Understanding what you need to write about in IELTS

Task 2s are split into two parts…
1) The statement
and
2) The question
Together they make up the task.

Example:

Statement:	More and more students are taking a year off after finishing school to travel or work before they go to university. However, some people don’t agree with this.
Question:	What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

What you need to do is to read the statement carefully and underline what you think are the keywords. Keywords in task 2 statements are usually nouns, verbs, modifiers (eg: more / less/ a few / some) and negatives (e.g.: not / don’t).

Statement:	More and more students are taking a year off after finishing school to travel or work before they go to university. However, some people don’t agree with this.
Question:	What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Tip: You should underline around 30% to 40% of the statement. It is very easy to underline about 80% at first because you’re not sure exactly what to do and all the words appear to be very important. Don’t worry too much if you’re underlining over 50% at first because as you practice further, the number of words you underline will decrease as you become more confident.