IELTS Band 9 Essay Samples: Writing Task 2 Insights for IELTS Learners

Introduction

The IELTS Writing Test consists of 2 tasks, each worth 25% of the total score. Task 1 is an essay of at least 150 words, and Task 2 is an essay of at least 250 words.

To write an IELTS Band 9 Essay, you should aim to fulfill all 4 marking criteria: Task Response, Vocabulary, Grammatical Accuracy, and Coherence and Cohesion.

• Task Response: Your IELTS Band 9 Essay must fully address the task and present a fully developed position in answer to the question.
• Vocabulary: You should use a wide range of Vocabulary with very natural and sophisticated control of lexical features in your IELTS Band 9 Essay.
• Grammatical Accuracy: Your grammar should be accurate and fluent, with few errors in your IELTS Band 9 Essay.
• Coherence and Cohesion: Your IELTS Band 9 Essay should be well-organized and easy to follow, with clear links between your ideas.

If you can achieve all of these, you will be well on your way to writing an IELTS Band 9 Essay.

IELTS Band 9 Essay Samples: 

Here are some IELTS band 9 essay samples:

Now that you’ve gone through IELTS band 9 essay samples, let’s look at how to write a band 9 essay for writing task 2 questions.

How to write a 9 Band Writing Task 2 Essay?

Here’s one sample band 9 IELTS Writing task 2 essay for you to look at:

How to Approach Different Types of 9 Band Writing Task 2 Essay Questions?

The most common types of band 9 Writing task 2 essay questions are:

• Opinion Essay
• Discussion Essay
• Advantages or Disadvantages Essay
• Agree or Disagree Essay
• Problem and Solution Essay
• Two-Part Questions Essay
• Direct Question Essay

So based on the type of question you get, you have to approach it accordingly

For example, in case you get an advantage and disadvantage type of question, you should remember:

• Discuss both the advantages and disadvantages.
• Possibly the advantage in body paragraph 1 and the disadvantage in body paragraph 2.

In case you get a problem type of question, remember to:

• Discuss the problem, cause and the solution according to what the task question requires.
• Give your opinion only if it is asked.

In case you get a discussion type of question, you should remember:

• Discuss both the views without favoring one over the other
• Possibly one viewpoint in body paragraph 1 and second viewpoint body paragraph 2.
• Give your opinion only if it is asked.

So in this case, since the question ended with, ‘What is your opinion?’ we come to the conclusion that it’s an opinion type of question.

Since it is an opinion type of question we should remember:

• State your personal opinion regarding the topic
• Support your opinions with clear reasons

A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a 9 Band Writing Task 2 Essay

Let’s Look at how to write a 9 Band Writing Task 2 essay with our easy-to-follow step-by-step guide.

The first step after reading the question is to understand the task. What are you being asked to do? What are the different perspectives on the issue?

Deciding Your Opinion and Supporting Arguments

After analyzing the given question and identifying it as an opinion type, you need to carefully strategize how you will express your viewpoint on the topic. Do you agree or disagree with the statement? For instance, in this case, you must decide whether you believe that media violence affects society or not.

Remember, with opinion questions, you can only take one stance, either agreeing or disagreeing. Once you have chosen your position, consider the reasons supporting your opinion.

Planning Your Essay Structure

Once you have decided your opinion and gathered evidence to support it, you need to plan your essay structure. An essay should always be presented in 4 paragraphs:

Introduction Paragraph (Essay Intro):

• Paraphrase the question
• Give an outline of your opinion.

Example: Let’s consider the sample question.

As you can see, in paragraph 1 I’ve started the essay with an introduction, by paraphrasing the question and then giving an outline of my opinion

Body Paragraph 1 & 2 & 3 (Essay Content):

• Go in-depth regarding what you discussed in the introduction
• Give examples
• Use proper vocabulary

Example: Let’s consider the sample question.

Conclusion Paragraph 4 (Outro) – 

• Summary of the main points
• Summary of your opinion

Example: Let’s consider the sample question.

As you can see, my conclusion paragraph includes a summary of the main points of the question as well as my opinion on the topic.

IELTS Band 9 Writing Task 2 Sample Questions & Answers

Now, let’s see some sample answer examples for an IELTS Band 9 Essay on different topics:

IELTS Band 9 Essay Sample 1: Social Media: 

Nowadays, with the rise in violence and crime all around us, some people believe that the violence shown in movies and video games has an influence, while others believe that it doesn’t. I believe that media violence does not have that much of an effect on the rising crime in society.

Firstly, although I agree that the rate of crime and violence around us has increased lately, I don’t think we can blame the media violence for that. I am sure any responsible citizen who watches a movie or plays a video game with violence in it, is aware that it is there only for the sake of entertainment. That being said, in any case, if any individual does cause harm to his society, it would have to be due to his character or his circumstance. So in my opinion, a reasonable and conscious person would not cause harm to others, regardless of what he sees in any form of media.

Moreover, movies and video games actually provide escapism into a virtual world where people can relax and release their anxiety. After a long day at work, when someone comes back home and watches a movie or plays a video game, they automatically forget about all their worries and tensions and recover from the frustration they may have. Personally, I enjoy playing video games as soon as I get back home from work.

Finally, despite some people believing otherwise, I don’t believe that the violence shown in the media plays a role in a person’s character or in the increase of the violence and crime in our society. In fact, the content in the movies and videos can actually help in reducing the frustration and stress factor.

IELTS Band 9 Essay Sample 2: Parenting

It is undoubtedly true that all parents want their children to become good citizens and there’s a wide belief that parents should teach and instill good behavior in their children. On the contrary, some people opine that school is the perfect place to learn good manners. In my perception, I firmly believe that parents are more responsible.

On the one hand, the bond between parents and their children is unique that nurtures holistic growth and development. Parents are the primary teachers and home is the first school for the children where they learn to develop their personality. Children are gullible and under the sole custody of parents, so they imitate their parent’s behavior and imbibe their qualities into them in almost all aspects of their early life. Hence, parents have an undeniable role in teaching concepts of good and evil and moral values to their children.

On the other hand, a group of people vehemently argue that schools should take responsibility for teaching and inculcating good qualities like obedience, honesty, resilience, hard-working, consistency, etc as the Children spend most of their time in school. In addition, teachers have a significant influence on children. They play an equally essential role in molding the character of a child. Besides teaching academic lessons, teachers can instill moral and ethical values in children that would help the children in their future lives.

To sum up, I’d conclude that both entities have their unique impact on children. But schools cannot replace the role and responsibility of parents in making a child become a responsible person as schools deal with a vast number of children and the mindset of every child varies. Also, children are more attached to their parents, so their behavior reflects their parents.

IELTS Band 9 Essay Sample 3: Education

It is a well-known fact that the curriculum followed by a majority of schools around the world consists of a diverse range of subjects. Thus, until a student reaches a particular stage in their education, they are required to study all of these disciplines and become equally proficient in each one of them. It is often a matter of debate whether the efforts invested by students in subjects that they are not interested in is a waste of time. In my opinion, I disagree with the idea that acquiring knowledge on subjects that are outside a person’s preferences is impractical. In the following paragraphs, I will elaborate on the topic and support my views with relevant instances.

The rationale behind this framework of providing students with knowledge on an array of disciplines from a primary school level is quite simple in nature. Firstly, it is important to understand that one of the prime reasons for training school children in a variety of subjects is to facilitate the development of their minds. When the information received and processed by youngsters is diversified, it helps them to expand their cognitive abilities to a great extent.

Furthermore, having a wide assortment of subjects in the daily curriculum helps students understand these different fields of study more personally. Although this experience might not have immediate advantages, the expertise gained has immense benefits in the future. One of the merits of having an understanding of a wide set of disciplines is the ability to make better and more informed decisions when choosing a particular area of study for higher education. This facility is difficult to possess if the school curriculum is specialized in nature.

Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge the level of academic prowess that can be developed, if the education system follows a more exclusive approach. That being said, such an approach has various intrinsic limitations and may create complicated hurdles for students.

In conclusion, I would like to end by saying that the methodology followed by the school system is a product of years of revision and refinement. Thus, even if a subject is being taught to students that might not be intellectually pleasing, it can be safely assumed that it has a valid purpose of being a part of the educational programme.

IELTS Band 9 Essay Sample 4: News Media

Specific individuals believe that newspapers and television channels that broadcast current affairs have a terrible influence on society these days. I am going to discuss both the merits and demerits of mass media to reach a conclusion.

News channels have swayed society in many positive ways. First, the usefulness of the media, which provides news almost instantaneously, is undeniable. It gives one a feeling that they belong to a small global village. Secondly, it fills up the gap between the government and the people. Most people would never meet a prime minister or president in our lives, but anyone regularly watching the news or reading newspapers would undoubtedly know about them.

Furthermore, the media plays an essential role in spreading different cultures and lifestyles to the modern world. Today, the popularity of Indian culture and tradition across the globe is the best possible example of the media’s enormous impact. Finally, news channels also help provide justice to the commoner when his rights are denied.

Regardless, there are some drawbacks to mass media. It is a deadly weapon for spreading fake news, directly impacting personal lives. For example, some celebrities suffer from depression due to the rumours spread in their names. Moreover, there are contents like violence, or prostitution, which are unsuitable for the children. They get easily tempted by those, which affects their mental stability. Thus children must have limited access to these. It can also make them addicted to the media.

There are compelling arguments for and against the positive and negative development a news media could bring. Some people believe that the media dominantly brings adverse impacts on society. In my opinion, the media could have a positive effect if used wisely and appropriately.

IELTS Band 9 Essay Sample 5: Work from Home/ Remote Work 

The notion of working from home was an obscure practice and has only been a viable choice with the help of technological advancements in the recent past. Amidst the catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most organizations entitled their employees to the privilege of being able to work remotely, and this system has been prevalent ever since. Nevertheless, it has been debatable whether this approach is beneficial only to the employees or both the employers and employees. I believe that this approach has advantages for both parties concerned. In the following paragraphs, I will elaborate on my views on the topic and justify them with relevant examples.

Firstly, employers enjoy the salient benefit when workers are operating from their residence is the exemption of expenses like power, work equipment, maintenance, etc. These are mandatory facilities that need to be provided in an office. Since workers utilize their resources when working from home, this leads to tremendous costs-reduction on the management’s part, which can be termed as an indirect source of profit.

Secondly, an individual can come across various interruptions and distractions in an office from colleagues, supervisors, and other elements in a work environment, which can be detrimental to productivity. Furthermore, daily commutes from a person’s residence to their workplace can be exhausting, which can also lead to a decline in the work rate. However, such hindrances are less commonplace when the ‘work from home’ system is followed and a person can work at full efficiency leading to better results.

On the other hand, this practice presents the workforce with a considerable amount of liberty that can be misused easily, and there has been an increase in workload as there are no specific working hours. Nonetheless, with proper communication, the benefits that can be reaped from this work method are immense for the entire firm.

Finally, I would like to conclude that improvements in technology have opened up more convenient avenues for productivity. Therefore, as long as the management and employees are putting efforts to work together, the profits will be enjoyed by both.

Remember the Marking Criteria/Scheme

To write a band 9 essay, it is naturally important to make sure you focus on the 4 marking criteria while writing the essay. Here are the criteria you need to focus on, along with the explanation.

1. Task Achievement

To address and acknowledge all the parts of the task question, and answer accordingly with well-supported ideas.

2. Coherence and Cohesion

To present the information and ideas in an organized manner with a good amount of linking words.

3. Lexical Resource

To use a wide range of vocabulary with accuracy and almost no mistakes.

4. Grammatical Range

To use proper grammar in a range of grammatical structures.

Once you’ve kept all these criteria while writing the essay, the final step is

Word Count Guidelines for Band 9 IELTS Essays

To achieve a Band 9 score in Writing Task 2, you should aim to write at least 260 words. The sample essay has 287 words, so you can use this as a guide. When writing your essay, be sure to take the structure and each of the marking criteria into consideration.

Here are some 9 Band Writing Task 2 Essay Samples for your reference:

Band 9 Writing Essay Samples

Wrapping it Up

Having learned the strategies to tackle IELTS Band 9 Essays for Writing Task 2 , it’s time to elevate your writing skills. Go through our curated collection of IELTS Band 9 essay samples crafted by IELTS experts, providing valuable insights into achieving a high band score.

Feeling anxious about your IELTS writing exam? Book a free webinar with our IELTS writing expert to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Take the first step towards success – book your free seat today!

Also check : 

• IELTS Writing tips
• IELTS Writing recent actual test
• IELTS Writing Answer sheet
• IELTS map vocabulary
• IELTS Writing Task 1 Connectors

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What should I do if I complete the IELTS writing exam before the allotted 60 minutes?

When you have finished writing, ensure to read through your answer for at least three to four minutes. Then, check your ideas against your plan ( if you have included all of your thoughts) and whether they are organized and connected logically

2. Why are instructions important in the IELTS Writing task 2?

In IELTS writing task 2, it is essential that you understand the instructions given to you. It will affect your score for task response, which is 25% of your marks. If you do not write the minimum number of words, you would be penalized, leading to a lower band score.

3. What should I write as an introduction in Task 2?

An introduction is essential for an essay as it creates an initial impression in terms of your writing quality. Therefore, you should first analyze the questions, develop some ideas, formulate an essay plan, and begin writing your response by paraphrasing the question. The introduction should include your opinion and a thesis statement, if necessary.

4. Why does the examiner assess the coherence and cohesion?

The examiner will assess the Coherence and Cohesion of your answer by judging how well the ideas are linked and connected. Therefore, planning before you write is the best way to ensure that ideas are well-organized in a logical way.

5. What are the skills assessed in the IELTS writing task?

The IELTS writing task 2 is designed to assess your ability in a wide range of skills such as: –>Writing an appropriate response –>Organization of ideas –>Accuracy and range of vocabulary & grammatical structures.