{"id":1817,"date":"2015-07-02T14:18:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T07:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humorous-knowledge.flywheelsites.com\/?p=1817"},"modified":"2023-04-18T13:51:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T12:51:48","slug":"how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Plan an IELTS Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lyte-wrapper fourthree\" style=\"width:420px;max-width:100%;margin:5px auto;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_otSbdkbtm2M\"><div id=\"lyte_otSbdkbtm2M\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FotSbdkbtm2M%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/otSbdkbtm2M\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FotSbdkbtm2M%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"420\" height=\"295\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:420px;margin:5px auto;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p>This post will show you how to make a great plan that will help you write a clear essay every time.<\/p>\n<h2>The&nbsp;Benefits of Planning<\/h2>\n<p>There are normally around 16 students in my IELTS classes. Every new class gets at least a 30-minute session with me on planning and how much it improves your essays. I normally give the students 20 minutes to plan a Task 2 essay which they finish for homework.<\/p>\n<p>This is always interesting because normally, only 2 or 3 students actually follow my instructions and use the time to plan. The rest of them go straight into writing the essay. The result? The students who always took the time to plan (and I mean EVERY time) produce better essays.<\/p>\n<p>Writing an IELTS essay without a plan is like putting IKEA furniture together without instructions. You will get halfway through it, get lost and frustrated, and you will lose control of your entire essay and end up with something like this:<\/p>\n<p>A good plan should be like a map that guides you through the essay and ensures you get to where the examiner wants you to go. Every sentence should have a purpose; if you are writing for the sake of writing, then it won&#8217;t be a very good essay. Less is more in many cases, and a good plan ensures that every sentence has a purpose.<\/p>\n<h2>But Teacher, I Don&#8217;t Have Time!<\/h2>\n<p>This is the number one excuse for not&nbsp;planning.<\/p>\n<p>What if I told you that the longer you plan, the less time it will take you to write the essay?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at two examples: student A who doesn&#8217;t like to plan, and student B, who spends 10 minutes planning.<\/p>\n<p>Student A does this: write-think-think-write-delete-think-write-write-delete-think-write.<\/p>\n<p>Student B does this: think-write.<\/p>\n<p>It is impossible for most people- including IELTS examiners and teachers- to sit down and write a good essay without thinking it through first. If you don&#8217;t plan, you have to think as you write and doing these two things, plus writing in a foreign language, thinking about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/03\/10\/ielts-writing-task-1-grammar-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">grammar and vocabulary<\/a> and thinking about writing skills all at the same time, results in a very confusing piece of writing. I also find that students who don&#8217;t plan have to restart their essays, and it is not uncommon to see students delete entire essays and start again.<\/p>\n<h2>How Does a Plan Save You Time?<\/h2>\n<p>You have 40 minutes to write a Task 2 essay. Even if you took 10 minutes to plan and 5 minutes to check your work at the end, you still have 25 minutes to write your essay.<\/p>\n<p>The average 250-word essay is about 12 sentences long, so you have over 2 minutes to write one sentence. I think everyone is capable of doing that.<\/p>\n<p>When you have a good plan, you know exactly what that sentence will be about and how it fits in with the rest of the essay. You don&#8217;t have to think of ideas or structure; write grammatically correct sentences and clearly say what you think about the question.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to spend exactly 10 minutes planning and 5 minutes checking at the end. You could plan for 7-8 minutes and check for 2-3 minutes. Practice finding out what works best for you.<\/p>\n<h2>How To Plan<\/h2>\n<p>Planning has &nbsp;4 stages:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/03\/05\/how-to-understand-analyse-ielts-writing-task-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Question Analysis&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/03\/05\/ideas-ielts-writing-part-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Idea Generation&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/03\/03\/ielts-writing-task-2-essay-structures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Structure&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/ielts-vocabulary-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vocabulary&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Question Analysis<\/h3>\n<p>This is probably the most important stage. The number one problem most IELTS students have is not answering the question properly. Did you know you can&#8217;t get above a band score 5.0 if you don&#8217;t address all parts of the question?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at an example question:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One of the consequences of <em>improved medical care<\/em> is that the people are <strong>living longer<\/strong> and <strong>life expectancy is increasing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think the<em><strong> advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages<\/strong>?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The keywords here are &#8216;<em>improved medical care<\/em>&#8216;. This is our general topic. It is important to know this, not for what we <strong>should<\/strong> write about but about what we <strong>shouldn&#8217;t<\/strong> write about. A common mistake is to highlight the main keywords or main topic and write about this very generally. If you do this, you have not answered the question.<\/p>\n<p>We, therefore, need to think about things more specifically and look for what I call micro-keywords. They are &#8216;<strong>living longer<\/strong>&#8216;, and &#8216;<strong>life expectancy is increasing<\/strong>&#8216;. We, therefore, need to write about these and how improved medical care has increased life expectancy. But we can&#8217;t just write a general essay about this; we must look at the <strong>instruction words<\/strong> next.<\/p>\n<p>The instruction words are &#8216;<em><strong>Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?<\/strong>&#8216;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In this example, we must decide which side (advantages or disadvantages) is stronger. If you choose advantages, you will have to say why these are much stronger than the advantages and why the disadvantages are not so strong. If you discuss the advantages, you will not answer the question correctly. We will also need to make our opinion about this very clear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So, in summary, we must: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Find keywords (general topic) <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Find micro-keywords (specific topic)&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Find instruction words (how to answer the question)&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Idea Generation<\/h3>\n<p>Many teachers and books about IELTS advise students to brainstorm (thinking of as many ideas as possible) at this stage. I don&#8217;t think that brainstorming is very effective because it leads to irrelevant ideas and wastes valuable time.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of brainstorming, we need to answer the questions directly. If one of your friends asked you this question in a coffee shop, you would have no problem thinking of an answer, so do the same in the exam. It helps to frame it within &#8216;Why?&#8217; questions.<\/p>\n<p>So for the example above, we could ask ourselves two questions:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Why<\/strong> are the advantages of increased life expectancy strong?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why&nbsp;<\/strong>are disadvantages of increased life expectancy weak?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We can then think of one or two relevant ideas for each question.<\/p>\n<p>The advantages of increased life expectancy are strong because most people think it is good if their friends and family don&#8217;t die too quickly and everyone is happier.<\/p>\n<p>The disadvantages are that there is more demand for food and resources, but this is a weak argument because technology can solve these problems.<\/p>\n<p>We now have two very relevant ideas, and we can now move on to our next stage.<\/p>\n<h3>Structure<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2613\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"agree or disagree IELTS\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/7-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next, we need to put our ideas into a structure. This is very important because it helps us coherently organise our ideas, just like the examiner wants us to.<\/p>\n<p>There are several different types of essays and each of them has a different <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/03\/03\/ielts-writing-task-2-essay-structures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">structure<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For this essay, our structure will look like this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Paragraph 1-<\/strong> <strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1- Paraphrase Sentence<\/p>\n<p>2- Thesis Statement<\/p>\n<p>3- Outline Statement<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 2-<\/strong> <strong>Why advantages are strong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>4- Topic Sentence<\/p>\n<p>5- Explanation<\/p>\n<p>6- Example<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 3- Why disadvantage are weak<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>7- Topic Sentence<\/p>\n<p>8- Explanation<\/p>\n<p>9- Example<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 4- Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1- Summary of main points<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We can these fill in our ideas:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Paragraph 1-<\/strong> <strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 1- Paraphrase Sentence<\/p>\n<p>Sentence 2- These Statement &#8211; <b>advantages outweigh disadvantages<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 3- Outline Statement &#8211; <strong>Advantages- happiness Disadvantages- technology&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 2-<\/strong> <strong>Why advantages are strong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 4- Topic Sentence &#8211;<strong> happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 5- Explanation &#8211; <strong>death causes unhappiness and longer lives lead to happiness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 6- Example &#8211;<strong>Okinawa&nbsp;and Sardinia&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 3- Why disadvantage are weak<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 7- Topic Sentence &#8211; <strong>technology&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 8- Explanation &#8211;<strong> technology can solve any of the drawbacks&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 9- Example &#8211; <strong>GM crops and renewable&nbsp;<\/strong><b>energy<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paragraph 4- Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sentence 1- Summary of main points<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Now we have all our ideas, and we can think of some vocabulary.<\/p>\n<h3>Vocabulary<\/h3>\n<p>Another common problem students have is repeating the same words, especially ones from the question, repeatedly. This lowers our mark for vocabulary because it shows that we can&#8217;t think of synonyms. A solution to this problem is to identify words in the question that we might need to use more than once in the question.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at the question again:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One of the consequences of <em>improved medical care<\/em> is that the people are <strong>living longer<\/strong> and <strong>life expectancy is increasing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages<\/strong>?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We can think of the following synonyms:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improved medical care- enhanced medical treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Living longer- improved longevity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Life expectancy is increasing- the length of time people live&nbsp;is rising<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Advantages- benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Disadvantages- drawbacks<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>What It Looks Like On Paper?<\/h2>\n<p>That might seem like a lot to do in 5- 10 mins, so here is what it looks like on paper.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1824\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IELTS-planning-EXAMPLE.jpg\" alt=\"IELTS planning EXAMPLE\" width=\"414\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IELTS-planning-EXAMPLE.jpg 414w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IELTS-planning-EXAMPLE-219x300.jpg 219w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Next Steps<\/h2>\n<p>The more you plan, the better and more quickly you will write, and it will lead to every single sentence in your essay having a purpose, which is exactly what the examiner wants.<\/p>\n<p>Like everything on this website, you need to take the advice and practice using it. Next time you practise a Task 2 essay, try using my advice, and I guarantee your writing will improve.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2633 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"download 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-scaled.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/download-2-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch this video on YouTube This post will show you how to make a great plan that will help you write a clear essay every time. The&nbsp;Benefits of Planning There are normally around 16 students in my IELTS classes. Every new class gets at least a 30-minute session with me on planning and how much [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[104784,104785,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-1817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-writing-task-2","8":"tag-ielts-essay-planning","9":"tag-ielts-essay-structure","10":"tag-ielts-writing","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Plan an IELTS Essay - IELTS Advantage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Plan an IELTS Essay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Watch this video on YouTube This post will show you how to make a great plan that will help you write a clear essay every time. 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Every new class gets at least a 30-minute session with me on planning and how much [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IELTS Advantage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IELTSadvantage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IELTSAdvantage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-02T07:18:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-18T12:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IELTS-Essay-planning.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"594\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Christopher Pell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Pell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Christopher Pell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9750c39aebefb5637d5cae1fc0a0dd28\"},\"headline\":\"How to Plan an IELTS Essay\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-02T07:18:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-18T12:51:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\"},\"wordCount\":1521,\"commentCount\":230,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IELTS-Essay-planning.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"IELTS Essay Planning\",\"IELTS Essay Structure\",\"IELTS Writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Writing Task 2\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/07\/02\/how-to-plan-an-ielts-essay\/\",\"name\":\"How to Plan an IELTS Essay - 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