Dec 2017 IELTS Writing Task 2 Reported Questions

IELTS writing task 2 questions reported in December 2017. This list below contains questions that students have reported in their IELTS test. It is possible for questions or topics to be repeated. However, you should also prepare ideas for all common topics.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Questions December

A list of IELTS writing task 2 questions used so far in IELTS in December. I will continue to add more writing task 2 questions when students post them.

  1. Some people think that paying taxes is a big enough contribution to society, while others think people have more responsibilities as member of society than only paying taxes. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
  2. In the past people liked to store knowledge in books. However, in the present, we prefer to store knowledge on the internet. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
  3. Some people say success in a person’s life as an adult is the result of the way he was brought up by his parents. Do you agree or disagree?
  4.  Some people say that travelling abroad is the only way to really learn about another country. However, other people say that it is not necessary to travel  as we can find enough information about other countries on the TV or through the internet. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
  5. Developments in technology make our life complex, and we should try to simplify our life and stay away from these developments. To what extent do you agree?
  6. Many people believe that international tourism is a bad thing for their country. What are the reasons for this?
    What can be done to change this negative attitude towards international tourism?
  7. The use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, is replacing face-to-face contact with many people. Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
  8. Shopping online has increased recently. What are the effects of this trend on the environment and what type of jobs does it create.
  9.  Some people think that charity organisations should give aid to those who need urgent help wherever they live, while others say that these organisations should serve only in their country. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
  10. Competitiveness is a skill that is required in modern society in order to succeed. How does competitiveness affect the individual? Is it a positive or negative quality?
  11. Despite education being readily accessible, there are still adults who do not know how to read or write. What are the effects of this on those adults? What can the government do to prevent this happening?
  12. Some people believe that in secondary school (high school) student should study academic subjects like history and physics. However, others believe that in secondary school students should study practical subjects like car mechanics or cookery. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
  13. Wild animals and birds have started living in towns and cities. Some people propose to kill them, while others want to protect them. Give your opinion on both views.
  14. By paying more to employees based on their performance levels, you can keep their motivation high. Do you agree this is the best way to encourage employees?

IELTS Writing Task 2

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Common Essay Questions: All students must prepare ideas for common topics. 

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Comments

  1. Sureshdevaraj says

    Hi Ms.liz
    Thank you for your advanced lessons. I would like to confirm that in one of the questions, it is stated “to what extent do you agree.” I just want to make sure is it mandatory that i must write only about what i agree or else can i choose whether i agree or disagree or both.

    • As explained in the video, when asked to give your opinion, you choose any opinion you want. I taught you how to do a one-sided approach and a balanced approach. You choose the one that suits your opinion for that essay question.

  2. Mehdi says

    Hi Liz
    A question: is it true to think that all other three criteria for marking ( Grammar, Lexical Resource, and coherence n cohesion) are marked only on condition that the Task Response is met? I mean if , for example, the topic is about crime but sb writes totally irrelevantly about animals, does the person receive zero or each criterion is marked separately?
    Mehdi

    • No. You are given a mark for each one independently. So, if you write about the wrong topic, it will only affect your score for Task Response – the other three criteria won’t be affected.

  3. hi Liz
    does IELTS writing academy exam topics repeat.?

    • Yes, they can repeat. However, sometimes the instructions and question are word differently.

      • Ms Liz, regarding sample question 1, for the intro, since its not asking for my opinion, is kt lkay to just state, ” This essay will discuss each of the views further. ” Thanks in advance

        • Don’t use learned phrases. Each sentence should be uniquely created by yourself and link to the topic and issues given in the question.

  4. lakshmi says

    Ideas for the Essay topic – 1. Please help to review and comment
    1.Paying taxes is big enough contribution to society
    A. Government is responsible for the administration. It is accountable for its proper utilization for the society.
    B. Over the last decade, the world is getting shifted to the mechanical life-style, where people are extremely busy that they feel the paucity of time even for their personal works.
    C. They strongly believe that perfection in individual’s duties brings perfection across the world.

    2. People have more responsibilities as member of society than paying taxes.
    A. Conserving the nature and the natural resources efficiently is the primary responsibility as a member of society. Inefficient usage have detrimental effect to the society’s development as well.
    B. People should track the utilization of peoples’ taxes. When things goes wrong, people must demand explanation from the corresponding politician and the government officials to straighten them up.
    C. Taxes are meant for improving our living in the society. This comes only when we are taking charge of our surroundings especially environmental health and wealth.

  5. Q1: Some people think that paying taxes is big enough contribution to society,while others think people have more responsibilty as a member of society, than only paying taxes.Discuss both views and give your opinion.

    Payment of tax is a major responsibilty of all adult citizen of a country and is very big support to the government.Revenues generated annually from taxes and loyalties paid by individuals and companies alike, usually form the major resources for governments.Without these taxes, government is unable to provide essential infrastructure like;good roads, hospitals, schools and so on. With funds realised from taxes, government is also able to provide and subsidised services for the common man.Again, taxes sometimes are used to create a required balance in wealth distribution in the society.For instance,income tax is a deduction from income and is usually a percentage of income earned. What this means is that high income earners pay more than low income earners, but both benefit from government services.
    Nevertheless,beside prompt payment of taxes, there are other civic duties expected by the government from its citizenry. Obeying rules and maintaining order is also key to societal development, as no nation prospers in absence of peace and harmony.Tax payers should also endeavour to vote during elections in order to choose right leaders.When resources are generated through taxes, but mismanaged by corrupt leaders;it still amount to effort in futility.
    In my opinion, prompt payment of taxes is a great support which all citizen should give to the government,but performing other civic duties like participation in voting process is equally important as all contribute to societal growth.

  6. My writing task 2 question was “Several people are now living in large apartment complexes. Do you think this has more advantages or disadvantages ?” – I stated more disadvantages like lack of playing spaces etc. in comparison with having an independent private house (villa/bungalow). Is my response appropriate ?

  7. liz.. which is more appropriate to use in outline sentence of introduction..
    in my opinion or this essay will discuss about ?

    • “this essay will discuss…” does not express your opinion. If the instructions ask for your opinion, you must give it clearly and directly.

      • thank you for ur prompt reply

      • Isaiah Espina says

        Liz, gud day.
        Is it possible to have higher score in speaking even though the examiner did the talking a lot? She was trying to explainthe question before she let me speak, becuase the question was so confusing, even her she cant believe.

        • I have never known a situation when the examiner talked a lot. It is not usual at all. Unless the candidate is having serious problems understanding questions.

          • Isaiah Espina says

            It was not like that liz, it was the beginning of the next question. Do u think sometimes they dont like candidate’s answer despites it directly answered the quedtion?

            • The examiner is not interested in your ideas or how you answer your question. The examiner is probing for your English language. If you don’t offer it easily and freely – then the examiner will need to prompt you and ask you more and more questions.

      • Augustine says

        Why was my question or comment posted earlier (January, 3) ignored?

  8. Happy new year Liz, please can you throw more light on essays with to what extend do you agree or disagree. Am confuse with the ‘extend’ if I have to state my stand.

  9. Hi Liz,

    Thank you for all the effort you are doing on this blog.

    Actually, my question is about opinion essay. If the background in the task is going to a direction like for example no.5 above, it is going to a direction of staying away from technology however my opinion is to indulge more into technology and make the best out of it. My concern is that ,for a reason, I am not feeling comfortable to write in the opposite direction without a balanced approach technique. if i want to disagree with the background topic completely, can I do that without a balanced approach ?

    Thanks in advance

    Hazem

    • I am rather confused. I don;t fully understand your message. In an opinion essay, you agree, you can disagree or you can present a balanced view which actually means a partial agreement.

  10. Happy New Year Liz! I wish you to have a great 2018 🙂

    There is another task I have done. Can someone please take a quick look and give me an idea of band score for this essay?

    Question: In the past people liked to store knowledge in books. However, in the present, we prefer to store knowledge on the internet. Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

    Answer:

    There is no doubt that internet has become a part and parcel in our daily life. As a consequence, people tend to store knowledge and resources on the internet now-a-days where in the back they used paper books. In my opinion, there are several advantages of using internet as an alternative of books which makes it better.

    The common disadvantage of using internet to store information is a risk of data loss. For example, when someone saves his valuable information on the internet which is basically stored in a server and communicate through connection, then this is very easy to steal by a hacker if the server security is not strong enough. As a result, the data will be lost and sometimes it can be severe if the information is sensitive like bank accounts access or credit card details. To solve this problem, people need to concern about security that increases the cost as sometimes it needs to hire a system admin.

    On the other hand, storing information on the internet ensures easy access from anywhere as long there is a device available connected to the internet. For instance, if you have a business and the accounts software is put on online, then you can access and review your accounts from anywhere and anytime. This is to say, you don’t need to carry the accounts book with you. Moreover, when you are out of station your accounts can still run by staffs.

    Furthermore, putting all the information on internet also ensures that you can easily analyze the data from long time ago. This is pretty much manageable than the paper book which can be torn or lost. To illustrate this point, I can mention of a government bank which took almost five hours to provide me a remittance certificate for previous year as everything was hand-written and they also needed to find out the last year’s book. To avoid this type of issue, they could maintain a secured server which can confirm the service faster.

    In conclusion, despite having a risk of stealing data it can hardly be denied that, the availability and accessibility of information even from the long before outweigh the former view.

  11. Ms. Liz,

    Your sessions and lessons are really helpful. I am trying to understand the topics you listed for December 2017 but I am unclear on No. 14. It gives me two impressions-one, that employees should be paid based on their performance and two, that paying high salaries is sufficient/not sufficient to keep them motivated.

    Please help on which one is the correct interpretation of this sentence and which one is a fact.

    Thanks in advance and Wish you a very Happy New Year!

    • You need to answer the question: Do you think paying employees based on their performance is the best way to motivate them?

  12. Megan Stevens says

    Hi Liz,

    Your contributions to IELTS community are commendable. I am confused on complex sentences for Writing tasks.
    1. Should we write complex sentences in both Writing task 1 and 2?
    2. The body paragraphs would generally be 4-5 sentences. How many of these sentences should be complex ones?

    Thanks in advance for your reply

    • Your aim for grammar is to produce accurate English. This means that the more mistakes you make in grammar and vocab, the lower your score will be. Certainly using complex sentences is one of the criteria for a high score. But if your complex sentences contain lots of mistake, it will lower your score. There is no specific number of complex sentences. As I explained, you must keep within your level of English. If your level of English is excellent and you have excellent control over your English grammar, you can produce more complex sentences and avoid simple ones. I am currently writing a grammar list for writing task 2 and it should be ready to buy in a couple of months – that will help you.

      • Megan Stevens says

        Thanks for your prompt response!

        I am due to appear for exam on January 20th. Would you suggest any other existing resources which might be helpful for producing complex sentences, particularly paying attention to punctuation as well? I have referred to gerund video already which is beneficial.

        • Punctuation is basically only commas and full stops for IELTS. Sorry I don’t know a good book for this or a website. This is the reason I’m writing my grammar list e-book.

  13. Hi Liz,

    Thanks for your prompt responses, while writing OPINION in THESIS statement, should i include both side of views or only can i write which i am supporting strongly.

    could you please suggest which is best.

  14. E-commerce business has burgeoning recently. The outcomes of this tendency on the nature is significantly positive due to merits of de-carbonisation, de-materialization and digital growth of economy. On the other hand negative impacts are majorly consumption of electricity is increasing through point and click business. This sector also generating jobs in sectors like information technology, freight transportation and warehousing.

    Paraphrasing and thesis statement on Eighth essay.

  15. The use of mass communication such as Facebook and Twitter is taking the place of direct interaction with majority of people. Undoubtedly the advantages are more significant, due to technology reachability to comman people, freedom of expression and availability of resources. On the other hand because of social networking addiction human relations are fading out day to day.

    Paraphrase and thesis statement for the Seventh essay.

  16. Many people thought that global tourism in unacceptable for their country. This kind of attitude is developing due to security issues from terrorism, infectious diseases like Ebola environment and native culture issues. To overcome all these issues these countries need to take help of advanced technology and international cooperation. Because tourism is the economical growth engine and it will also develop the multilateral relations among the countries to the next level.

    Paraphrase and thesis statement for the SIXTH essay.

  17. Hi Liz,
    Thanks for your excellent teachings and guidance, i have been learning many things from your contributions.

    Is there any better synonym for tourism? i didn’t find the best one even in dictionaries.

    Thank you.

    • The tourist industry. Do not try to find one word to replace another. Just explain what you mean.

  18. Hi Liz!Should I state the summary of my opinion in the introduction for the discussion essay?I always read something like”This essay will discuss the advantage and disadvantage of…..”

  19. Evolution in scientific knowledge make out life critical and we ought to try to make easier our life and we need to abstain from these technical advancements. In my view there is several kind of problems with negative side of technology like advancement in nuclear technology disturbing the world peace and industrial technology polluting the environment. On the other hand in the positive side one can not ignore the advancement in health science, producing energy, space research, artificial intelligence, robotics and so on. we should use technology only in good way without disturbing peace and nature.

    Paraphrase and thesis statement for FIFTH essay writing.

  20. Some people would thought voyage to foreign countries is the only way to acquire knowledge about another country. On the other hand, some people believe that it is not essential to take trip as we can search enough data about overseas using TV or internet. In my view it is practically necessay to visit abroad to gain knowledge through personal experience by mingle with native people. On the other hand there is other technical sources to gather knowledge but it will not give personal experience.

    Paraphrase and thesis statement for the FOURTH essay.

  21. Some people would thought that, accomplishment of their aims in their person’s life as an youngster outcome of the way, he was grown up by his parents. I would slightly agree on this because, surely there is a parents contribution in the way of their care with well descipline, sharing good experiences and knowledge. But on the other hand there is a major role of teachers, friends and society for experimentation and execution goals.

    Paraphrase and thesis statement for the THIRD essay writing.

  22. Shivam Galhotra says

    I shall highly appreciate if anyone could evaluate my essay and share some tips to make it a band 7.5 essay. Question: The trend of Eco-Tourism is increasing, discuss the reasons and suggest some solutions for it’s promotion.

    Answer: Tourist industry is the fastest growing sector in the global market. Tourism has several types and all are equally vital for a hosting nation. Eco-tourism is exponentially gaining popularity due to some very obvious reasons, which I will pen down in this essay accompanied by some practical suggestions for this highly benefitting industry’s promotion.

    The modern life style is full of mental stress, work load on city dwellers multiplies the stress level and individual residing in concrete jungles are totally disconnected from nature. In order to relax in the lap of nature, most travellers prefer to visit naturally beautiful places. Eco-tourists, tend to enjoy beautiful mountains, lakes, forests and unaltered enviornment  instead of metropolitan cities. Furthermore, adventure seeking individuals also prefer to visit naturally beautiful landscapes with minimal human interfarence. Most adventure sports such as bungee jumping, paragliding, water ski etc are held in remote areas which strongly attract adventurous travellers.

    Eventhough, eco-tourism is spread on a rapid pace, well executed promotion of eco-tourist sights can bring a dramatic push in the host country’s economy. Apart from some positive marketting of a place, some grass root level things must be taken under serious consideration. Basic infrastructure such as well maintained roads, good standard accomodations and medical help facilities must be readily available near all remote places of visit. Visitor friendly enviornment must be maintained by equipping the locals with foreign language skills. The fact that a positive word of mouth is more effective than an advertisement can not be ignored, all visitors must be treated with courtesy.

    To recapitulate, tourism is inevitably of a great importance. The encouraging factor is that eco-tourism is on a constant hike because of some obvious reason. However, genuine efforts in it’s actual promotion are yet to be made. A collective public effort can dramatically enhance the number of visitors and reap the unlimited benifits out this extremely potential industry.

  23. In former days, people interested to reserve valuable information in the form of books. On the other hand, nowadays we wish to keep important data on the internet. As per my view because of advancement of flexibility in the technology, there is numerous benefits in storing knowledge in the cyberspace compare storing in books.

    Can someone please validate this paraphrase and thesis statement for the second essay.

  24. Some people believe that giveaway taxes is a sufficient financial addition to the society, at the same time others consider people have more duties as a citizen of nation than only disbursing taxes. According to my opinion , paying taxes is the fundamental duty of every citizen, to achieve financial equilibrium in the society, along with this people must participate in social activities in the public to achieve prosperity in the society.

    Can some please validate this paraphrase and thesis for FIRST essay writing question.

  25. Jingzhong shao says

    Hi Liz, regarding to this essay question “ Developments in technology make our life complex, and we should try to simplify our life and stay away from these developments. To what extent do you agree?“ Shall I respond to two things – complex or not complex + stay way or not stay away? Or the first part “ Developments in technology make our life complex“ is only a background introduction that I don’t need to give opinion? Thank you!

    • It is a fact that our life is more complex – advanced technology and communication. So, this is not the issue, this is the situation. You need to comment on whether we should try to simplify our lives by staying away from advanced technology. You need to be able to spot the fact and the opinion in the question.

  26. Aman deep says

    My paper was on 17 december academic india new delhiiiii
    Speaking cue card topic—- describe an occasion when u helped someone nd received positive feedbacks

  27. Yogita Patange says

    Young people have different ideas and attitudes eith their parents and grandparents. What are the differences. What problems may be caused.

    On 16 dec 2017 in mumbai india

  28. Cynthia says

    Dear Liz,
    Are all essays for academic module in the page of “100 essay questions”?

    • GT topics for writing task 2 are almost the same as the academic test. The only topic GT students don’t need to prepare is the topic of Space Exploration.

  29. yasmine says

    Hi Liz,
    I’m not sure about my paraphrasing for number(7) I wrote:
    It is true that there are some illiterate adults in society ,inspite of the accessibility of education nowadays. This illiteracy could dramatically afflict the future of youth ,as well as the following generations .However the government should implement a number of measures to cap this detrimental phenomenon .

    but I don’t feel it the perfect option

  30. No 3 was my task on Dec 2nd. Can’t wait to see my score

  31. Juweria says

    Hi liz,
    More and more people prefer to read ebooks rather than paper books. What are the resons for this? What problems can this cause for libraries? Could u please give some ideas for the 2nd part one i.e the prob ebooks have caused for libraries?

  32. Thanx Mam to share the valueable notes .all these are very helpful for my exam preparations

  33. Number 2 task is it related to learning from internet coz every knowledge are now available in internet’

  34. This is very useful to me as well as other who are attempting exam this week like me. Thanks a lot !!!

  35. Mohamed mohamed says

    Question 9 give your opinion on both views, is it a discussion question or i should give opinion on both views separately?

  36. Thank you for your this next knowledge Liz, it is so useful for me.

  37. Isaiah Espina says

    Good day liz, i just tool ielts recently, the question was, Despites the access of education, still more and more people do not know how to read and write.
    What are the effects on this to them?
    What should the government do to solve the problems?

    Is this mean I should give 2 problems and solutions on it, because it was written in plural form?
    Thanks

    • If you can only think of one problem and two solutions, it’s fine.

      • Isaiah Espina says

        Does it not affect badly the coherency liz, f only 1 problem, cause the question 1 is in plural form? It did really baffle me, and took me 40 mins write it.
        Thanks for the answer liz in advance.

        • You are still fulfilling the task if you say that there is only one main effect. You are not marked on the number of ideas.

  38. Dear Liz, regarding this task:
    “Some people say that travelling abroad is the only way to really learn about another country. However, other people say that it is not necessary to travel as we can find enough information about other countries on the TV or through the internet. Discuss both views and give your opinion.”

    Will it be appropriate to devote the 3 body paragraphs separately to: pra1- 1st view – traveling, para 2-2nd view- TV/internet, and 3rd paragraph separately for my opinion?

  39. ahsan bilal says

    thanks Liz…

  40. DEEPALI says

    MAM PLEASE EVALUATE MY WRITING!
    The best way to improve health is to exercise daily.
    To what extent do you agree or disagree.

    It is often believed that exercising regularly is the key to remain healthy. I completely agree with this notion because physical workout averts our body from perilous mental and physical illness.

    First, in order to preclude mental diseases such as depression, day to day physical training plays a profound role. In other words, physical exertion releases a hormone as a natural remedy, in our brain that acts as stress buster. Moreover, there are various body postures and brain training activities involved in yoga, ending up a healthful and stress free life. Not only this, it improves our concentration and keep insomnia at bay. A research published by Health Ministry of US proved that escalating trend of depression among folks is ascribable to lack of strenuous activities in our life. Therefore, daily bodily practice plays an indispensable role to ward off any sort of mental ailments.

    Secondly, physical disorders in human body is well tackled by consistent exercise regime. One of The major physical problems nowadays is the sedentary lifestyle, owing to which mankind is inclined to obesity, which consequently leads to major chronic disorders in human body. As most of the work done by youngsters nowadays is desk-bound, propel them to lead an inactive lifestyle which is the resultant of diabetes, cancer, gastric problems and many more dreadful diseases. Thus, in order to combat such diseases exercise plays a profound role. Recent report published in the Times Newspaper by Health Scientists concluded that about 88 percent obese patients are the sufferers of cardiovascular disease. Hence, exercising keep such physical disorders aside, making the person more active and fit.

    To conclude, exercise regimes are requisite to ameliorate the effects of mental and physical abnormalities keeping oneself fit and fine, as per my opinion.

  41. My question was number four

  42. Frank Reuben says

    Waoo Mss Liz you’re current. The question 4 over there was our question on writing task 2.

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