Time Management & Planning · Module 1 · Lesson 4
Most students treat IELTS Writing Task 2 as a 40-minute writing task. It isn't. It's a 5-minute planning task, a 30-minute writing task, and a 5-minute checking task — and the planning and checking are not optional. Skip either of them and your score drops.
| Stage | Minutes | What you actually do |
|---|---|---|
| Read & decode | 2 min | Read the question twice. Underline the topic, the task verb, and any "both" or "and" that signals two parts. |
| Plan | 3 min | Decide your position. Brainstorm two reasons. Note one example for each. Sketch the 4-paragraph outline. |
| Introduction | 6 min | Three sentences: general → paraphrase → thesis with two reasons signposted. |
| Body Paragraph 1 | 11 min | Five sentences: topic → explain → example → comment → link. Around 90–120 words. |
| Body Paragraph 2 | 11 min | Same five-element shape. The reason you signposted second. |
| Conclusion | 3 min | Restate position, summarise the two reasons. Two or three sentences. No new information. |
| Check | 4 min | Read the whole essay. Fix the obvious slips: "I think", "very good", missing articles, comma splices, word-count. |
Students who skip planning spend body paragraph 1 thinking up their argument as they write. The result is a paragraph that wanders, repeats itself, and doesn't connect to body paragraph 2 because they hadn't yet decided what body paragraph 2 would say. Five minutes of planning prevents thirty minutes of bad writing.
Discuss:
What usually goes wrong when you write under time pressure? Do you tend to over-plan and run out of writing time, or rush in and run out of ideas?
Five minutes feels like nothing — but if you know exactly what to do with it, it is enough. The plan has five steps and they happen in order.
Underline three things: the topic (what is it about?), the task verb (agree? discuss? evaluate? what causes / what solutions?), and any "both" or "and" that signals two parts.
Don't agonise. Pick the side you can defend more easily, even if it isn't your real-life view. The examiner doesn't care what you actually think — only how clearly you argue it.
Write down 3 or 4 reasons that support your position. Then pick the two strongest — the ones with the clearest examples behind them.
For each of your two reasons, jot down one specific example: a country, a study, a person, a real situation. Without this step, your body paragraphs will be all opinion and no evidence.
Write four short labels in the margin: INTRO (position + reason 1 + reason 2) · BP1 (reason 1, example) · BP2 (reason 2, example) · CONCLUSION (restate). Now you have a map.
The plan does NOT need to be neat. It is for you, not the examiner. Two or three lines per paragraph, in note form, is plenty.
Discuss:
Why is it a mistake to brainstorm five or six reasons during the plan? What is the trade-off between depth and breadth in a 250-word essay?
Most students freeze when they read the question. The cure is having a few mental "angles" you can run through quickly. These angles work for almost any IELTS topic and produce more reasons than you can use.
For any topic, ask yourself: who is affected, what does it cost, what does it gain, what does history show, what would happen if we did nothing, and what is the trade-off?
Below are three IELTS-style questions. For each, name two reasons you could use — using two different angles from the cards above. Then check the model.
Discuss:
Which of the six angles do you find easiest? Which would help you most for the topics you usually struggle with?
Below is a complete walkthrough: the question, the five-minute plan, and the introduction and one body paragraph that grew out of that plan. Notice how every sentence in the essay traces back to a line in the plan.
Some people think that the best way to reduce traffic congestion is to raise the cost of fuel. Others believe there are better solutions. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Watch how each line of the plan turns into one or two sentences in the essay.
INTRODUCTION (from the "position" line):
Urban congestion has become one of the defining problems of modern city life. While some commentators argue that the most effective response is to raise the price of petrol, others believe that more substantial investment in public transport offers a better long-term solution. This essay will discuss both positions before concluding that, although fuel pricing has a role to play, public transport investment is the more durable answer, both because it tackles the underlying cause of congestion and because it offers genuine alternatives to private cars.
BODY PARAGRAPH 2 (from the "View 2" lines, including the Vienna example):
The most compelling alternative to fuel pricing is sustained investment in public transport. Building more roads, after all, simply attracts more cars onto them, a phenomenon traffic engineers refer to as induced demand; high-quality public transport, by contrast, removes vehicles from the network entirely. A clear illustration of this is the city of Vienna, where decades of investment in trams, buses and metro lines have given residents an annual travel pass for around one euro per day, with the result that car ownership in the city has actually fallen. What this demonstrates is that, when the alternative is genuinely convenient and affordable, drivers will choose it without needing to be punished by higher prices. For this reason, public transport investment offers a more durable solution to congestion than any fuel-pricing policy ever could.
Discuss:
Could you write the essay if you had only the plan in front of you (and not the worked essay above)? What would be the hardest part?
Choose one of the questions below. Use the textarea to write a plan in the same shape as the worked example in Tab 4 — position, two reasons, an example for each, and a four-paragraph outline. The timer is set for five minutes. Stop when it runs out, even if your plan feels unfinished.
▸ Some people believe that university tuition should be free for all students. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
▸ In many countries today, people choose to live alone rather than with family or partners. What are the causes of this trend, and is it a positive or negative development?
▸ Some argue that the only effective way to address climate change is through individual action. Others believe only governments can make the necessary difference. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Reflect after the timer:
Did five minutes feel rushed or about right? Did you stop at two reasons, or were you tempted to keep brainstorming? Could you write the full essay in 30 minutes from this plan?