How to plan an IELTS Task 2 essay in 5 minutes

Planning feels like lost time in a 40-minute task. It is the opposite: five minutes of planning saves the ten minutes you would otherwise spend stuck halfway through, and it is the surest way to answer every part of the question.

The chain

Plan in this order, and do not start writing until the chain is complete:

1. Question: what type is it, and what exactly does it ask?
2. Position: what do you think? Decide now.
3. Reason 1: why?
4. Example 1: what proves it?
5. Reason 2: another why.
6. Example 2: what proves that?
7. Write.

Your plan can be a few words per line. Nobody marks it.

Question: Private cars should be banned from city centres. Agree or disagree? Position: Agree, for the busiest centres. Reason 1: cleaner air. Example: children walking to school along main roads. Reason 2: centres become places to spend time. Example: car-free streets fill with cafés and markets.

Minute by minute

• Minute 1: read the question twice and underline every part. Paste it into the essay type checker when you practise, to train your eye.
• Minute 2: decide your position. If you cannot, choose the side you can give two reasons for.
• Minutes 3 to 5: find two reasons and two examples. If an example will not come, the reason is probably too vague; make it more specific.

Stuck for a reason? Ask who is affected (children, workers, the old, governments, businesses) and how. Every group gives you a possible reason.

The plan changes with the question type

• Discussion: view A and why people hold it, view B and why, then your view.
• Problem and solution: the cause, then a solution that answers that cause.
• Advantages and disadvantages: the main advantage, the main disadvantage, and which wins.
• Two-part: a short answer to each question.

The essay type guides cover each in detail.

Let the planner do it with you

The essay planner runs this exact chain as a series of small questions, with hints when you are stuck, and turns your answers into a first draft. It is the fastest way to make the method a habit.