IELTS Simon

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'vegetarianism' topic

Today I asked my students about the vegetarianism topic. They found it quite difficult to give both sides of the argument. It's important to be able to discuss both sides of an issue, even if there are points that you don't agree with.

Here is a summary of the arguments in favour of a vegetarian diet, according to the speaker in yesterday's video:

• A vegetarian diet is healthier.
• Eating a hamburger a day can increase your risk of dying by a third.
• Raising animals in factory farm conditions is cruel.
• Meat production causes more emissions than transportation.
• Beef production uses 100 times the amount of water that vegetable production requires.
• A vegetarian diet is cheaper.

So, basically he is saying that a vegetarian diet is healthier, kinder to animals, better for the environment and cheaper.

Now you need to think about the opposite argument. Feel free to discuss your ideas in the "comments" area.

PS. I've written about this topic in my ebook.

Recent IELTS Questions

Here are some of yesterday's IELTS exam questions. Thanks to Pauline and Theresa for sharing.

IELTS Speaking Part 2

• Describe something important that you did for someone.

IELTS Writing Task 1

• UK: Flow chart about different methods used by companies to recruit their employees.
• China: Three diagrams showing how the use of a particular public building changed during a period of time.

IELTS Writing Task 2

• UK: The shortage in housing has severe social consequences in big cities. Only governments can solve this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
• China: Some people think distance-learning programmes can never be as good as courses taken in person. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I think the task 2 question about 'the shortage in housing' is difficult because most students do not have good ideas or opinions about this issue.

Maybe you have opinions about distance learning, but do you have any idea what to say about the housing problem? (My ebook has a chapter about this).

Simon's eBook

You can now buy my ebook "Ideas for IELTS Topics". Click here to find out how to pay

Many students have no ideas or opinions about IELTS writing topics. Even if your grammar is perfect, you will not get a high IELTS score if you do not know what to write.

This book is for students who want to go into the writing exam feeling confident that they have excellent ideas, opinions and vocabulary for as many topics as possible.

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'traffic' topic

Today I'd like to show you a good essay by one of my students. This is the essay question:

Traffic congestion is becoming a huge problem for many major cities. Suggest some measures that could be taken to reduce traffic in big cities.

I gave the student's essay a band 7, mainly because it contains some really good topic vocabulary. Open the file below to see the full essay, grammar corrections and my comments.

Download Essay

Hopefully you can see that the student has followed my advice. He focuses on answering the question, there is a clear structure, and there is enough 'band 7' vocabulary.