Writing Task 2 is scored against four criteria: Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Most candidates lose marks not because they lack ideas, but because their essay structure doesn’t make those ideas easy to follow — which directly hits Coherence and Cohesion.

A structure that works for any question type

Regardless of whether the prompt is an opinion essay, a discussion essay, or a problem/solution essay, the following four-paragraph structure holds up:

  1. Introduction — paraphrase the question (don’t copy it) and state your position or outline what the essay will cover.
  2. Body paragraph 1 — one main idea, with one piece of explanation and one example or consequence.
  3. Body paragraph 2 — a second main idea, structured the same way.
  4. Conclusion — summarize your position and, if relevant, restate it more strongly.

This structure isn’t about being formulaic for its own sake — it’s about making your argument easy for an examiner to follow in the 3-4 minutes they spend on your essay.

A self-review checklist

After writing a timed essay, go through this checklist before moving on to the next one:

  • Does the introduction paraphrase the question without repeating exact phrases?
  • Does each body paragraph contain exactly one main idea, explained and supported?
  • Are linking words used naturally (not forced into every sentence)?
  • Is there a range of sentence structures — not just simple subject-verb-object sentences?
  • Are there any repeated words that could be replaced with synonyms?

Practicing under realistic conditions

Use the free IELTS practice questions to source Task 2 prompts, and write under a strict 40-minute limit — 5 minutes planning, 30 minutes writing, 5 minutes checking. This mirrors real exam conditions and builds the time-management skill that’s just as important as writing quality itself.

Where this fits in your overall plan

Writing Task 2 is one of four sections in the IELTS study plan — and for many candidates, it’s the highest-leverage section to improve, since structural fixes can raise a score quickly compared to, say, vocabulary breadth.