People's shopping habits depend more on the age group they belong to than other factors. To what extent do you agree or disagree?: IELTS Writing Task

Bhargavee Sisodia

19 Nov 2024

IELTS writing task 2 consists of a single essay segment with a minimum word limit of 250 and an allotted time of 40 minutes. This section is common for both Academic and General Training IELTS writing tests. 

IELTS Essay: Types of Essay

IELTS essay topics fall into six major groups, each with its own structure. Your IELTS writing band score will suffer if you don't carefully evaluate the assigned topic and comprehend each style before organizing your response.

• Problem Solution: For these essays, you will need to look into the causes and consequences of major issues related to your essay topic. Personal advice and opinions should not be used in these sorts of writings.
• Advantage & Disadvantage: You have to enumerate the benefits and drawbacks of a certain topic for this kind of essay. The main body of your essay should be well-balanced, with each paragraph addressing the advantages and disadvantages of the given topic. Don't offer personal opinions if the topic doesn't warrant them.
• Discussion: Writing an essay in this structure allows you to discuss both sides of the topic with examples. If it doesn't specifically ask for your opinion, refrain from forcefully mentioning it. 
• Balanced Opinion: Essays of this kind need you to express your thoughts about the subject clearly. In a discussion, you have to defend both sides equally; you cannot favor one over the other. Your personal opinion should come through in the introduction and conclusion paragraphs of the essay. 
• Opinion: You have to write an essay outlining your viewpoint on the assigned topic and indicating whether or not you agree with it. Offer pertinent details and arguments to convince the examiner about your opinion. Partial agreement or disagreement with the specified topic cannot be conveyed.
• Direct Question/Double Question: This type of essay asks one or more direct questions, to which your essay-style response must be ordered logically and concisely with relevant instances.

An opinion essay can be clubbed with any of the above-mentioned types and it is important to know how to draft the essay in such scenarios, which is why we have jotted down the pattern of answering such topics in the table below.

IELTS Writing: Assessment criteria 

The essay component of the writing exam is evaluated based on four factors, each of which determines a total of 25% of the IELTS writing band score. These criteria include: 

• Task Achievement / Task Response: This assesses your familiarity with the subject and your understanding of the main points made in your response. Make sure you have enough time in the allotted 40 minutes to edit your essay, and that it is at least 250 words lengthy. 
• Coherence and Cohesion: Making sense of concepts is referred to as coherence. A cohesive piece of writing requires a clear organization of ideas and comprehensible writing. The right technique for using suitable connections to join disparate literary components is called cohesiveness. 
• Lexical Resource: To ascertain this point, the examiner would assess your work for accuracy, depth of vocabulary, spelling mistakes, and skillful word choice and usage. Using a broad vocabulary effectively helps you get a higher score for this criterion.
• Grammatical Accuracy and Range: This part assesses your usage of punctuation, sentence structure, and proper language. You should use a broad range of grammar to ace this section. 

IELTS writing test: List of Linking words

While writing an essay on the IELTS writing task 2 topics you might find yourself stuck for new linking words. Linking words are important for your score in the Coherence and Cohesion criterion, on top of that, repeating linking words might decrease your score in the Lexical Resources category. Hence, we have listed some linking words broken into categories, to ease your pain a little.   

Addition: Used for adding new points

• Further
• And then
• Another
• Also
• As well as

Contrast: To express a change in the flow of ideas

• In spite of
• Alternatively
• Whereas
• In contrast to
• But

Reason: To explain the reason for a statement

• For
• Due to
• In order to
• So that
• With the aim of
• Owing to

Sequence: To incorporate sequencing in your essay

• Afterward
• Initially
• Before
• Previously
• Subsequently

Conclusion: To start a solid conclusion paragraph

• To conclude
• All in all
• Therefore
• On the whole
• In brief

Cheat sheet: IELTS writing task 2

There are a few things that you should and should not do while writing your essay on the IELTS essay topics. Below we have listed some of the pointers for you.

• Standard Spacing: full stops, commas, and semicolons are placed right after a word, with one space before the following word.
• Always Capitalize: You should capitalize the first word of a sentence, the pronoun “I”, and the names of people, places, and things. 
• Contractions: Contractions like “don’t”, and “shouldn’t”, etc indicate the informal language. So refrain from using them as much as possible.
• Articles and Indefinite pronouns: You should have proper knowledge about the utility and context of articles and indefinite pronouns for their proper utilization. E.g. Few = Almost none, A few = several, the majority = many. 
• Focus on correct usage rather than high-level words: While paraphrasing, utilize those synonyms that are relevant and whose meanings are absolutely clear to you. 
• Linking Words: Do not skip using linking devices just to sound different or original. Stick to the formula. 
• Two sentences must be separated by a “period”, Not a comma: Remember that two sentences should always be separated by a full stop or period, not a comma. 

IELTS writing task 2 topics with answers  

Determining the category of your essay

Before starting with the essay writing task, the most important task for you is to identify the type your essay topic belongs to. In case you fail to identify the category of the essay correctly, your marks in the Task Achievement  / Task Response criterion will be compromised. So be very careful while recognizing the type your essay falls into.

For example, if your topic is “People's shopping habits depend more on the age group they belong to than other factors. To what extent do you agree or disagree?”

There are only two sentences in the essay topic. 

• “People's shopping habits depend more on the age group they belong to than other factors.”: This is your topic statement. It is the main subject around which your entire essay needs to be written.
• “To what extent do you agree or disagree?”: This question clearly asks for your opinion in agreement or disagreement.   

The aforementioned subject falls under the genre of "Opinion Essays", in which you are required to express your view on a certain stance and provide supporting details. You should not have a diplomatic stance on it i.e. agreeing with some points and disagreeing with others. Your position on the subject should be very apparent in the essay and uncompromising. 

The Essay Structure: Opinion Essay

Introduction: Paraphrase the topic statement and mention your stance on the topic. 

Main Body: The main body should consist of 2 paragraphs.

• Paragraph 1: First idea on the topic statement along with relevant examples.
• Paragraph 2: Second idea on the topic statement along with relevant examples. 

Conclusion: Restate your unwavering opinion on the topic statement (agreement or disagreement).

Now let's have a look at the possible answers to the above topic from the “Opinion” category for the IELTS writing band scores 6, 7, and 9. 

IELTS writing band score 6

People's likes and personalities vary as they age, and this has a direct influence on their shopping habits. I agree with this premise and intend to support it with examples throughout my essay.  

When people become older, they mature as a result of their experiences, and they give more importance to trust worthy things over their poularity. Young people value an object's popularity over its quality or cost, but the older generation feels that a product's value is defined by its quality rather than looks. For example, younger people are mostly impalsive buyers and they buy anything and everything they find attractive. But older people judge the product from head to toe before buying it. Older people also have a higher sense of money than younger people.

As people age, their perspective and need change. Aged people has a far greater feeling of money than the younger ones. Furthermore, as people age, they tend to make more matured selections, and their shopping habits change. For example, when I was younger, I used to buy stickers with the money my parents gave me as allowence. I never used those stickers and now when I look back, I feel like I wasted all my allowance on something that was not even required. Now, before buying anything, I try to understand its utility and requirement, so that I don’t waste my money on anything unwanted. That is the lesson I have learned with he growing age.

To summarize, age is one of the most important factors influencing a person's changing purchasing patterns as a result of the life events they go through as they grow up.

Notes on the above answer: 

• The words in both underlined and italics represent Grammatical mistakes that reduce the score in this criterion. 
• The underlined words indicate a lack of paraphrasing of the topic statement reducing the score in Task Achievement. 
• The essay lacks in vocabulary range. The words in Italics indicate spelling mistakes. These two factors lower the score in Lexical Resources. 
• The number of linking words is very low, and words in bold like “people”, “older”, and “product” have been repeated several times lowering the overall score of Cohesion and Coherence.

IELTS writing band score 7

As people age, their tastes and personalities change too, which directly impacts their shopping goals. I completely agree with this idea and want to provide evidence for it in this essay.  

Firstly, when people grow older, they tend to mature as a result of the many experiences and they realize the value of purchasing essential and dependable items rather than the popular ones. Young people prioritize the object's popularity rather than its quality or cost whereas the older generation believes that the worth of a product is determined by its quality rather than its charm. For example, in shopping malls, we can see the younger people popping products in their carts just after glancing at them once or twice. On the other hand, the aged people weigh the value of the product by looking at its price and quality before buying it.  

Furthermore, as people age, their perspective in life change, as do their needs. Older individuals have a considerably stronger sense of money than younger people. Moreover, as people become older, they tend to make more realistic decisions, and as a result, their shopping experiences alters. For instance, when I was young, my goal in shopping was simple, to make myself happy. But as I grew older, I tend to buy more items for my family rather than myself, since buying things for myself seems like a waste of money. 

So, to summarize, age is certainly one of the main factors behind the change in purchasing habits in an individual because of the life experiences they endure while adulting.

Notes on the above answer: 

• The words in both underlined and italics represent Grammatical mistakes because of which the score in that criterion has decreased.  
• The number of linking words is lower than expected, and words in bold like “age”, “people”, “product”, and “shopping” have been repeated, which has reduced the score in Cohesion and Coherence. 

IELTS writing band score 9

With the evolution of age, one’s taste and nature change, directly influencing their purchasing objectives. I wholeheartedly concur with this notion and would like to demonstrate the reasons behind it in this essay. 

For starters, as people grow up, they tend to mature from the bundle of experiences life tosses at them. In turn, they understand the importance of acquiring useful and reliable things rather than just attractive ones. For instance, to youngsters, the object's appeal supersedes other factors like quality or price. But, to the older generation, the value of a product lies in its longevity, productivity, or its overall requirement, which needs to be scrutinized before the final transaction. For example, in my early teens, whenever I went shopping, my primary urge was to procure an attractive item for myself. But as time passed, my perspective changed. Currently, whenever I visit a shop, I lean towards utilities rather than the charm of commodities.  

In addition, as a person grows older, their perspective towards life changes and so do their requirements. In particular, aged folk’s sense of finance is much greater than that of younger ones. Moreover, with the growing age, people lean towards practical choices, and hence their outcomes from shopping change as well. To illustrate, if my father and brother are given the same amount of money to buy something in the mall, my brother will go straight to the comics section followed by the candy aisle. On the contrary, my father would go to the amenities and essentials section and purchase the supplies required for our household. This elaborates on the change in dynamics for shoppers with the progression in life.

All in all, I agree with the fact that an individual’s retail pursuits alter with the advancing years because of their practical wisdom and shift in priorities. 

Conclusion

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