IELTS Writing Task 2 Exercise

I recently gave the question below to a group of students, most of whom made at least one major mistake that lowered their overall mark.

I thought it would be a good exercise to discuss and analyse this question to help you with future questions and raise your awareness about what examiners expect in the real test.

Please do the three exercises below without looking at the sample question and then watch the video below.

Exercise 1- Question Analysis

Look at the question below and simply think about how you might answer it. Think about what the examiner wants you to do. This should take you around 1-2 minutes.

The threat of nuclear weapons maintains world peace. Nuclear power provides cheap and clean energy.

The benefits of nuclear technology far outweigh the disadvantages.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Exercise 2- Ideas

Look at the question again and think about relevant main ideas that you could use in your article. These will be your main points. Again this should only take you 1-2 minutes.

Exercise 3- Structure

Try to fit your ideas into the general structure below.

Paragraph 1- Introduction

Paragraph 2- Main Body 1

Paragraph 3- Main Body 2

Paragraph 4- Conclusion

Common Mistakes

After doing these three exercises, most people have already made at least one crucial mistake that lowers their mark. Below is a video highlighting the key mistakes people make in this question.

Sample Answer

It is often argued that nuclear arsenals keep the world safe and that nuclear energy is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly power source. This essay totally disagrees that these benefits outweigh the drawbacks because the downsides are the eradication of mankind and the destruction of the planet.

Believing that major powers having nuclear warheads pointed at one another is a good thing because it ensures superpowers will not go to war is foolish. This is because it only takes one mistake or a rogue commander to trigger a nuclear conflict, and this is a conflict most of us would not survive. For example, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and the USSR came extremely close to launching their missiles. This demonstrates that they are not the ultimate deterrent and nuclear war is possible.

The idea that nuclear fission is a clean energy source has been dispelled by numerous high-profile accidents at nuclear power plants. These disasters show just how harmful and long-lasting a nuclear material leak can be, and the contamination is not worth it when other energy sources are available. For example, the Fukushima disaster has polluted huge parts of the Pacific Ocean, and it has been reported that fish as far away as California have dangerous radiation levels. To make matters worse, solar and wind energy could replace nuclear energy tomorrow if there was the political will to do so.

In conclusion, this essay disagrees with the opinion that nuclear technology is beneficial rather than dangerous because the consequences of using nuclear energy in the wrong way are so catastrophic to both our species and the Earth itself.