How to analyse and understand a writing task 2 question for IELTS

In this article, I will discuss how you can correctly analyse and understand any writing task 2 question for IELTS.

Understanding the question and what the question wants from you is essential if you want to score highly.  I often see students with fantastic answers but for a question that they were not asked.  

In fact, it is so important that if you do not directly answer the question you may be limited to a grade 6 or lower in the task achievement part of your score.

 For the previously mentioned reasons it is important that we know exactly what we are going to answer before we start writing. 

Frequently students will tell me that they just wanted to start writing as soon as possible and it was for this reason that they did not spend time analysing the question. This is an incredibly bad strategy and spending a little bit of extra time analysing the question and making sure that you fully understand it will stop you from incorrectly answering the question.

You would not start driving your car without first understanding where you are going and it is the same for the IELTS test. 

YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO ANALYSE THE QUESTION 

There are 3 essential stages to question analysis in IELTS:

 Stage 1  -  identify the topic words

 Stage 2 - identify other keywords and important modifiers

 Stage 3 -  identify the instruction words 

Let's begin by looking at an example IELTS W2 question.  

W2 Question 

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Space exploration is much too expensive and the money should be spent on more important things.

What is your opinion?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

All  IELTS writing task 2 questions follow the same format or structure:

• You will be presented with a general statement on a topic

• the statement you are provided with will contain a point of view and issue or argument that is linked to the topic

•  you will then be asked to give a response to the statement 

Next, I will show you how you can complete all three stages of question analysis for the example question given above.

Stage 1 -  identify the topic words

Space exploration is much too expensive and the money should be spent on more important things.

What is your opinion?

You can see here that the question is about space exploration and spending money.  However, if we just talk about space exploration and money in general we are probably not directly answering the question. As a consequence, we can easily lose points and end up with a low score.

In order to improve our score and directly answer the question, we must find out specifically what about space and money we are being asked to comment on.

 Stage 2 - identify other keywords and important modifiers

Space exploration is much too expensive and the money should be spent on more important things.

What is your opinion?

By highlighting the words above hopefully, you can see that this question is actually asking you about how we should spend our money as a society. Any general discussions of space and money will not be relevant to the question.

Modifiers can play an important role in helping you analyse the question accurately. 

A modifier is something that changes, explains, qualifies, or limits a specific word in a sentence for the purpose of adding emphasis, detail, or further explanation.  They are normally descriptive words like adverbs and adjectives or phrases like adjective clauses or adverbial phrases. 

Common examples include: Just, Almost, Hardly, Always, Only, At first and, Simply.

For the question above I feel it is important to draw your attention to the fact that it says “much too expensive”.  It says “much too expensive” because it is offering a value judgment,  the statement is explicit in stating that it feels the current level of spending is excessive.  Secondly, I have highlighted “should” because should is a modal verb that emphasizes obligation and duty.  “Should” emphasises an ideal action and not necessarily one that is a reality.

In other words, the question is asking you whether in an ideal situation we should continue to spend large amounts of money on space exploration or redirect it to other perhaps more worthy causes. 

 Stage 3 -  identify the instruction words

It is important to identify the instruction words so that you can properly structure your response. 

Instruction words always come after the question statement.

Generally speaking, there are four basic types of questions that you can be asked in the IELTS writing task 2. However please note that some questions may actually ask you to do two things such as discuss both sides and give your opinion.  

1/  opinion questions

2/  advantage and disadvantage questions

3/  discussion questions

4/  problem and solution questions 

The instruction words will help you to properly identify which of the four types of question you have to answer.   This is important because the way that we structure our response will have to be appropriate for the type of question we have been asked. 

Space exploration is much too expensive and the money should be spent on more important things.

What is your opinion?

For the question above we are asked "what is your opinion?”.  Quite simply we are being asked here what our opinion is and in order to answer the question we will need to provide our opinion and give supporting evidence. 

Another common way that opinion questions are phrased is to ask you to what degree or what extent do you agree with a statement

This part is not so complicated. If it's a discussion question, It will normally ask you to discuss both sides,  if it is an advantage and disadvantage question it will ask you to talk about the advantages and disadvantages. 

Although this blog is quite long in the test this process should take you a maximum of 2 to 3 minutes.  I would suggest that it is an essential stage in planning and that it is a highly risky strategy to start writing before you know exactly what you are being asked. 

Below is a shortlist of questions that you can practice analysing. 

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Nowadays many people have access to computers and a large number of children enjoy playing video games. What are the advantages and disadvantages of playing video games for children?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

One problem faced by almost every large city is traffic congestion.

·  What do you think the causes are?

·  What solutions can you suggest?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Advances in science and technology and other areas of society in the last 100 years have transformed the way we live as well as postponing the day we die. There is no better lime to be alive than now.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Some people think that zoos are cruel and should be closed down. Others, however, believe that zoos can be useful in protecting wild animals.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

NEXT STEPS?

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog.  If you have any questions regarding the test or would like to inquire about my writing correction services or IELTS online classes please email me at info@lovetolearnenglish.com.