Candidates hunting for “this month’s Task 2 questions” are optimising the wrong thing. Exact questions are not reliably predictable — but the topic families and question formats are remarkably stable, and preparing at that level is both feasible and legitimate.
Task 2 at a glance
| Task | An essay responding to a point of view, argument or problem |
| Length | At least 250 words. Aim for 270 to 300 |
| Time | About 40 of the 60 minutes |
| Weight | Twice as much as Task 1 |
| Style | Formal or neutral, in full paragraphs |
| Marked on | Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy |
The essay is the same kind of task for Academic and General Training candidates. Two things decide how you write it: the topic, which you cannot choose, and the question type, which tells you the structure.
The recurring topic families
Task 2 questions rotate through a familiar set of themes. Any list drawn from years of past papers converges on roughly these:
- Education — university vs vocational training, what schools should teach, exams vs coursework, who should pay for education
- Technology — its effect on communication, work, children; AI and automation; privacy
- Environment — climate responsibility (individual vs government vs business), consumption, urbanisation
- Work and careers — job satisfaction vs salary, remote work, career changes, retirement
- Health — prevention vs treatment, public health spending, diet and lifestyle, healthcare funding
- Society and government — public money priorities, crime and punishment, censorship, taxation
- Globalisation and culture — cultural homogenisation, tourism, language loss, migration
- Family and demographics — ageing populations, family size, children and parenting, generational differences
- Media and advertising — influence on children, consumerism, news quality
- Cities and transport — congestion, public transport vs cars, housing
Ten families. That is the entire practical universe of Task 2, and it is small enough to prepare deliberately.
Sample questions by topic
Original questions written in the format of the test, two for each family and in different question types. Use them for timed practice.
| Topic | Sample questions |
|---|---|
| Education | Some people think universities should only offer subjects that lead directly to jobs. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · Many students now take a year off between school and university. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? |
| Technology | Some people believe children should learn to write by hand before they use a keyboard, while others think typing matters more. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. · People increasingly rely on their phones to remember things for them. Why is this happening, and is it a positive or negative development? |
| Environment | Some people say individuals can do little to protect the environment and that only governments and large companies can make a difference. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · In many cities the amount of household waste is rising every year. What are the causes of this, and what can be done to reduce it? |
| Work and careers | More employees now work from home for part of the week. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages? · Some people think it is better to stay with one employer for many years, while others prefer to change jobs often. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. |
| Health | Some people think governments should tax unhealthy food to improve public health. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · In many countries people are less physically active than they used to be. What problems does this cause, and how can they be solved? |
| Society and government | Some people believe public money is better spent on local services than on large national projects. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · Some people think long prison sentences are the best way to reduce crime, while others believe there are better methods. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. |
| Globalisation and culture | International tourism brings money to local communities but can also change them. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? · Fewer and fewer languages are spoken in the world each year. Why is this happening, and does it matter? |
| Family and demographics | In many countries people are choosing to have children later in life. What are the reasons for this, and what are the effects on society? · Some people think older relatives should live with their families, while others think care homes are a better choice. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. |
| Media and advertising | Some people think advertising aimed at children should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · More people now get their news from social media than from newspapers or television. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? |
| Cities and transport | Some people think the best way to reduce traffic is to make public transport free. To what extent do you agree or disagree? · In many cities housing has become too expensive for young people. What problems does this cause, and what solutions can you suggest? |
The five question types
Every topic family arrives wrapped in one of five question types, and the type dictates your essay structure more than the topic does. Each has its own guide with a model essay.
| Question type | How to recognise it | What it wants |
|---|---|---|
| Opinion | To what extent do you agree or disagree? | One clear position, held from introduction to conclusion |
| Discussion | Discuss both views and give your own opinion. | Both views explained fairly, and yours stated |
| Advantages and disadvantages | What are the advantages and disadvantages? or Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? | A balanced account, or a verdict if it says outweigh |
| Problem and solution | What problems does this cause? What can be done? | Causes or problems, and solutions that match them |
| Two-part question | Two separate direct questions | Both answered, at similar length |
Read the last line of the question before anything else. It is the instruction, and answering a different instruction from the one printed is the fastest way to lose marks on Task Response.
The highest-value preparation exercise is practising the same topic across different question types. “Remote work: agree or disagree” and “remote work: problems and solutions” share vocabulary but demand different essays. Candidates who only practise one type write that type regardless of what the question asks — and Task Response, the criterion most affected, caps the band immediately.
The structure that fits every type
Four paragraphs. What goes inside them changes with the question type; the frame does not.
| Paragraph | Job | Rough length |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | Paraphrase the question and say what your essay will argue or cover | 40–50 words |
| Body 1 | One main idea: state it, explain it, give an example | 90–100 words |
| Body 2 | The second main idea, built the same way | 90–100 words |
| Conclusion | Restate your answer in different words. No new ideas | 30–40 words |
That lands at 270 to 300 words. The minimum is 250, and a shorter essay rarely has room to develop two ideas properly.
Split the 40 minutes roughly as five to plan, thirty to write and five to check. The five minutes of planning are where the essay is decided: your position, your two main ideas and the example for each. An essay that discovers its opinion in the third paragraph reads that way.
How Task 2 is marked
Four criteria, each worth a quarter of the Task 2 band. The public band descriptors show what moves an essay from 6 to 7 on Task Response:
- Band 6 — “The main parts of the prompt are addressed (though some may be more fully covered than others).” “Main ideas are relevant, but some may be insufficiently developed or may lack clarity.”
- Band 7 — “The main parts of the prompt are appropriately addressed. A clear and developed position is presented.” “Main ideas are extended and supported.”
The difference is not vocabulary. It is coverage and development: every part of the question answered, a position that stays put, and each main idea explained and supported, not just stated. How the writing band scale works covers the other three criteria.
Prepare ideas, never essays
Memorised essays fail for two reasons: examiners are trained to spot them, and they rarely fit the actual question’s angle. What is worth preparing:
Two or three concrete idea pairs per topic family. For education: one argument for practical skills (employment outcomes), one for academic breadth (adaptability), one example you can deploy from your own country’s system. Idea generation under time pressure is the real Task 2 bottleneck for most candidates — 40 minutes is not long enough to both invent and write.
Topic vocabulary in collocations, not word lists. “Curriculum reform”, “vocational pathways”, “graduate employability” — chunks you can actually place in a sentence. Ten strong collocations per family beats a hundred isolated words.
Flexible opinions. Decide roughly what you think about the big recurring debates before exam day. You are graded on how you argue, not what you conclude — but candidates with no opinion spend their first ten minutes acquiring one.
Turning this into a weekly routine
A preparation loop that covers the ground in about ten weeks: one topic family per week. Early in the week, build the idea pairs and collocations. Then write one timed essay in one format. Get feedback, focusing on which of the four criteria scored lowest. Later in the week, write the same topic in a different question type and see whether the criterion moved.
The feedback step is the one you cannot skip. Ideas and vocabulary are visible to you; whether your position stayed consistent or your paragraphs actually cohere is exactly what you cannot see in your own writing. An essay checker that scores each criterion separately — or timed writing practice with criteria-level feedback — closes that loop after every essay instead of leaving you to guess.
Sources
- IELTS Academic Writing test format Official Task 2 format: at least 250 words in about 40 minutes, a formal or neutral style, and that Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1.
- IELTS Writing band descriptors (PDF) The public Task 2 Task Response descriptors at Bands 6 and 7 quoted in this guide.
Last reviewed October 5, 2026. See our editorial policy for how guides are checked and corrected.
Frequently asked questions
- What topics come up in IELTS Writing Task 2?
- Roughly ten recurring families: education, technology, environment, work and careers, health, society and government, globalisation and culture, family and demographics, media and advertising, and cities and transport. That is the entire practical universe of Task 2, and it is small enough to prepare deliberately.
- Can I predict the exact Task 2 question?
- No, and candidates hunting for this month's questions are optimising the wrong thing. Exact questions are not reliably predictable, but the topic families and the question formats are remarkably stable, and preparing at that level is both feasible and legitimate.
- What are the Task 2 question formats?
- Four main ones: opinion or agree and disagree, discussion of both views with your own opinion, advantages and disadvantages, and problem and solution. A fifth two-part direct questions format is really two short jobs in one prompt. The format dictates your essay structure more than the topic does.
- Should I memorise Task 2 essays?
- No. Memorised essays fail for two reasons: examiners are trained to spot them, and they rarely fit the actual question's angle. Prepare ideas rather than essays.
- What should I prepare instead of memorised essays?
- Three things per topic family. Two or three concrete idea pairs, because generating ideas under time pressure is the real bottleneck and 40 minutes is not long enough to both invent and write. Topic vocabulary in collocations rather than word lists, since ten strong collocations beat a hundred isolated words. And a rough opinion on the big recurring debates, decided before exam day.
- How should I structure Task 2 topic preparation?
- One topic family per week covers the ground in about ten weeks. Build the idea pairs and collocations early in the week, write one timed essay, get feedback on which criterion scored lowest, then write the same topic in a different format later in the week and see whether that criterion moved. Practising one topic across different formats is the highest-value exercise, because candidates who only drill one format write it regardless of what the question asks.