Answer the question that was asked
The most common reason a fluent writer scores band 5 for Task Response is drift. The prompt asks about publicly funded students being required to return home, and the essay is about studying abroad in general. Every sentence is competent, and none of them is answering the question.
Before you plan, underline the exact scope of the prompt. Who is it about: everybody, or a subgroup? What is being proposed: encouraging something, or requiring it? What is being asked of you: to discuss, to judge the extent, to solve? Thirty seconds spent on this is worth more than any other thirty seconds in the hour.
Then check the same thing again when you finish. If your final paragraph has quietly widened the topic, narrow it back.
Two developed ideas beat four thin ones
Coverage feels safe. If you list four reasons, surely one of them lands? In fact the opposite happens: four reasons in 280 words means seventy words each, which is not enough to explain any of them, and the criteria explicitly reward extension and support rather than quantity.
A developed idea does three things. It states the point, explains the mechanism by which it works, and gives one concrete instance. If a body paragraph contains no because and no example, it is a claim rather than an argument.
This is also where genuine knowledge helps. An essay about brain drain that names what actually happens to Nepali medical graduates, and what a returning engineer would need in order to be productive, reads as thought rather than as assembled phrases.
What to stop doing
Stop opening with a memorised formula. In this modern era of rapid globalisation, it is an undeniable fact that is recognised instantly, and it lowers Lexical Resource rather than raising it, because the criterion rewards flexible use of language and not learned chunks.
Stop pinning cohesion on with connectives. Firstly, Secondly, Moreover, Last but not least at the top of consecutive paragraphs is exactly what the band 6 descriptor describes as mechanical. Reference instead: that objection, this approach, the second of these.
Stop writing a conclusion that repeats the introduction in different words. Two sentences is plenty. Restate your position and say what follows from it.
The five prompt types and what each demands
Almost every Task 2 question is one of these. The shape of your essay should change with the type, which is the reason a single memorised template does not survive contact with the real paper.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion
What it demands. Three things, and most answers deliver two. Both views must be given real weight, and your own opinion must be separate from them and visible throughout.
Structure. Introduction with your position, one paragraph per view, one paragraph developing your own view, short conclusion.
To what extent do you agree or disagree
What it demands. A degree, not a side. Largely agree, agree with one qualification and partly disagree are all stronger answers than a flat yes, provided you sustain whichever you pick.
Structure. Introduction stating the extent, two paragraphs supporting it, one acknowledging the strongest opposing point and answering it.
Problems and solutions
What it demands. Solutions that actually address the problems you named. The commonest failure is two unconnected halves, where the solutions answer problems nobody raised.
Structure. Introduction, one or two problems developed, matching solutions in the same order, conclusion.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it demands. Read the second sentence closely. Some prompts ask whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, which requires a judgement. Others only ask you to discuss both.
Structure. Introduction, advantages, disadvantages, then a weighing paragraph if the prompt asks for one.
Two-part question
What it demands. Answer both parts. A response that develops the first question beautifully and gives the second two sentences is incomplete, and Task Response is scored on completeness.
Structure. Introduction, one paragraph per question, conclusion.
Write one now, against the clock
Forty minutes, 250 words minimum. Plan for five, write for thirty-three, check for two. Write yours before you open the model, or you will not be able to see what your own answer was missing.
Writing Task 2
Some people think that governments should require young people who study abroad on public funding to return home and work for a fixed number of years. Others believe that people should be free to work wherever they choose. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Write at least 250 words.
Questions about Task 2
- How many paragraphs should an IELTS Task 2 essay have?
- Four or five. An introduction, two or three body paragraphs and a short conclusion. More than that usually means each idea is underdeveloped, and development is what the criteria reward.
- How many words should Task 2 be?
- At least 250, and around 270 to 310 works best. Beyond that most answers repeat themselves, which lowers Coherence, and you lose the checking time that catches article and agreement slips.
- Do I need real facts and statistics?
- No, and inventing statistics is risky because it reads as invented. What earns marks is a specific, plausible example developed into a consequence. Nepal losing a share of its medical graduates each year is a stronger example than a fabricated percentage.
- Can I use the same essay structure every time?
- You can use the same shape, but not the same paragraphs. The prompt type changes what each paragraph has to do, and an answer written to a template that does not fit the question is the main way strong English ends up at band 5 for Task Response.
- Should I write my opinion in the introduction or the conclusion?
- Both, and in the body as well. The band 7 descriptor asks for a clear position throughout. An examiner who reaches your last paragraph still unsure what you think cannot award that.
- Are linking words like Moreover and Furthermore good for my score?
- Used sparingly, yes. Used at the top of every paragraph, they read as a template and the band 6 descriptor specifically mentions mechanical use of cohesive devices. Cohesion that comes from the logic of the argument scores higher.
Reviewed 2026-07-28.