I will also suggest some simple structures for each of these question types. It’s important for your essay to have a clear paragraph structure, as this helps you to organise your ideas better, and means you will write a more coherent essay. I generally suggest a 4 paragraph structure:
- Paragraph 1: introduction
- Paragraph 2: body paragraph 1
- Paragraph 3: body paragraph 2
- Paragraph 4: conclusion
(A body paragraph is simply the paragraph where you present, explain and support your views.)
Using a 4 paragraph structure is a good idea, because you often have 2 things to discuss in an IELTS essay – e.g. two different views, or advantages AND disadvantages. So if you have only 2 body paragraphs, then you can write about one of these parts in body paragraph 1, and the other part in body paragraph 2. This means you are more likely to discuss the 2 parts roughly equally, and you need to do this to get a Band 7 for Task Response.
These Structures Are “Guides”, Not “Rules”
The structures I am going to suggest are just guides. They are NOT rules. Many IELTS test takers think that they “have to” use a particular structure for a particular essay. This is not true. What IS true is that you need to have a clear structure to your essay if you want to get a high band score – these structures are simply ways to help you do that. If you are a confident writer, then you may want to change the structure: that’s ok, as long as there is a clear, coherent structure to your essay.
So let’s start by looking at the first of the five main IELTS question types: