HOW TO THINK OF IDEAS FOR IELTS WRITING TASK 2

One of the biggest fears students have is opening up the writing paper, looking at task 2 and having no ideas. Idea
generation in IELTS writing task 2 is something students worry a lot about, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The reason
for this fear is natural, but there are easy solutions.

First World Problems

Most of the students I teach come from developing countries and they often complain that IELTS writing part two
questions are biased towards ‘Western’ countries and are mostly ‘First World problems’. For example:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high
school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who
decide to do this.

‘What the hell is a ‘gap year?” shouted most of the learners in my class. I did have some sympathy for them on this
question. Most of the students I teach have no first-hand experience with taking a year off before going to university. This
seems like a very ‘Western’ idea to them and they felt a little bit annoyed with the question, which is completely
understandable.

Fortunately, questions like these are rare and most of them will be on familiar topics that most people have an opinion
on, such as health, education and the environment. Remember that this is a language test not a general knowledge test.

Do my ideas have to be entertaining?

Many students also worry that their ideas are not interesting enough or they are too boring. Examiners are not looking
for you to entertain them. They are looking for you to demonstrate an ability to write an essay in English supported by
evidence and relevant examples. There are no extra points for interesting ideas. What the ideas must be is relevant to
the question being asked.

You can have the most boring ideas in the world and still get a band score 9, as long as your ideas are relevant.

This may seem illogical to some people who have already been to university and know that your ideas should be both
relevant and interesting. Stop thinking about how you write at university level, this is an IELTS exam, not a university essay.
Give the IELTS examiners what they want and nothing else.

Solutions
Below I will outline several solutions that have worked well for my students in the past. They are:
1. Common Topic Familiarization
2. Brainstorming – Listing (least effective)
3. Brainstorming – Clustering/Mind Mapping
4. 5 Questions Method
5. Personal Opinion Method (most effective)

No One Size Fits All

The main thing I have learned from teaching my students these methods is that no one method is suitable for everyone.
You have to try out each of them and see which one works for you. When you are practicing, remember that the examiner
is looking for relevant ideas that you can support by explaining them and giving examples. You should also use the one
that gives you ideas quickly. You will only have 2 or 3 minutes for idea generation in the exam. Don’t worry if this is taking
you a lot of time at the moment—you will improve with practice. Pick a method below, set yourself a time limit and
practice with some old past exam papers.
1. Common Topic Familiarization
This simply means knowing the 10 common topics that come up in the exam and learning some vocabulary associated
with these repeated topics. The wider your vocabulary, the easier it will be for you to think of ideas. If you have time,
don’t just stick with the 10 most common topics, go even further.

When you have free time, have a look at some English articles and identify some topics that might come up in the IELTS
test. When you do this you should be doing two things. The first is simply noting down any unknown vocabulary. Try to
guess the meaning from the context, and then look up the meaning to confirm on your smart phone or dictionary. This
will really help you, not only for writing part 2 but also for all the other parts of the IELTS exam.

2. Brainstorming - Listing
Brainstorming is basically thinking of as many ideas as possible relevant to your topic. It was developed by an advertising
agency, in order to come up with new ideas for advertising campaigns. The technique involves putting keywords in the
middle of a page and then writing down as many ideas associated with that idea as possible.

Some students, and many teachers, love this method and if it works for you then continue to use it, but I have a few
problems with it. First, some students spend too much time on this stage and try to think of too many ideas. Second,
because they are thinking very generally, their ideas are not relevant. It then takes extra time, which you don’t have in the
exam, to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant ideas.
3. Brainstorming (Clustering/Mind Mapping)
Mind mapping is a way to visually organize your thoughts on to paper.

Some people love this method, because it represents how their brain
is working and allows them to organize their thoughts. It is much more
organized than simply brainstorming and can be done very quickly
once you have practiced a few times with different questions.

The only disadvantage to this method is that some students spend too much time creating the perfect mind map. There
are no points for creating beautiful mind maps; they are only there to help you with ideas so do it quickly.
4. 5 Questions Method
This method uses who/what/why/where/how question words in order to generate ideas. This works best for people who
think very logically and also know a little bit about the topic already.

Let’s look at an example:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high
school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who
decide to do this.

Why- to gain work experience, to experience life in different countries, to understand different cultures, to make money
before going to university, lazy, not mature.

Where- tourist destinations, developing countries, local business, internship in big company.

How- save money, permission from parents and university, apply for internship/job, travel to inexpensive countries.
So as you can see, in a couple of minutes we have generated many ideas by asking ourselves just three of the five
questions. These ideas are much more than we need to complete the task, so always remember to choose the ones you
feel comfortable writing about after you generate your ideas.
5. Personal Opinion Method (or coffee shop method)
Personally, some say this is the most effective method because it is both the fastest and helps students focus on the
question.

The method is simple. Imagine sitting with a friend or family member in a coffee shop and he or she asks your opinion. In
an exam there is a lot of pressure on you and you often find it difficult to think, but if you were in a relaxed environment
with a friend, you would have no problem giving your opinion.

To think of more ideas you just imagine that your friend has the opposite feelings to you about the topic and write their
ideas down.

Let’s look at the example below:

Your friend- ‘Do you think it’s a good idea that young people take a year off between school and university to work or
travel?’
You- ‘Yes. Many young people are not mature enough to go to university at 18 and travelling or working will help them
mature. Working for a year could also allow them to save money and gain valuable work experience. If they go travelling,
they will get to experience different cultures.

So you see you have just thought about all the ideas you will need for this question. You can write your ideas down
(recommended) or just think about it for a minute.

This idea gives you a very clear idea about your opinion on the question and will help you stay relevant and write a clear,
coherent essay. Like any method, it takes practice, so try it out with a few past questions.