IELTS BAND 9 ESSAYS: IELTS ESSAY SAMPLES

Band 9 Sample answers are useful as study guides for IELTS preparation for the IELTS writing Task 2 essay – especially for a band 9 IELTS essay . Having access to lớn previously completed work that you can have confidence in will show you what you are missing!

Take a look at these sample task 2 essay questions to help you prepare for your exam.

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Use the following IELTS sample essay & its explanations lớn see how close you are lớn a band 9 in your IELTS writing essay!


Contents

Evaluation Criteria

Examples of Band 9 Essays

IELTS Writing Task 2 Essay Sample Question và Answer(1)

Why is this IELTS Essay a Band 9?

5 Tips for a Band 9 IELTS Essay

Sample IELTS Writing Task 2 Question & Answer(2)

Sample IELTS Writing Task 2 Question & Answer (3)

Useful Definitions of Advanced Vocabulary Used

Video: Band 9 EX-IELTS Examiner Essay Review

Sample 19 IELTS Essays & 240 Task 2 Essay Questions Ebook

Video: Useful IELTS Essay Writing Tip

Audio Resources

Additional IELTS Resources


IELTS essay task 2: evaluation criteria

IELTS writing tests are evaluated across 4 areas when your band score is calculated:

Task achievement – to lớn what extent does the examinee address all parts of the task with a fully developed position, inclusive of fully extended và well supported ideas?Coherence và cohesion – Does the candidate logically organise the information & ideas? Is the entire essay cohesive with a logical progression of ideas?Lexical resource – to lớn what extent does the examinee use a wide range of vocabulary with accuracy? do they demonstrate sophistication regarding the use of lexical items?Grammatical range và accuracy – Does the examinee use a range of grammatical structures accurately? Examples of these can be the use of complex sentences with sophisticated clauses instead of simple sentences with a repetitive structure:

Example: Students cannot use phones. They affect development > students are not allowed lớn use mobile phones in class due to possible distractions.

The British Council (the administrator of the IELTS) outlines 9 different bands of performance for each of the above dimensions here. Your scores in each of these dimensions are averaged khổng lồ determine your overall band for your essay.

Let"s take a look at an example essay that scored as band 9 và then we"ll dig into each of these 4 areas lớn see why it received that score. It"s very important khổng lồ understand what the IELTS examiner is looking for.


IELTS essay sample question (1)

Doing an enjoyable activity with a child can develop better skills và more creativity than reading. Khổng lồ what extent vì chưng you agree? Use reasons and specific examples to lớn explain your answer.


IELTS sample essay answer (1)

Parents throughout the world place spend time reading with their offspring khổng lồ prepare them for school where their literacy skills are further developed; however, recent research suggests that focusing on reading at an early age can be detrimental, và participating in fun activities would be far more beneficial. I am a strong advocate of this approach, & the benefits of it will be covered in this essay.

A fundamental reason for this is that there is no biological age for reading, và pushing infants khổng lồ acquire this skill before they are ready could have repercussions. For example, in the UK, many boys are reluctant readers, possibly because of being forced to read, and this turned them off reading. By focusing on other activities & developing other skills such as creativity và imagination, when they are ready lớn read, they usually acquire this skill rapidly.

In addition, the importance of encouraging creativity & developing a child"s imagination must be acknowledged. Through play, youngsters develop social và cognitive skills, for example, they are more likely to lớn learn vocabulary through context rather than learning it from a book.

Furthermore, play allows youngsters to mature emotionally, & gain self-confidence. There is no scientific research which suggests reading at a young age is essential for a child"s development, moreover, evidence suggests the reverse is true. In Finland, early years" education focuses on playing.

Reading is only encouraged if a child shows and interest in developing this skill. This self-directed approach certainly does not result in Finnish school leavers falling behind their foreign counterparts. In fact, Finland was ranked the sixth best in the world in terms of reading.

Despite being a supporter of this non-reading approach, I strongly recommend incorporating bedtime stories into a child"s daily routine. However, reading as a regular daytime activity should be swapped for something which allows the child to develop other skills.


Task achievement

According khổng lồ the IELTS Writing Band Descriptors, an essay is Band 9 for Task Achievement if it:

Fully addresses all parts of the taskPresents a fully developed position in answer to the question with relevant, fully extended & well supported ideas.

In order to lớn score well on Task Achievement, the most important thing is to make sure you respond lớn what is being asked of you. Is the prompt asking for an opinion, a discussion of a problem, a solution khổng lồ a problem, or some combination of these? If you provide an opinion and not a solution when you"re being asked for a solution, you"re not going to score well in this area. Read the question carefully!

The prompt for this essay asks: “To what extent bởi you agree ? Use reasons and specific examples to explain your answer.” It wants an opinion – with support!

This essay addresses all parts of this task. The opinion is included in the introduction lớn make the writer"s position clear, & then the following paragraphs support the writer"s position with examples và justifications. Overall, the response is full và relevant & each of the points is detailed and connected khổng lồ the thesis.


Coherence và cohesion

Think of this as “How well does the essay flow? Is it easy lớn follow và does it all tie together?” The exact characteristics for a Band 9 C&C score are that an essay:

Uses cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attentionSkilfully manages paragraphing

Note the specific wording “it attracts no attention.” The goal here is for things khổng lồ sound natural and not forced. How bởi you connect your ideas (ensure cohesion) without it sounding forced? I think there are 2 possible ways:

Explain your ideas in a logical order so that you don"t need many linking words. This is probably what you vị when writing in your own language.Use easy linking words lượt thích and, but, also, firstly, secondly, finally, for example. These are so common that they attract almost no attention.

This IELTS Sample essay does a good job of this – you"ll notice that each paragraph naturally (logically) follows the one prior, providing additional support for the original opinion, and some simple linking words – in addition, furthermore (both paragraph 2) and moreover (paragraph 3) – are used throughout. These are all good discourse markers that show what is coming next adds khổng lồ the argument và are slightly more sophisticated than firstly, secondly, và thirdly but don"t come across as being forced.

The other aspect lớn scoring high in C&C is ensuring an essay is well-structured. What vày I mean by that? A well-structured essay has a good introduction, toàn thân paragraphs that are easy lớn follow & connect with one another, & a good conclusion. Each body paragraph should also have its own topic sentence and support and then smoothly transition khổng lồ the next paragraph.

Our sample IELTS essay has a “simple but good” introduction in which it shows that the examinee has knowledge of the topic & clearly states the writer"s position to lớn set up the rest of the essay. The paragraphs all have topic sentences, which are then supported by examples, & are easy to follow. The main body toàn thân and conclusion relate back khổng lồ the thesis in the introduction.

A chú ý on conclusions… there are two schools of thought when it comes lớn how to lớn conclude an IELTS essay. One is to conclude with one simple sentence so that you spend more time perfecting your main body toàn thân paragraphs. The other is to lớn wrap up with two sentences, once which includes a small prediction (ie, how you think things might turn out) as a way to show the examiner that you know how to lớn correctly use another tense (which will help boost your GR&A score – more on that in a minute). Either is fine, just don"t forget your conclusion!

Taking time khổng lồ plan out và organise your response before you start writing is an extremely important step in scoring well in Coherence và Cohesion for your IELTS essay – make sure you vày so khổng lồ ensure your essay is well structured & reads cohesively when you"re done!


Lexical resource

Scoring well in the Lexical Resource dimension is all about (correctly) showing off your vocabulary. The description for a Band 9 here is:

Uses a wide range of vocabulary with very natural & sophisticated control of lexical features, rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips"

Collocations, topic specific vocabulary and phrasal verbs are the name of the trò chơi here. To score well, an examinee needs to lớn show that they have a wide-ranging vocabulary and they know how khổng lồ use it.

Our sample essay does a solid job of showing off a range of vocabulary – you"ll notice that while the essay frequently refers khổng lồ children, the writer employs different vocabulary (infants, youngsters, offspring, counterparts) to do so.

Note: it is highly likely that you will need to lớn refer to lớn people/children in your IELTS Writing task 2, so make sure that you have lots of different words khổng lồ use lớn refer to lớn them.

IELTS examiners bởi not lượt thích to see the words “people,” “children” over & over again! The same goes for the word “important” – make sure you have plenty of alternative phrases (essential and vital are both used in our sample essay).

Other examples of a wide-ranging vocabulary in our essay include using rapidly in place of quicklymature instead of develop, repercussions to indicate a negative result, and acquire in place of learn.

Our sample essay also does a good job of using collocations – some examples include “fundamental reason,” “reluctant readers” “social and cognitive skills,” “learn vocabulary through context,” and “strongly recommend.”

The correct use of phrasal verbs also demonstrates one"s grasp of English – because of the semantics involved, they are sometimes one of the most difficult things for English language learners khổng lồ master. Our essay writer correctly uses a few of these including “turned them off” and “falling behind.”

One note here: students preparing for the IELT S often ask if they should use idioms (like “you"re barking up the wrong tree”) in their essays to further demonstrate their grasp of the language. In my opinion, no, you shouldn"t. Idioms are informal by nature and not appropriate for a written essay of this type. Stick with demonstrating your range of vocabulary và your ability to use phrasal verbs correctly!


Grammatical range & accuracy

The final scoring dimension is related khổng lồ grammar và grammatical structures – vì chưng you know them & can you correctly use them?

The Band 9 mô tả tìm kiếm for GR&A:

Uses a wide range of structures with full flexibility & accuracy; rare minor errors occur only as slips

Note that there is nothing in the scoring criteria about including specific tenses or sentence constructions. Your main objective should be lớn reduce the number of mistakes that you make. An essay that contains no mistakes is likely khổng lồ get a 9 for grammar, regardless of the types of sentence that it may or may not contain.

If there is a nice set of long & short sentences in your IELTS essays, you"ll meet the grammar requirements. Remember, as soon as you write a “long” sentence you are naturally going khổng lồ use connectives (linking words), which will make the sentence ‘compound" or ‘complex". So, don"t think too much about the grammar – just aim lớn reduce the number of mistakes that you make, và try to include a few longer sentences.

Some examples from the sample essay that illustrate the writer"s grammatical range và help it easily score as a band 9 include:

appropriate uses of modal verbs in the passive voice: “are further developed,” “will be covered,” “must be acknowledged,” “should be swapped.”to focus on” is correctly followed by an -ing formHowever is used correctly with a semicolon before it và a comma after“because of,” “rather than,” & are correctly followed by -ing verbs

1. Answer what is being asked!

Make sure you read the prompt carefully và answer the essay questions you’re being asked. I can’t emphasise this enough. In order to lớn score well on Task Achievement, you need to lớn appropriately & fully address the task.


2. Plan your work, work your plan.

Plan out your essay before you start writing. What are your main points? What order are you going khổng lồ make them in? How vì chưng they liên kết together? Having a well organised essay is key scoring high marks for Coherence & Cohesion. Many IELTS test-takers will spend up to lớn 10 minutes planning out their essay before they start writing. A few points khổng lồ keep in mind:

Your essay should have 4-5 paragraphs in total and at least 250 wordsPlan your supporting points so that they don’t go off topic

3. Write, review, re-write

Write your essay, đánh giá it and then “rewrite” it. Don’t focus on getting things perfect upfront – you don’t want khổng lồ waste 15 minutes trying to lớn come up with the perfect synonym for something & then not have enough time to lớn finish your full essay! Write your essay first (an unwritten essay won’t score well at all!) & then go back through it khổng lồ see how you can improve it. Some essay questions to lớn ask yourself at this stage:

Are there places where you can swap out stronger words for weaker ones in order to lớn improve your Lexical Resource score?Are there places where you can phrase things differently in order lớn illustrate your Grammatical Range?

4. Where are you falling?

To pass with a Band 9 the reality is you need two sets of skills:

Exam skillsLanguage skills

What are exam skills?

Can you plan an effective essay? Quickly? Ideally between 3-5 minutes.

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Can you think of enough ideas and examples to lớn put in the essay plan?

Firstly you need to lớn discover which of these skills you need. To vị this you write a lot of essays & then find out which part of the essay writing process is costing you the most amount of time, points or stress.

Personally the easiest và fastest way lớn get these skills is to bởi vì an online course specialised in training students with these skills. Here is a good course for that.


5. Better language skills?

A lot of students fail the IELTS exam or kết thúc up with a band in their IELTS writing thử nghiệm that does not meet their requirements . Also, a significant number of students look to Google to tìm kiếm for “IELTS Writing tips” or “Task two tips”. These tips might be helpful but sometimes the real problem might just be in their general language or writing skills.

Writing error free perfect sentences is probably much more challenging than students think, especially under exam conditions i.e in 40 minutes with immense pressure to lớn pass. These can result in often mixed outcomes with both positive or negative development occurring at one và the same time.

One of the most important ways khổng lồ improve language skills is to receive feedback. This can be by asking someone to đánh giá written work and will expose the positive or negative development mentioned earlier. This is very common and not something that is a negative issue overall.

Have a look at our essay correction service that will reviews your essays for you & help you improve & pass the IELTS test.

Here is a checklist of what is needed for reaching Band 9, it includes what the examiner wants to see, và what to vày to write at a Band 9 level.


Sample IELTS writing task 2 question (2)

Today, the quality of life in large cities is decreasing. Discuss the causes & solutions.


IELTS writing task 2: essay sample answer (2)

The global phenomenon of urbanisation from the beginning of industrialisation to the present day has brought opportunity & prosperity, albeit at a cost in the quality of life. With an increasing đô thị population, the complexity of the challenges also increases for the globe as well as the local community. Therefore, the causes & effects of these on the current generation, as well as possible solutions are outlined below.

The causes for the decrease in the unique of life are paradoxically the prosperity endowed on such metropolitan centres. Their growth is largely due to lớn the increase of opportunities on offer, which in turn increases their attractiveness, essentially they are trapped in a positive self-reinforcing cycle. While such developments have a positive impact for immediate economic objectives, it perpetuates behaviours that can have a negative impact in the long term.

However, this eventually leads lớn a decrease in the quality of life as the đô thị can experience overcrowding, exorbitant property prices, and increased vulnerability to terrorist attacks. For example the density of London makes it a more efficient place lớn attack, when compared to a smaller đô thị such as Bradford.

Therefore, due khổng lồ continuous growth và prosperity, urban citizens, especially the less well off, often experience a lower standard of living. Even greater than this, are the relevant examples of natural disasters such as recent fires in Australia, which brought about unprecedented weather patterns resulting in the destruction of wild & rare animals. These effects are far from uniform, as they affect different countries in ways unseen by previous generations.

Considering the solutions, greater investment in public transport would ease traffic congestion, as would bike lanes. In theory this would reduce air pollution, & possibly improve the wellbeing of the population if they did adopt a more active lifestyle & cycle khổng lồ work. While these solutions are local, if adopted globally, would affect individuals and many countries alike. A collective effort is needed lớn use social networks and other media to highlight the negative effect of urbanisation as well as the negative sides of the wider ramifications on the population.

To conclude, while it could be argued that urbanisation advantages outweigh the disadvantages, a wealthy city attracts a large population inflow, which then causes pressure on existing infrastructure và security. Various solutions exist to mitigate such drawbacks, such as social networks being used lớn raise awareness of such negative impacts on many countries, nevertheless an indefinite solution has yet to lớn be found.


Sample IELTS writing task 2 question (3)

Social media sale can influence what consumers buy. Vì chưng you agree or disagree? lớn what extent bởi you agree?


IELTS writing task 2: essay sample answer (3)

Since the introduction of social media applications in the early 2000"s the world has become a much smaller place. Social truyền thông applications such as Facebook, Instagram và Twitter have become information sources for a majority of the global market.

As such, it could be argued that marketing, which happens khổng lồ be a source of information accessible on these platforms can influence the consumers who use them. This notion is further aided by the rise in online retail stores who conduct the bulk of their transactions online. This makes it easier for the consumer lớn purchase from anywhere in the world.

As a consumer on social media, you are constantly bombarded with advertisements of various products that are specifically designed khổng lồ catch your attention. This means that most of the adverts on your news feeds aren"t random and will almost always feature something you have previously searched online or something currently popular or trending. Given the fact that most social truyền thông users are young consumers who are influenced by current trends and happenings these adverts will almost always catch their eye.

The habit of sharing, retweeting and liking also ensures that these adverts get around, quite fast. As such, when an advert does reach your news feed you have already probably seen it on your friend"s news feed. The truth is, adverts are a form of information and with the age of the internet, information spreads faster than a wildfire.

Therefore, it only makes sense that in the era and age of technology, globalization and the need to lớn be trendy, social media kinh doanh can influence what consumers buy.


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Equivalent sentences

“For example, it is said, the CCTV in London has foiled many potential attacks, và therefore greatly increased the security of its citizens.” Could also be said as:

“Statistics show that CCTV used in London has scuppered many a terrorist plot, massively contributing to lớn the security of its citizens.”

More Equivalent sentences Various solutions exist to lớn mitigate such drawbacks, nevertheless an indefinite solution has yet lớn be found.

Could also be said as:

A myriad of partial fixes exist for these issues, yet a permanent solution is still out of reach.

Or even:

There are many methods employed to quell this flow of people, but still a reliable solution has not been discovered.


IELTS writing task 2: vocabulary booster

The highlighted sections in the following paragraph represent key phrases or words relating khổng lồ this topic. Study this paragraph khổng lồ expand your vocabulary knowledge on this topic:

The modern urban environment varies considerably depending on both the đô thị that produces it and the individual who perceives it; Each experiencing a chất lượng blend of at least some economic success, varying degrees of localised or wider deprivation và periods of growth and decline. Environmental factors permitting, a đô thị will provide well for its citizens as long as it can properly manage the execution of social policy.

Globalisation presents many challenges for those responsible for policy as large inflows of people are to be expected in a place of success & therefore opportunity; The ensuing mixing of cultures has far-reaching social consequences that can affect how the đô thị is both presented và perceived.

Considerably Con·sid·er·a·ble (kən-sĭd′ər-ə-bəl) adj. 1. Large in amount, extent, or degree: a writer of considerable influence. 2. Worthy of consideration; significant: The economy was a considerable issue in the campaign.

Perceive Per·ceive (pər-sēv′) tr.v. Per·ceived, per·ceiv·ing, per·ceives 1a. Lớn become aware of (something) directly through any of the senses, especially sight or hearing: We could perceive three figures in the fog. 1b. Khổng lồ cause or allow the mind to lớn become aware of (a stimulus): The ear perceives sounds. 2. To lớn achieve understanding of; apprehend: Einstein perceived that energy and matter are equivalent. 3. Khổng lồ regard or consider; deem: an old technology that is still perceived as useful; a politician who is perceived lớn be untrustworthy.

Deprivation Dep·ri·va·tion (dĕp′rə-vā′shən) n. 1. The/an act or an instance of depriving; Loss. 2. The state of being deprived: social deprivation; a cycle of deprivation & violence.

“The town’s generally miserable appearance led her khổng lồ perceive it as a place of considerable deprivation.”


IELTS writing task 2: further reading

There are many more writing samples for you khổng lồ explore.

The bbc has great pages on discursive writing & general writing, also, this clip is good for learning how khổng lồ give examples.

You can even read a sample Harvard essay aimed at preparing students for academic writing.

Remember! Select a text that is appropriate for your level. Choosing the wrong text can result in a loss of confidence and feeling bad never helped anyone lớn learn anything quickly!