What are common IELTS Writing Task 2 topics?

Task 2 is the longer of the two Writing tasks, and candidates naturally ask what it will be about. The honest answer is that nobody outside IELTS can tell you, and IELTS does not say.

What the official pages say

IELTS.org’s Academic Writing format page describes Task 2 as giving you a point of view, argument or problem to respond to. Its General Training page describes an opinion, argument or problem, answered in a semi-formal or neutral discursive essay. Both ask for at least 250 words in about 40 minutes, and both mark four criteria: Task response, Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resource, and Grammatical range and accuracy.

The format pages also say that content not related to the topic is penalised. IELTS publishes no list of Task 2 topics and no list of essay types. Everything below is commonly reported in practice material, not published by IELTS.

A working list of themes

These are the themes practice material commonly reports. The question angles are invented examples in our own words, not questions from a past paper.

• Education: whether schools should teach practical skills; how far university should be open to everyone.
• The environment: who should act on pollution; whether individuals or governments matter more.
• Technology: how technology changes the way people learn or communicate; whether its effects are mostly positive.
• Health: how people can be encouraged to look after their own health; where responsibility for it lies.
• Work: what makes a job worthwhile; the effects of working from home.
• Government and society: what public money should be spent on; how a community can support older people.
• Crime: whether punishment or prevention matters more; how young offenders should be treated.
• Media: the influence of advertising; whether news should be reported differently.
• Family: how children should be raised; changes in how families live.
• Cities and transport: how to reduce traffic; whether people should live in cities or the countryside.
• Globalisation and culture: whether traditions are being lost; the effects of international tourism.

Why the shape matters more than the topic

Any theme can arrive in several shapes, and IELTS does not publish essay types either. Practice material reports five: agree or disagree, discuss both views, problem and solution, advantages and disadvantages, and two-part questions. A good plan for one shape works on every theme, so learn them in turn: agree or disagree, discuss both views, problem and solution, advantages and disadvantages and two-part questions.

What the “latest topics” lists really are

Pages promising the latest Task 2 topics are reconstructions. Candidates write them from memory after their tests and sites copy each other. They show the range and the wording, and they are not a forecast. Nothing on them is confirmed by IELTS.

Preparing by theme

For each theme, collect two or three ideas with a specific example behind each, and the words to express them precisely. Then practise answering unfamiliar questions on that theme in each of the five shapes. The essay structure post gives a plan you can reuse, and the Writing test format guide covers both tasks. When you have written an essay, IELTS Mentor AI’s essay checker gives you feedback on it.