and, where needed, the position.
• Each body paragraph: one main idea plus how you will support it.
• Conclusion: restate the position; no new claim.

One idea per body paragraph, with support named. Not the full paragraph. Name the reason or the illustration you will use so the paragraph has somewhere to go.

A coverage check. Read the Outline against the Prompt. If a part of the question has no paragraph job, add one or change a job. Do not hope it will appear while you write.

The Outline is not the essay. Keep it short enough to scan while you write.

Example

Example. An original Prompt invented for this illustration (not an official task):

Some cities spend more on new public parks than on repairing existing streets. Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Outline (jobs, not sentences of the essay):

• Restate: cities choosing parks over street repair; the task asks for a positive or negative judgement.
• Position: negative overall, because daily movement is the base public good; parks still matter, so the judgement is not “never build parks.”
• Intro job: name the trade-off and the position.
• Body 1 job: streets and basic movement affect more people, every day; a park does not replace a blocked road.
• Body 2 job: parks are worth funding, but as a later or shared budget, not by starving repair.
• Conclusion job: restate the judgement; no new policy.

That is the whole illustration — short, original, and not a finished Task 2 essay.

What not to put in the plan

A memorised skeleton you fill in on any Prompt. If the Outline would work for a different question, it is not answering this one.

A complete first draft in the Outline. That spends the writing time twice.

A list of impressive words to insert. Word choice belongs in the sentences, after the jobs are set.

A second task. This article is IELTS Writing Task 2 only.

Write from the Outline, then stop planning

Once the Outline covers the Prompt, write. If a better idea appears in paragraph two, check it against the position in the Outline. If it fits, keep it. If it opens a new argument the conclusion cannot hold, leave it.

The Outline’s job is to make the 40 minutes produce one coherent Task 2 essay, not to decorate a template.