IELTS Double Question Essay
Looking for other IELTS essay guides? Just click on the essay type you want below:
The advantages and disadvantages essay
Introduction
This post goes through how to plan and write your IELTS double question essay. Like all of the other IELTS essay types, its important to know what's expected of you and what structure best works for the essay type. So I am going to give you a plan to practice with, and a model example to see how you answer a question like this.
A small tip, with any of your essay types, its important to keep practicing your vocabulary skills. You can't preempt the question so vocabulary is a key part of your preparation.
You can however preempt the usual topics like; societal issues, health and wellness, education, the environment, travel and leisure, technology and others. You can find sub-topics of these here to become better skilled at what could come up, and of course, more questions to practice with.
An IELTS double question can look like this
Some countries have introduced limitations around working hours
- Why have these laws been introduced?
- Do you think this is a positive or negative development?
Globally, people are continuing to move to urban areas
- Why is this?
- What problems does this cause?
We are fast said to be a 'throw away society' where consumerism lies at the helm of this.
- What are the causes of this?
- What problems does this lead to?
How to plan for your double question IELTS essay
These 6 easy steps will facilitate your planning. I believe in creating accessible, simple solutions when it comes to planning. Planning should be strictly that, and not fall into writing long sentences or 'chunks'- but concise notes.
- Identify key words in the statement- these could be crucial in leading you to specific ideas and arguments
- Generate ideas- you won't use them all but have a bank of ideas that you can lead with in your two main paragraphs
- Recognise what question types are being used; what, how, why- in what ways are these words instructing you?
- Create a small list of synonyms based on language in the question- we want to avoid being repetitive
- Decide on the examples you will use- one for each paragraph would be best
- Note down the structure so you know your meeting the questions and addressing the question in full
Model response
We are fast said to be a 'throw away society' where consumerism lies at the helm of this.
- What are the causes of this?
- What problems does this lead to?
Excessive consumerist behaviour is partly due to our tendency to buy in an impulsive manner, and soon discard the item or items we have purchased where we end up being highly wasteful society.
Firstly, the cause of this is partly because of the competitive clothing market where brands want to out do their competitor. In order to achieve this, many clothing brands offer competitive low prices that keep the consumer invested and interested. By having a marketplace that is defined by its affordability, this creates the allusion that because we can afford it, we should keep buying. This however is problematic because it results in one buying more than they need and therefore discarding a lot of what they initially buy. As well as this, because the items are cheap, the quality does not last and people therefore discard the items. This results in landfills being filled with clothing that is likely not damaged, but thrown out because of its short-lasting quality. The reaction to rid ourselves of these clothes has a significant environmental impact.
Another way in which consumerism contributes to our throw-away attitude is the role of marketing through social media. Many brands now rely on social media platforms like Instagram to promote their brand. People spend an average of two hours a day on social media where we are quite literally faced with many brands advertising themselves, and we once again are persuaded to purchase items. Due to the algorithms, new brands are regularly brought to our attention where we think by buying more, we will be on trend and more socially accepted. This directly contributes to the problem of buying more than we need. With brands advertising on various social media platforms and our relationship to social media, we are lulled into the idea that consumerism is necessary and part of who we are. This leads to a society where we value possessions and materialism over people and relationships.
Overall, the excessive purchasing behaviour creates a society that values appearance and trends more highly over life experiences that have greater meaning and importance.