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Brainstorming is a fantastic skill that will stand you in good stead at your IELTS exam. It is not an uphill task to find strong ideas, it is just something that can be developed over time. Make it a habit to plan your essays properly, it will help you to stay “on topic” and to reach the point when you can have great ideas for any IELTS topic.
After you identified the number of parts in IELTS essay task, take 3-4 minutes to jot down your plan. You don’t need to plan your introduction and conclusion, just think of your ideas for the body of the essay.
You need to remember that all IELTS topics are written in such a way that any person can have at least some ideas about the topic. IELTS themes are general and relevant to everyday life of most people. You don’t need to have specialist’s knowledge, it is enough to be able to think logically.
When I hear from my student that he or she has “absolutely no ideas”, it is usually the problem of asking themselves right questions and focusing, not their lack of experience or poor knowledge. Brainstorming is like using binoculars – your vision is blurry till you adjust your focus, after which you can see the object clearly.
Other students complain that their ideas are “simple” and “childish”. So much the better! The ideas should be clear and understandable for IELTS examiners so that they could follow your train of thoughts easily.
Brainstorming for IELTS consists of 4 important steps
Step 1
Underline the task’s parts and write them down as the headlines of your plan
Step 2
Use bullet points for your ideas. At this stage, you can ask yourself the question “Why?” and write 2-4 ideas for each task part.
Step 3
Think of strong examples to support your ideas. Cross out the ideas that are difficult to develop, leave only the ideas with the strongest potential.
Step 4
Re-read the task and make sure that your ideas are not off-topic. Cross out all the ideas that are off-topic.
Now let’s practice brainstorming together
Essay topic:
Some people think that museums should be free of charge for general public. Others think that some fee should be levied for admittance. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Step 1
Underline the task’s parts and write them down as the headlines of your plan
Some people think that museums should be free of charge for general public. Others think that some fee should be levied for admittance. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
museums should be free of charge
some fee should be levied
my opinion
Step 2
Here I plan some ideas. To do this, I focus on the headline and then ask myself the question “Why?”
Be careful, I will write one wrong idea just to show you how a person can go off-topic. Afterwards, I will correct it at stage 4.
- more people will develop their cultural level
- citizens will have direct access to their cultural heritage
- students and elderly people will visit museums more often
some fee should be levied
- museums need funds for repair and restoration works
- tourists should pay more money than local residents
- people value the museums more if they pay
my opinion
- some categories of population should have free access (students, the elderly)
- the rest should pay a reasonable fee
Step 3
Here I think of strong examples and cross out extra ideas
museums should be free
- more people will develop their cultural level, e.g. visit the Louvre or the Hermitage
citizens will have direct access to their cultural heritage(I crossed out this idea because it is not a very strong argument, people can visit museums even if the entry is paid)- students and elderly people will visit museums more often, e.g. art students could spend more time in museums
some fee should be levied
- museums need funds for repair and restoration works, e.g the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea can’t have a display on its first floor because of poor condition
- tourists should pay more money than local residents
- people value the museums more if they pay
my opinion
- some categories of population should have free access (students, the elderly)
- the rest should pay a reasonable fee
Step 4
Finally, now I need to re-read the task and check if all my ideas are on-topic.
It turned out that one of them was definitely off-topic, this is the idea: tourists should pay more money than local residents . The task asks nothing if the tourists should pay more or less, so I need to delete this idea.
My final plan after all the four stages of brainstorming looks like:
museums should be free
- more people will develop their cultural level, e.g. visit the Louvre or the Hermitage
- students and elderly people will visit museums more often, e.g. art students could spend more time in museums
some fee should be levied
- museums need funds for repair and restoration works, e.g the Vorontsov Palace in Crimea can’t have a display on its first floor because of poor condition
- people value the museums more if they pay
my opinion
- some categories of population should have free access (students, the elderly)
- the rest should pay a reasonable fee
