IE 1596: Band 9 Body Paragraphs for IELTS Writing Task 2

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1596, Band 9 Body Paragraphs for IELTS Writing Task 2. Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English. Downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams.

Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. You know that you need a body section on your IELTS essay, but what exactly should you put into these paragraphs? Find out exactly what to include to score high today.

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Hello there, Aubrey. How's everything going today? I'm great. How are you, Lindsay? Good. Feeling great today. Aubrey, I have a question though, because you are working with students on IELTS and hearing from them frequently.

Yeah. So which part of the test do you think students worry about the most? What is the number one Probably writing. If you're listening to this podcast and you're most worried about the writing exam, you're not alone.

That's very common. A lot of students worry most about speaking, but writing is probably the number one, especially task two. I'm excited we're talking about task two today because especially if you're taking the general exam, you probably feel pretty confident writing that letter, but task two is always pretty difficult. Oh, yeah.

Complicated, right? We need to know what to include, what not to include. There are different essay types, like you said. So yeah, where do we start today?

Yeah. Well, so first of all, I think a lot of students aren't sure how to tackle the different essay types. Yeah. you might not be sure what to include in body paragraphs depending on which type of essay you're writing, right?

Problem solution, argument essay, advantage, disadvantage. So that is a little tricky. So we're going to teach you today how to write high scoring body paragraphs for writing task two. And then we're going to share a formula for you to follow so that you can score band seven or higher on this part of the writing test.

Good. And will this advice today go no matter what? We're going to address the different types of essays when we teach you about the body paragraph. So the body paragraph is kind of like the meat, like the main course, right?

Exactly, right? We've talked about introduction and conclusion in other episodes. Today, we're focusing on those body paragraphs, what should go in them, and how will that be different for these different essays? State of the end, we are going to share specifics and what exactly would be included in body paragraphs for one of these essay types.

Perfect. Guys, before we do anything else today, let's go ahead and hit the follow button right here on IELTS Energy. If you are listening in YouTube or watching in YouTube, you could hit subscribe right there on IELTS Energy TV or in Apple Podcasts. All right?

Good. All right. So let's dive into what goes in a body paragraph. One of the biggest mistakes students make is they're putting new ideas in maybe the introduction, the conclusion.

That doesn't work because any new ideas in an essay have to be supported with details and examples. All of that, all substantial information should go in body paragraphs. Yeah. And it's probably an easy trap to fall into because you think, oh, I just thought of this.

I'm going to add this. It'll add value to the essay. But if you don't build it out or flush it out, it's not going to work. Especially in the conclusion, right?

You might think of new ideas as you're sort of summarizing and finishing. You can't just add them there. You're going to score six or lower for the task response score if you do that because every idea must be supported. Okay.

Ouch. Six or lower. That's very specific, important to know. So then what does go into the body paragraphs? I mean, it depends on the type of essay we're writing, right?

Exactly. Right. So for each type of essay that you could get on IELTS, it'll look a little different. For the opinion essay, let's talk about first, you will support your own opinion on the topic in both body paragraphs.

So we often recommend including a concession in one of these body paragraphs so that you are acknowledging the other side of the argument. You could search concession on our blog for more details about what exactly that means.

Because in order to really answer the whole question, you need to at least acknowledge the other side of the argument. Yeah, exactly. So come back to allersenglish.com, go to the search bar and type in concession and some blog posts should come up. Study exactly what that means, guys.

But for now, Aubrey, argument essays. What do we put in an argument essay? Yeah. So an argument essay, when you're asked for your opinion on an issue, you usually have the option of

of either writing an opinion essay or another reason for your opinion in the second body paragraph, or you can write an argument essay. And that is where you are supporting one side of the issue in the first body paragraph and then the other side of the issue in the second body paragraph. So you would have a reason that a lot of people agree with one side of the issue and a reason in the second body paragraph that people disagree, that agree with the other side. And then you need to make sure that your opinion is clear which side you agree with.

Yeah. And I mean, this episode is meant to be just a starting point, not exhaustive in terms of what should go into your essay. If you guys really want to know a full training and get that full training step-by-step system, you'd want to be in our course over at allearsenglish.com slash keys. All right.

Yes. Yes. And as a little preview, stay to the end of this episode because we're going to take that essay type, an argument essay, and we're going to dive a little deeper into what exactly would that look like? What should go in a body paragraph for that essay?

But as you can see, there's so many different essay types in our course, like Lindsay just mentioned. We take each essay type and we walk you through doing this so that you have the templates and the structure of how to write these body paragraphs for whatever type of essay you might get on test day. Yeah. And if I'm writing a problem solution essay, Aubrey, what would I put in the body paragraphs then?

Yeah. So in one body paragraph will be details about the problem. And then in the other body paragraph will be the solution, your idea for how to solve that problem. And then keep in mind, this is one of those that might have a plural.

You could be asked, what are the problems or what are the, right? It could be a plural. And then what are possible solutions? And if those words are plural, you have to provide two different options, two different possibilities, and then support each of them with supporting details on an example.

So we really have to pay attention in the instructions to the little details. Oh my gosh. Yes. Okay. Okay. And what about advantage, disadvantage? There's still a few more essay types, right?

Oh, there's so many. I know. Exactly. So if you're asked to provide the advantages and disadvantages of something, some topic, in the first body paragraph, provide advantages.

In the second body paragraph, disadvantages. And again, look for that plural. If it just says advantage, disadvantage, you can provide one of each. But if it's a plural, which it usually is, it usually says what are the advantages and disadvantages, you need to provide two.

All right. And then there's mixed essays. Oh my gosh. What is a mixed essay? Yeah. These are often called double question essays because what this is, is there are two questions that are a mix of these different essay types, right?

It might be a problem and advantages, right? So it could take two pieces of these different essays, or it might be like disadvantages and your opinion. So the way to tackle this, there's always two questions and And you just tackle that first question in the first body paragraph, answer it very fully with your idea, and then support for your idea and example.

And the second body paragraph, you're answering that second question, whatever it is. So let's give an example here of a mixed essay for students who aren't familiar with these yet. Okay. So this is a question, a mixed essay question here then?

Yes. Okay. Here it is. In their advertising, businesses nowadays usually emphasize that their products are new in some way. Why is this? And do you think it is a positive or a negative development?

Yes. So you see this double question. And the best way to tackle an essay like this, and these are more and more common on test day, there's a very good chance you'll get a double question essay, a mixed essay, is that first question, why is this, right? What is the cause of this is what that means.

So this is really causes and causes. positive or negative development. So it really causes an opinion if you break this down. So in that first body paragraph, answer that question.

Why is this? What is your opinion? What do you think is a reason this is happening? And then the second body paragraph will answer the second question.

Do you think it is a positive or negative development? Your opinion, that's really an opinion essay. Your opinion about, and you can't really in the time and in one body paragraph say both. I think there are positives and negatives.

Take a stand and and defend the stand of whether it's positive or negative. Okay, excellent. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life.

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Should we do an example here? What do you think? Yes, we're going to give you an example for an argument essay. You'd need two body paragraphs, of course, which describe two sides of the issue for an argument essay.

We're going to give you a structure here for each of these body paragraphs. Okay. So for sentence one, Aubrey, what comes first in that body paragraph? So in that first body paragraph seven, sentence one is a topic sentence.

This is a basic summary of what you're going to talk about. You are going to present the main idea of the paragraph. So for example, if the topic asks about co-ed schools, what could your first sentence be? You could say there are many reasons to support co-ed schools.

Yeah. So you are just opening with this main idea, right? This is what I'm going to cover in this paragraph. And then in sentence two, we would give our first reason.

Right. So tell us about this. Yeah. So you're going to give the reason for what you are saying in your topic sentence. And you, of course, want to use linking words.

So for example, if that was your first sentence, right, there are many reasons to support co-ed schools. Your second sentence could be, first and foremost, there is a lot to learn by attending school with the opposite gender. So you are introducing here the reason for your opinion. And you're really getting in some good vocabulary there too, right?

Yes, right. You want to be sure don't use the exact words from the topic, use synonyms. And that linking phrase is very high scoring, first and foremost. And then in sentences three through six, we're going to add more detail.

Exactly. The worst thing you can do is now have another reason and another reason because you could probably think of a lot of reasons. That is a low scoring essay. Stick with this one reason and now you're going to support it.

This is a huge part of the task response score. The examiner is looking for how well you are supporting your ideas. Yes. I love that idea. I love that.

It's important. Don't be shallow, right? Go deeper, go a little bit deeper, make sure it's well supported. So important. Exactly. Exactly. So relevant details.

And then of course, examples. You can use personal examples, fake research if needed. You do not have to use statistics that are actually real and you don't have to have statistics at all.

You can draw from your personal life. Even if you aren't personally connected to it, likely you know someone who is, you could write something about them or you could also make that up to have an example that supports your idea. Yeah. I think a lot of people are probably surprised to learn that we can use fake research, but it makes sense.

The examiner doesn't expect you to have facts memorized about all these potential topics, right? So making something up is totally okay. Yeah. And they're not going to fact check you.

They're not going to Google it. So you can say in a survey of just give, make it make sense, make it logical. And that absolutely works. You're aiming for five to six sentences total for a body paragraph and

So you have that introduction, that topic sentence, and then you're sharing the reason, right? Your idea. And then three to four sentences of details. Yeah.

One example. That is a strong body paragraph. Yes. This is going to get us beyond that six. If we get stuck at the band six, we probably won't get the score we need to move on, right?

With our lives. Yeah. Right. So it's interesting. This is about the task response score, right? You could still get a very high vocabulary score, a high grammar score.

And if you get a low task response score, that overall score, it's hard to get a seven or higher. So you could get a band nine for task response. And even if you get six for grammar, you still could get the overall seven you need. Okay.

Good reason to include everything we need in that body paragraph. Aubrey, anything else we need to know here today? Yeah, we want to make sure that we point out at the end of body paragraphs, you should not summarize what you've said. That will all come in your conclusion paragraph.

So your body paragraph should just be the structure that we've laid out, no summary sentence, right? So if you stick to this structure, it will be a very organized essay. Not only will your task response score be high, but also your cohesion coherence score, which is about how organized you are. If you have good linking phrases, right?

Both of those scores will be higher. Make sure you're using a lot of different topics when you practice. First of all, make sure you're practicing a lot. There's heavy use of practice here, guys, and always answering different types of questions.

Okay. Yes, exactly. For each of these different types of essays, you have to have written many practice essays to get the timing down, to know, you know, how can you follow this structure and be able to be confident on test day, going in knowing I can do this easily in my practice, so I'm going to be fine on test day. All right, guys.

So y'all go forward here with this structure, make this a habit for you, and this will start to build your template to get that seven or higher overall on writing.

One other episode you could check out right now, guys, is IELTS Energy 1593. Do you find this vocabulary heartwarming? All right, go check that one out. Some great vocab for IELTS speaking.

Scroll up if you missed that one. Yeah. Any other final thought for today? I think it's so important to recognize that if you are stressed about the writing exam, you're not alone.

A lot of students are most worried about the writing exam. But if you have strategies, if you know what to expect and you have practiced, if you have a structure like today's for body paragraphs, you'll be much more confident knowing that you'll get the score that you need. Yes, I love it. I'm glad we went into this level of detail today, Aubrey.

And we'll be back here very soon. All right. You have a good rest of your day. See you guys next time. All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.

Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.