7 Common IELTS Writing Task 2 Mistakes (And How to Fix Them)
Most Task 2 essays stuck at Band 6 are well-written answers to a slightly different question, or good ideas that were never finished. Here are the seven mistakes that cost the most marks, with a before-and-after for each.
Candidates stuck below Band 7 usually assume grammar is the problem, so they study grammar. It rarely is. Look at enough marked essays and the same handful of failures keep appearing, and almost all of them sit under Task Response and Coherence - the two criteria that have nothing to do with tenses.
Below are the seven we see most often, in rough order of how much they cost you: what each looks like on the page, and the fix.
1. Answering only half the prompt
Task ResponseTask 2 prompts almost always contain two instructions - discuss both views and give your opinion, or explain the causes and suggest solutions. Answer one well and ignore the other and Task Response is capped around Band 5, no matter how fluent the writing is.
It usually happens under time pressure: you develop the first half beautifully, run low on time, and the second half becomes a single rushed sentence.
Prompt: “Discuss both views and give your own opinion.” - The essay discusses both views across three paragraphs and never states an opinion.
Two body paragraphs for the two views, then a clear position: “While both arguments have merit, I believe the economic case is stronger, because…”
The fix: Before you write, underline every instruction verb in the prompt and count them. You need one clearly signposted section per instruction.
2. Misreading what the question actually asks
Task ResponseTwo prompts on the same topic can ask completely different things. “Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?” wants a judgement about the balance between them. “What are the advantages and disadvantages?” wants a description of both. Answer the second when you were asked the first and you lose marks for not addressing the task, even though everything you wrote is true.
The trap is the topic feeling familiar. You recognize “remote work” and start writing what you know about remote work rather than what the question asked.
Prompt asks whether advantages outweigh disadvantages. The essay lists four advantages and three disadvantages, then stops.
The essay weighs them: “The flexibility gains affect most workers daily, whereas the isolation problem affects a minority - so the advantages outweigh the drawbacks.”
The fix: Paraphrase the question in one sentence in your own words before planning. If your paraphrase does not contain a judgement the prompt demanded, you have misread it.
3. Memorised template sentences
Lexical ResourceOpeners like “In this modern era of globalisation, this is a highly controversial topic which has attracted much debate” are instantly recognizable to examiners. They say nothing about the specific question, so they contribute nothing to Task Response - and because the phrasing is not yours, they cannot demonstrate lexical range either.
A whole introduction of memorized filler can leave you thirty words in with zero credit earned.
Since time immemorial, education has been a topic of heated debate among people from all walks of life.
Some governments now fund university tuition entirely from taxation, while others expect students to pay their own fees.
The fix: Start by paraphrasing the prompt itself. It guarantees relevance and shows real vocabulary control in the first line.
4. Listing ideas instead of developing them
Task ResponseBand 6 essays often contain five reasonable ideas with one sentence each. Band 7+ essays contain two ideas that are properly finished. A developed idea has three moving parts: the claim, why it is true, and what follows from it - ideally with a specific example.
More ideas feels safer. It is not: an unsupported claim earns almost nothing, so five of them earn almost nothing five times.
Public transport reduces traffic. It is also cheaper. Cities should invest in it.
Investing in public transport reduces congestion because a single bus removes roughly forty cars from the road. Cities that expanded metro networks, such as Copenhagen, cut peak-hour journey times even as their populations grew.
The fix: Plan two body paragraphs, one idea each. If a paragraph is under four sentences, the idea is not finished.
5. A conclusion with new ideas - or no conclusion at all
Coherence & CohesionThe conclusion has one job: restate the position you already argued. Introducing a fresh reason, a new example or a policy recommendation you never discussed is a coherence problem - you have raised something the essay does not support, and there is no space left to support it.
The opposite failure is just as costly. An essay that stops after the last body paragraph reads as unfinished, and running out of time is not a defense the marking criteria recognize.
In conclusion, governments should fund universities. Additionally, they should reform secondary schools and invest heavily in teacher training.
In conclusion, while private funding raises useful revenue, public funding better serves social mobility, and governments should therefore prioritize it.
The fix: Budget five minutes for the conclusion and write nothing in it that does not already appear earlier in your essay.
6. Informal vocabulary and tone
Lexical ResourceTask 2 is a formal argument. Contractions (don’t, it’s), vague quantifiers (a lot of, loads of), conversational openers (Well, Anyway) and phrasal verbs where a single verb exists all pull Lexical Resource down.
The fix is not obscure words. Overusing thesaurus vocabulary you do not fully control does more damage than plain, accurate language - a wrong collocation is more visible than a simple one.
A lot of people don’t really think the government should get rid of these rules.
Many citizens oppose the removal of these regulations.
The fix: Sweep for contractions, “a lot of”, “things”, “people think” and “etc.” before you finish. Replace each with a precise alternative you are sure of.
7. Linking words used as decoration
Coherence & CohesionStarting every sentence with Moreover, Furthermore, In addition does not create cohesion - it signals a list. Real cohesion comes from ideas that follow logically, referencing earlier points with pronouns and noun phrases, and using connectors only where a genuine relationship exists.
Mechanical, over-signposted linking is explicitly described in the band descriptors as a Band 6 feature.
Firstly, cars pollute. Moreover, they cause traffic. Furthermore, they are expensive. In addition, they are dangerous.
Cars pollute heavily in dense cities. That pollution is worst in exactly the areas where congestion keeps engines idling longest, which makes the two problems difficult to solve separately.
The fix: Delete every connector, reread the paragraph, and put back only the ones whose absence made the logic unclear.
The fastest way to find your own version of these
Six of the seven are invisible from the inside. You cannot spot an undeveloped idea in your own essay, because you know the reasoning you left out - your brain fills the gap while you read.
That is why feedback matters more than volume. Write one essay, get it marked against the four criteria, fix what it flags, and write the next one with that fix in mind. Ten essays treated that way beat forty written blind.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common mistake in IELTS Writing Task 2?+
Answering only part of the prompt. Most Task 2 questions contain two instructions - discuss both views and give your opinion, or explain causes and suggest solutions. Addressing one and neglecting the other caps Task Response at around Band 5 regardless of how fluent the writing is.
Can I write new ideas in my Task 2 conclusion?+
No. The conclusion should only restate the position you already argued. Introducing a new reason, example or recommendation is a coherence problem, because you have raised a point the essay does not support and there is no space left to support it.
Are memorized templates bad for IELTS Writing?+
Yes. Generic openers like "In this modern era, this is a highly controversial topic" say nothing about the specific question, so they earn nothing for Task Response, and because the phrasing is not your own they cannot demonstrate lexical range either. Paraphrase the prompt instead.
How many ideas should a Task 2 essay have?+
Two properly developed ideas beat five listed ones. A developed idea states the claim, explains why it is true, and gives a specific example. If a body paragraph is under four sentences, the idea is probably unfinished.
Do linking words improve my Coherence and Cohesion score?+
Only when they mark a real relationship between ideas. Starting every sentence with Moreover, Furthermore or In addition signals a list rather than an argument, and mechanical over-signposting is described in the band descriptors as a Band 6 feature.
What vocabulary should I avoid in Task 2?+
Contractions, vague quantifiers like "a lot of", conversational openers and filler such as "etc." all pull Lexical Resource down. Avoid the opposite error too: thesaurus words you do not fully control cause wrong collocations, which are more visible to an examiner than plain accurate language.
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