By Dr Na Pham – Copyright Sydney Language Solutions 2011

To complete Task 2 of your IELTS essay in the allocated 40 minutes and still confidently gain a good score, you may wish to consider some of the following recommended time-management tips (for the Argument Essay):

1. First two minutes: Highlight all of the key words in your essay questions as you will need to use the synonyms of these words throughout the writing of your essay. Make sure you can find at least one or two synonyms for each of these key words.
2. Next two minutes: Quickly write down the three main reasons why you agree or disagree with the essay question.
3. Next five minutes: Write your introduction. Please focus on writing a good thesis statement which should describe your essay type (discussion, argument, explanation or solution essay), an essay map and your viewpoint on the topic.
4. Next seven minutes: Write paragraph one which is the first argument (why you agree or disagree with the topic). Don’t write a paragraph any longer than five sentences.
5. Next seven minutes: Write down paragraph two which is the second argument (why you agree or disagree with the topic). Avoid repeating any ideas that you have mentioned in the first paragraph.
6. Next seven minutes: Write down paragraph three which is the third argument (why you agree or disagree with the topic). Avoid sentences that stray away from the topic as much as you can.
7. Next three minutes: Summarise your essay with a two-sentence conclusion. Don’t try to write a long conclusion. Save your time for your editing.
8. Last seven minutes: Please try your hardest to spend the last seven minutes checking for spelling and grammatical mistakes, and replace any repetitive vocabulary with an alternative word. Check the cohesion and coherence of your essay.

This is all for this session. I will recommend some more IELTS TIPS in the next discussion.

Dr Na Pham