BRAISTORMING

Since Coherence & Cohesion and Task Achievement make up 50% of your overall score, you can see how this could result in a very low score.

So, when you have analysed the question task for Writing Task 2 and you know what the requirements are, it is CRUCIAL that you spend a few minutes (3-5 minutes is recommended) thinking about what to write. “Think about” does not mean ‘write about’. In other words, even though you may have lots of ideas and notes, you will not need to use them all. Thinking helps to generate ideas which you may or may not use in your essay. It also helps to activate your vocabulary so you can select appropriate words, phrases and collocations to express your ideas.

Here are tips for this brainstorming stage of your Writing exam:

• Start by writing the first few words that come into your mind. Record these words in any way you like. You may, for example, choose a list using headings or a spidergram.
• Once you have lots of words written down which relate to your ideas, start thinking about which ideas will you select and which ones will you cross out?
• Begin by eliminating ideas based on reasons like, ‘I don’t want to talk about this because I don’t have anything interesting to say’ or ‘I can’t use this idea because I don’t know enough about it’; or even ‘I like this idea but I don’t have enough supporting vocabulary to discuss it properly’.
• Now pick out the remaining ideas that are most relevant to the essay topic and how you can organise them into an essay. Which ideas will best illustrate your point of view, your argument or your experience of the topic?
• Now think about which ideas you will put in which paragraphs and how you will connect those ideas at both the sentence and paragraph level.

Here are some suggestions for recording your brainstormed ideas in different ways:

For 2 part question essays or problem/solution essays, it is good to ask focus questions to make sure you address all parts of the task and provide support for your argument. Look at this essay task, for example:

Levels of youth crime are increasing rapidly in most cities around the world. What are the reasons for this? What are some solutions?

(You would need to give at least two reasons and solutions to answer this question fully.)

For opinion essays, you could use a tree diagram. For example:

Some people think that planting trees in open spaces in cities is more important than building houses. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

For advantages/disadvantages essays, you could try writing lists under headings, for example:

In some countries young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decided to do this.

For discussion essays (discuss both views), you could try a mind map, for example:

Some people believe that school children should not be given homework by their teachers, whereas others argue that homework plays an important role in the education of children. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

(In this diagram you could suggest a compromise for your conclusion and this would go in the overlapping part.)

So, hopefully I have given you some ideas to try out and you are ready to start writing!