' The idea of different answers for different types of questio | IELTS DOWNTOWN

" The idea of different answers for different types of question is so pervasive that some people think I was hiding something by not including it in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. And one teacher made the following complaint to me about some model answers in a book by Vanessa Jakeman – a true IELTS expert, and a wonderful mentor to me in my early years of test writing. The teacher’s complaint was that Vanessa’s book contains ‘answers to opinion essays that would lose marks in Task response because they are discussion essays.’ This comment is based on myths about IELTS, and shows just how confused this issue has become. Clearly, on the issue of writing, both teachers and students now feel that they do not know which resources they can and cannot trust.

You will not find any mention of ‘opinion essays’ or ‘discussions essays’, and you will not find sample answers that support the notion of how different ‘types’ of question ‘must be answered’ in the Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, the Cambridge Practice Test books, the official IELTS website, or indeed in any books written by real IELTS experts. This is because these ideas only exist outside of the test.

In fact, in spite of working on the test for over 20 years myself, I am still not completely sure what people outside of the test actually mean when they distinguish between a ‘discussion essay,’ an

‘argument essay,’ and an ‘opinion essay’. I can only say that, in my view, this sort of labelling is responsible for a great deal of confusion about the test, and is a key reason why candidates fail to reach a higher band, even after many attempts.

Writing task 2 should be seen very simply as a discursive essay in which you must make your own ideas and position clear; in other words, an essay which requires a careful blend of both objective discussion and opinion... "

Pauline Cullen
The Key To IELTS Success

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