This is a detailed analysis of all 76 IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essay tasks published in official Cambridge IELTS exam practice books. It starts with a summary of how the tasks are similar to and different from each other, then there is a table going through each task in detail. This is designed to help make exam practice reflect the real test, prioritise what to study, and search for suitable exam practice materials. You can also download over 500 pages of photocopiable material for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Writing preparation.
Summary of official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essay tasks
Task types in official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essay tasks
The most common task types are:
- 23 out of 76 tasks are “To what extent…?” questions (19 pure “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” or “To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement/ opinion?” tasks, two with “To what extent…?” plus another question, one “To what extent do the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages?” task and one “To what extent do you think… are needed to make people…?” task)
- 21 tasks are “Discuss both these views and give your own opinion” tasks
- 11 tasks ask for reasons/ causes, effects/ consequences and/ or solutions
- 11 are unique tasks that have only come up once (most recently in 2009, see the bottom of this list for examples)
- 9 are reasons/ causes questions, worded as “Why is this the case?”, “Why is this?”, “Why might this be the case?”, “What do you are the causes of…?”, “What are the reasons for this?” and “What factors do you think influence…?” (including in every year from 2018 to 2022)
- 8 are “positive or negative development” tasks (4 pure “Do you think this is a positive or negative development?” tasks, 3 tasks asking for reasons and then that question, one task asking for consequences and then that question, and one “Has this become a positive or negative development?” task, including in every year from 2020 to 2024)
- 6 weighing up advantages and disadvantages tasks, worded as “Do you think the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages?”, “To what extent do the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages?” and “Do the advantages of…outweigh the disadvantages?” tasks (most recently in 2024, 2023 and 2022)
- 4 tasks asking for solutions, worded “What can be done about this problem?”, “and what measures could be taken to solve them?”, “What solutions can you suggest?”, and “What other measures do you think might be effective?” (in 2018, 2011 and 2005)
- 3 tasks asking for pros and cons, worded as “What are the advantages and disadvantages of…?”, “What could be the disadvantages of…?” and “Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for…” (one of each, in 2020, 2019 and 2006)
- 3 tasks asking for both reasons/ causes and “Do you think this is a positive or negative development?” (in 2022, 2021 and 2020)
- 2 “Do you agree or disagree?” tasks (in 2024 and 2021)
- only 1 consequences question, worded as “In what was has… affected…? Has this become a positive or negative development?”
- 1 “What factors contribute to…? How realistic is the expectation of…?” task (in 2009)
- 1 “What, in your opinion, should be the main function of…?” task (in 2009)
- 1 “Which do you consider to be the major influence?” task (in 2006)
- 1 “Compare the advantages and disadvantages of three of the following…State which you consider to be the most effective.” task (in 2005)
- 1 “Why is it difficult define? What factors are important in achieving…?” task (in 2005)
- 1 “What are your opinions on this?” task (in 2002)
- 1 “Why do we need…? Is… more important than…?” task (in 1996)
- 1 “Should… be required to…? Or is it the responsibility of…?” task (in 1996)
- 1 “What factors do you think influence…? Do we become used to…? Would it be better if…?” task (in 1996)
- 1 “The idea of… is becoming… The new… will be to…” task (with no actual question or precise instructions about what to write about the topic, in 1996)
The last four tasks above are from 1996, which before the format of the test had settled on its present form, so can safely be ignored.
Topics in official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 essay tasks
The most common topics have been:
- 45 society tasks (in absolutely every book at least once)
- 22 work, business, finance and economics tasks (most recently in 2024, 2022 and 2021)
- 21 psychology tasks (including most years since 2017)
- 16 education tasks (most recently in 2024, 2023 and 2022)
- 11 science and technology tasks (most recently in 2023 and 2022)
- 7 arts and media tasks (most recently in 2020, 2019 and 2015)
- 5 environment tasks (most recently in 2024, 2019 and 2018)
- 5 health and fitness tasks (most recently in 2022, 2021, 2013 and 2011)
- 5 transport and travel tasks (most recently in 2021 and 2017)
- 3 sport tasks (most recently in 2013)
- 3 architecture and town planning tasks (in 2021, 2020 and 2011)
- 2 history tasks (in 2021 and 2018)
- 2 food tasks (in 2024 and 2018)
Difficulties in official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions
The most common issues that candidates might face in these official tasks are:
- Unusual question types that they may not have prepared for (14 tasks)
- Problems writing a final paragraph (difficult to know what to write after answering the second question in the body, difficult to come to a conclusion because both sides seem true, difficult to compare the two arguments or questions because they aren’t so closely connected, etc – 14 tasks)
- Vague questions (including terms which are difficult to define exactly, not 100% clear what you should write about the topic/ what you are being instructed to do, etc – 13 tasks)
- Deep subjects, abstract topics, and questions that it is difficult to not spend too much time thinking about (10 tasks)
- Vocabulary problems (difficult words in the question and/ or tricky vocabulary likely to be need for a good candidate answer – 9 tasks)
- Questions that it is hard to form an opinion on (because they will probably never have discussed it or heard about it before, because it isn’t relevant to all candidates, etc – 9 tasks)
- Potential time management issues (needing to not look at both sides to be able to finish on time even though the question type would allow that, etc – 8 tasks)
- Tasks which are easier with particular knowledge (7 tasks)
- Questions that don’t quite might sense (because of the wording, because you are being asked to compare two things which are not really opposites, etc – 6 tasks)
- Plurals which are important to complete the task but are easily missed (being asked to look at “factors” meaning more than one, etc – 5 tasks)
See the table below for other problems which have occurred more rarely.
Recent trends in official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions
Most of the strangest tasks and/ or task types that have only be used once tend to be in very old books and so can probably be safely ignored. However, there are some tasks that have only appeared quite recently like “Do you agree or disagree?” and “How can people research this?” Candidates therefore shouldn’t only practise the most common task types, but instead develop a way of planning and writing all kinds of tasks.
There aren’t any clear trends in particular topics becoming more popular or becoming less popular, so the general ranking above is the most useful way of thinking about which topics to cover.
Oddities/ surprises in official IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions
- There are very few pure cause-and-effect tasks or pure causes-and-solutions tasks (despite almost all IELTS textbooks including models for this kind of task). Instead, there are more tasks including one of those three functions and something else, such as both causes and weighing up advantages and disadvantages
- Even if we add up all the tasks that mention causes, effects and/ or solutions, there are almost as many tasks that include “Do you think this is a positive or negative development?”, which is much less common in IELTS textbooks and online materials. There are also almost as many tasks that include or mean “Do you think the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages?”, which again is not such a common wording in IELTS preparation materials.
- There have been two recent examples of “Do you agree or disagree?” tasks without asking “To what extent?”
- Psychology is the third most common topic, above education and science/ technology
- There are only five tasks on the topic of the environment, despite this being a very common topic in other parts of IELTS
See the parts with * in the table below for more unusual question types, possible difficulties, etc.
Conclusions
The total number of potential issues mentioned above means that the vast majority of tasks have at least one potential difficulty, and often two. Candidates therefore should get lots of practice of such tricky tasks, as the tactics etc developed and practised with such tasks will also work with easier ones.
The sections on topics and question types above show that there are some clearly much more common examples, but also a fair number of ones which occur rarely or even just once. Candidates will therefore need to mainly practise more typical examples, but also make sure that they don’t ignore rarer examples, perhaps including similar examples which haven’t been in these official IELTS materials yet.
Year by year detailed analysis of official Cambridge IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 tasks
The columns below show the test and the year it was published, the kind of task, the subject(s), tricky things about the question, and things which make the task more manageable. A star (*) mean a surprising point such as something that is different in all the other tests.
| Year Book/ test | Task type | Topic(s) | Possible difficulties | Things which make the task easier |
| 2024 19/ 1 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion | society, psychology, business, education (competition vs cooperation) | Abstract question that it is difficult to have an overall opinion about | Easy to plan |
| 2024 19/ 2 | Do you agree or disagree?* | work and business, society (work life balance) | Question doesn’t emphasise that you need to say how strongly or weakly you agree or not | Easy topic that it is easy to have an opinion about, don’t have to look at both sides if you don’t want to |
| 2024 19/ 3 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | finance and economics, society (saving money, financial planning) | Difficult to rephrase and not repeat words without specialist vocabulary | Most people will strongly agree, so easy to plan |
| 2024 19/ 4 | Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | food, business, society, environment (globalisation) | Most people don’t have an opinion already so difficult to quickly plan | Don’t have to look at both sides |
| 2023 18/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | science, society (aims of science) | Difficult to come up with two or three reasons for something that is so obvious that it hardly needs discussing | Don’t have to look at both sides, most people will strongly agree so easy to plan |
| 2023 18/ 2 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion | education (specialising vs width of study) | The two sides of the argument are not really opposites so difficult to come down on one side or the other | Easy to plan, not too difficult to come up with at least one argument on both sides, common IELTS topic so hopefully candidates have lots of relevant vocabulary |
| 2023 18/ 3 | Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | society (depopulation) | Two parts to the question so could get confused about whether both parts need to be mentioned or if one part is just background | Most people will have a strong opinion so easy to plan, many people will have relevant experience and/ or knowledge |
| 2023 18/ 4 | To what extent do the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages?* | society (ageing society) | Unusual combination of two more common question types, “To what extent… outweigh” is a strange phrase that doesn’t quite make sense*, need very specific phrases to answer the question like “far outweighs”, not obvious from the question if you can take the opposite point of view | Common topic of discussion in real life that candidates are likely to have experience and/ or knowledge of |
| 2022 17/ 1 | Do you think the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages? | psychology (risk) | Very abstract question that people are unlikely to have discussed before or have opinions on | Don’t have to look at both sides |
| 2022 17/ 2 | Why is this the case? Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | technology, society, psychology (children and smartphones) | This combination of questions not covered by many materials, difficult to have a final paragraph after answering the 2nd question in body 2 | Common topic that candidates are likely to have opinions on and have knowledge and/ or experience of |
| 2022 17/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | education, work, society (where professionals work) | Unusual topic that candidates are unlikely to have thought about | Easy to plan, common topics that hopefully candidates know good vocabulary on |
| 2022 17/ 4 | Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | health, science (alternative medicine) | Possible to disagree that the trend described in the background to the question is true, names of kinds of alternative medicine likely to be unknown by candidates | Candidates fairly likely to have views on the topic, candidates fairly likely to have knowledge and/ or experience related to the topic, fairly common topic to come up in class |
| 2021 16/ 1 | What are the reasons for this? How can people research this?* | history, architecture and town planning, psychology (researching history of your house) | Unusual second question where candidates might expect consequences or solutions, difficult to imagine the situation in the many countries where it isn’t true | Easy to plan |
| 2021 16/ 2 | Why is this? Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | business, society, psychology (advertising) | Difficult to have an opinion on the second question, could disagree about if the situation described is actually a fact, best to know vocabulary related to marketing, difficult to think of real-life examples, no space and time to look at both sides of the second question so have to justify a strong opinion | Easy to plan |
| 2021 16/ 3 | Do you agree or disagree?* | health (sugar) | Wording of the question doesn’t encourage candidates to give strong or weak opinions as “To what extent…?” would | Candidates might already have an opinion on this, fairly common topic that candidates probably have knowledge of, easy to understand question, don’t have to look at both sides |
| 2021 16/ 4 | Do you think the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages? | transport, technology (driverless vehicles) | Candidates unlikely to have formed opinions on this question, need lots of future forms | Common IELTS topics that candidates hopefully have useful vocabulary on, common news topic that candidates probably have knowledge of, only two possible plans to choose from |
| 2020 15/ 1 | Why might this be the case? Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | psychology, society, architecture and town planning (home ownership) | Candidates unlikely to have knowledge and opinions if it isn’t the situation in their country, not enough time to look at both sides of the second question so have to take a strong view, useful specialist vocabulary that some candidates won’t know | Easy to plan if you have a strong opinion on the second question |
| 2020 15/ 2 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | technology, arts and media (printed reading matter) | Need a range of future forms | Task matches the topic because it’s possible to have weak and strong (dis)agreement, common topic in the media and textbooks that candidates might have come across before, easy to have an opinion on the topic, most candidates will have relevant knowledge and/ or experience |
| 2020 15/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | business, psychology (advertising) | Need specialist vocabulary on marketing, candidates unlikely to already have an opinion on the question | Easy to plan, task suits the topic well because candidates unlikely to have strong opinions, fairly easy to come up with at least one argument on each side |
| 2020 15/ 4 | What are the advantages and disadvantages of…? | psychology, society (raising children) | Not clear if a conclusion is needed, candidates might miss that the question asks for plural pros and cons | Candidates likely to know relevant examples, candidates might have already thought about this topic, fairly easy to come up with both pros and cons |
| 2019 14/ 1 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | psychology, society (how to react to bad situations) | Abstract question that it is difficult to have clear opinions on without getting very philosophical, candidates unlikely to already have an opinion, not a common topic in English materials or the media | Easy to plan, task type matches the question as candidates unlikely to have strong opinions |
| 2019 14/ 2 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | environment (biodiversity) | Very difficult question that even experts might not have clear conclusions on, difficult to know which more important problems to mention | Easy to plan, task type matches the question as candidates unlikely to have strong opinions, environment a common topic so candidates hopefully have suitable vocabulary |
| 2019 14/ 3 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | arts and media, society, psychology (music to bring different people together) | Candidates unlikely to have already thought about this question, deep question so easy to waste time thinking about it | Don’t have to look at both sides, candidates likely to have plenty of music vocabulary, can impress the examiner with more complex music vocabulary |
| 2019 14/ 4 | Why might this be the case? What could be the disadvantages of…?* | work and business (self-employment) | Not clear what to put in the final paragraph, unusual combination of questions, candidates might miss that the question asks for more than one bad point | Easy to plan the body, common topic of business that candidates are likely to have suitable vocabulary for, |
| 2018 13/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | education, society | Unclear if the question is about the foreign person or the society they are living in, statement has two parts which you could have different opinions on but not really enough time and space to explain that | Common task type, most candidates know useful language about language learning, candidates might have relevant experience |
| 2018 13/ 2 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | psychology (choices) | Question doesn’t quite make sense – should be “To what extent do you agree or disagree with these people?”* | Candidates should quickly be able to decide if they have a strong opinion or not and so quickly plan, candidates likely to have relevant experience and maybe knowledge |
| 2018 13/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | education, history, science and technology | Difficult to compare and weigh up the two sides, deep question that might make candidates think about it for too long | Three common topics that candidates hopefully know relevant vocabulary for, easy to plan, candidates can use comparing language they studied for Writing Task 1 |
| 2018 13/ 4 | Why is this the case? What can be done about this problem? | society, food, science and technology, environment (farming and hunger) | Deep question that candidates might spend too long thinking about | Common task type in textbooks and online so easy to find model answers and useful phrases |
| 2017 12/ 1 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | society, education, science, business (sharing info) | The two sides of the argument aren’t really mutually exclusive so the question doesn’t quite make sense and it is difficult to come down on one side, difficult to cover all three fields in the time and space available |
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| 2017 12/ 2 | Do the advantages of this situation outweigh the disadvantages? | society (number of young people) | Candidates whose populations are ageing probably don’t know much about the topic and haven’t thought about it, not clear with this task if you have to deal with both sides | Fairly easy to think of advantages and disadvantages |
| 2017 12/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | transport and travel (new rail lines and other public transport) | Difficult to know which other kinds of public transport to compare to new train lines | Easy to plan, transport is a common topic so hopefully candidates know suitable vocabulary, common situation so candidates probably have knowledge and/ or experience |
| 2017 12/ 4 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | society, psychology (allowing children to decide) | Deep question so candidates might think too long, extremes of both arguments are ridiculous | Easy to plan, candidates probably have relevant opinions and/ or experience |
| 2016 11/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | transport and travel (government money on rail not roads) |
| Don’t have to look at both sides as candidates probably have strong opinions, common topic that candidates hopefully know suitable vocabulary for, candidates probably have relevant opinions and/ or experience |
| 2016 11/ 2 | To what extent do you think… are needed to make people…?* | environment (legally must recycle) | The question “To what extent do you think… are needed?” makes no sense* | Environment is a common topic so candidates hopefully know suitable vocabulary, candidates probably have suitable knowledge and/ or experience |
| 2016 11/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | education (language learning) | A strange question as surely everyone agrees with the second opinion*, the first opinion is worded in a way that is very difficult to support*, would make more sense and be easier to answer as “To what extent” | Topic that all candidates have experience and knowledge of |
| 2016 11/ 4 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | economics, society (importance of economic growth) | Easy to miss the important word “equally” in the question, difficult to know what things to compare to economic growth and how many to mention | Easy to plan, the right question type for this kind of tricky question |
| 2015 10/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? What sort of… should… be allowed to… to…?* | psychology, society (punishing children) | The two questions are linked so it’s impossible to answer the second question if you totally agree with the first question, difficult to know what to put in the final paragraph | Easy to plan |
| 2015 10/ 2 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | education (uni students choosing subjects) | The two different opinions are quite extreme so you could easily disagree with both | Common topic that candidates would hopefully know suitable vocabulary for, most candidates will have relevant experience and/ knowledge, easy to plan |
| 2015 10/ 3 | … are becoming more and more… Do you think this is a positive or negative development? | business, society (globalisation) | Strong arguments on both sides so difficult to come to a clear overall conclusion | Candidates can probably think of relevant examples |
| 2015 10/ 4 | Do you think the advantages of… outweigh the disadvantages? | arts and media (museum entry fees) | Easy to miss that need to look at plural pros and cons | Fairly easy to think of arguments on both sides |
| 2013 9/ 1 | Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages? | education (language learning) | Not obvious what to do with the other side of the argument if you have a strong opinion | Candidates probably already have opinions on this question, candidates probably have relevant experience and/ or knowledge |
| 2013 9/ 2 | To what extent do you agree or disagree? | society, education, work (compulsory community service) | Not common in real life so difficult to imagine or give examples of |
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| 2013 9/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | health, sports | Difficult to think of which other measures to discuss | Easy to plan, simple topic which most people can give opinions on and have suitable language for |
| 2013 9/ 4 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | society (language death) | Most candidates probably don’t know any specific examples of language death | Easy to plan |
| 2011 8/ 1 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. | education, society (being taught to be good citizens) | Both sides seem equally true so difficult to come to a conclusion, difficult to define what being “good members of society” is | Everyone should have relevant experience and/ or knowledge |
| 2011 8/ 2 | In what was has… affected…? Has this become a positive or negative development?* | technology, society (how people interact/ communicate) | Unusually worded question, not enough time or space to look at both sides of the second question | Easy to plan, fairly common question type (though worded differently) |
| 2011 8/ 3 | To what extent do you agree or disagree? What other measures do you think might be effective?* | town planning, transport, environment (petrol price to solve traffic issues) | Unusual question type, not clear if a conclusion is needed and what to put in the final paragraph | Easy to plan, common IELTS topics so candidates hopefully know suitable vocabulary |
| 2011 8/ 4 | What do you think are the causes of these problems and what measures could be taken to solve them? | health and fitness (obesity and unfitness) | Two different problems in the question so not clear if or how to tie them together (and difficult to complete in time if you don’t combine them) | Common task type in IELTS materials, all candidates have suitable knowledge or experience |
| 2009 7/ 1 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | psychology, education (nature and nurture) | The two points of view are not really opposite so difficult to come to a conclusion, difficult vocabulary related to the topic such as “DNA” | Easy to plan, fairly easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2009 7/ 2 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | society (crime and punishment) | One side is much easier to support than the other but have to examine both, crime vocabulary could be difficult | Fairly easy to think of relevant examples from the news |
| 2009 7/ 3 | What factors contribute to…? How realistic is the expectation of…?* | work, psychology (job satisfaction) | Unusual task type | Work is a common and fairly easy topic, easy to plan |
| 2009 7/ 4 | What, in your opinion, should be the main function of…?* | education, work (purpose of education) | Very unusual question type, plan not obvious, two views given not really opposite as one is much more extreme | Could plan quickly by looking at one point of view in each body paragraph, fairly easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2007 6/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree? | business, society (power of marketing) | Deep question so is easy to spend too long thinking about it, possible to say that there is a third option | Business is a common and fairly easy topic |
| 2007 6/ 2 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | society, sports, business and economics (income of sportspeople) | Probably difficult to come to a conclusion as both sides are easy to support | Easy to plan, easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2007 6/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | society, psychology, travel (following local customs) | Both views are true so difficult to come to a conclusion | Easy to plan, easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2007 6/ 4 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | psychology (change and routine) | Very strange topic, have to contrast two very extreme positions so difficult to choose between them | Easy to plan |
| 2006 5/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree? | education, society (gender in uni) | Question is vague so could waste time interpreting it | Education is a common and easy topic |
| 2006 5/ 2 | Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for… | education, work (gap years) | Some candidates won’t be so familiar with the concept of gap years so won’t have relevant examples or experience | Told who to talk about the pros and cons for so don’t have to cover the topic more widely |
| 2006 5/ 3 | Discuss both these views and give your own opinions. | society, psychology (cooperation vs competition) | Two very extreme views that are difficult to choose between | Easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2006 5/ 4 | Which do you consider to be the major influence?* | science, psychology (nature vs nurture) | Unusual task, very deep question so easy to waste time thinking about it, difficult vocabulary and concepts so easier with specialist knowledge | Easy to think of relevant examples |
| 2005 4/ 1 | Compare the advantages and disadvantages of three of the following…State which you consider to be the most effective.* | arts and media (effective media) | Unusual task/ question, easy to waste time choosing which three to consider, a lot to write about in just 40 minutes and 250 words | Can choose three topics you know about and relevant language of and ignore the others, common and easy topics |
| 2005 4/ 2 | Why is it difficult define? What factors are important in achieving…?* | psychology (happiness) | Very unusual task type, very deep question so easy to waste time thinking about it, easy to miss the plural in “factors” and so not achieve the task | Easy to plan |
| 2005 4/ 3 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | society, arts and media (freedom of expression) | Deep topic so easy to waste time thinking about it
| Topic matches the task type as candidates equally likely to have strong and weak opinions |
| 2005 4/ 4 | What do you think are the causes of this? What solutions can you suggest? | education, society, psychology (student behaviour) | Easy to miss the plural in causes and solutions and so not achieve the task | Common task type in IELTS prep materials, candidates likely to have relevant knowledge and/or experience |
| 2002 3/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | sports, society (sport and international relations) |
| Common task type, fairly common opinion which candidates might have heard and even discussed before |
| 2002 3/ 2 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | society, science and technology (keeping traditions alive) | The question has two parts and not obvious if you need to consider the first part | Topic and task type match as candidates could have either strong or weak opinions |
| 2002 3/ 3 | What are your opinions on this?* | work and business, society (children working) | Unusual and vague question, the statements don’t match what most people really think about this topic |
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| 2002 3/ 4 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | society (international development) | Deep question so easy to waste time thinking about it
| Common task type, candidates have probably heard opinions on this topic |
| 2000 2/ 1 | To what extent do you agree or disagree? | society (fatherhood) | The two parts of the questions don’t seem to link and difficult to know which part or parts to answer, strange topic that candidates probably haven’t thought about or heard opinions on | Common task type |
| 2000 2/ 2 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? | health, society (preventative healthcare)
| Difficult to look at both sides if you choose to | Common topic in the media that candidates have probably heard opinions on, common task type |
| 2000 2/ 3 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | society (crime and capital punishment) | Candidates might lack law vocabulary such as names of particular crimes | Common task type, candidates might well already have opinions on the topic and might have heard other opinions |
| 2000 2/ 4 | To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? | work, society (mothers working) | Difficult to define what “many” means in the question and therefore what levels are necessary to strongly agree | Common task type
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| 1996 1/ 1 | Why do we need…? Is… more important than…?* | arts and media, society (traditional music) | The two questions are not closely connected so difficult to sum up, the “more important” question is vague and difficult to answer | Easy to plan if the candidate has one body paragraph for each question |
| 1996 1/ 2 | Should… be required to…? Or is it the responsibility of…?* | society, economics (international development) | Most people will probably agree with both of the statements and so difficult to come down on one side or the other, no actual instructions like “To what extent” or “Look at both sides” | Easy to plan and write the body if the candidate chooses to look at both sides |
| 1996 1/ 3 | What factors do you think influence…? Do we become used to…? Would it be better if…?* | media (media content inc. good news and bad news) | Three questions to answer so difficult to complete in 250 words and 40 minutes, different questions not very connected so difficult to combine and sum up | Bad news and good news a fairly common topic of commentary so candidates might have or know views on it |
| 1996 1/ 4 | The idea of… is becoming… The new… will be to…* | work, society (varied careers) | No actual question so difficult to quickly decide what to write about the topic | Most candidates will have relevant knowledge and/ or experience |