IELTS Academic Writing Topics for Task 1 and Task 2

Most topic lists for IELTS Academic mix the two papers together, which is not how the exam works. Task 1 and Task 2 test different things, and the topic matters for a different reason in each one. In Task 1 the topic is the data in front of you and you cannot prepare content for it. In Task 2 the topic is a subject area, and preparation genuinely helps.

This page separates them. For Task 1 it gives a worked opening sentence for each chart family, because the opening is the one part you can write before you understand the data. For Task 2 it gives the subject areas that recur, and shows what preparing a topic should actually mean.

Task 1 Academic: the topic is the chart

In the Academic paper, Task 1 gives you a visual and 20 minutes to describe it in at least 150 words. You are not asked for an opinion, and giving one costs marks under Task Achievement, which is the Task 1 name for the criterion called Task Response in Task 2.

The subject of the chart is almost always neutral and impersonal: energy use, population, transport, education spending, water consumption, tourism, employment by sector. You cannot revise for the numbers. What you can revise is the shape of the answer, and the shape depends on which of six families the visual belongs to.

A worked opening for each family

The opening paraphrases the question. It should not copy it, and it should not yet interpret anything. Here is one for each family, written against a typical prompt.

Line graph. The line graph shows electricity generation in four countries between 1990 and 2020.

The graph compares how much electricity was produced by four nations over a thirty year period from 1990.

Bar chart. The bar chart shows the number of visitors to five museums in one year.

The chart sets out visitor numbers at five different museums over the course of a single year.

Pie chart. The pie charts show household spending in 1990 and 2020.

The two pie charts illustrate how household expenditure was divided in 1990 and how that division had changed by 2020.

Table. The table shows average monthly rent in six cities.

The table presents the average rent paid each month in six cities.

Process diagram. The diagram shows how glass is recycled.

The diagram illustrates the stages by which used glass is processed and returned to use.

Map. The maps show a village in 1960 and today.

The two maps show how a village has developed between 1960 and the present day.

Notice what none of them do. None of them mention a number, and none of them say which country or museum leads. That belongs in the overview, which is the next sentence and is the single most valuable sentence in a Task 1 answer. Write it as a separate short paragraph starting Overall, and put the biggest pattern in it.

Task 2 Academic: the topic is a subject area

Task 2 is the same essay in both the Academic and General Training papers. The difference is in the subject matter. Academic prompts tend to stay on public and social questions rather than personal ones, and they recur in a small number of areas.

• Education. School subjects, university funding, exams, online learning, the age at which children specialise.
• Environment. Climate policy, recycling, individual against government responsibility, plastic, protected land.
• Technology. Automation and jobs, social media, screen time for children, privacy.
• Health. Diet and obesity, public healthcare funding, exercise, mental health, sugar taxes.
• Work. Working from home, retirement age, work life balance, job security, unpaid internships.
• Government and society. Crime and punishment, spending priorities, public transport, ageing populations, immigration.
• Culture and globalisation. Museums and heritage, language loss, tourism, international sport.

Seven areas cover most of what the paper asks. That is a manageable amount of preparation, and it is why Task 2 rewards revision in a way that Task 1 does not.

What preparing a topic should mean

The common mistake is to memorise essays. Examiners mark memorised material harshly under Task Response, because it answers a question that was not asked, and the mismatch is easy to spot.

Prepare three things per area instead.

1. Two specific examples. Not studies show, which is empty. Something concrete: a named country's policy, a measurable change, an ordinary situation. Sugar taxes in Mexico. Four day weeks trialled in Iceland. A neighbour who retrained at fifty.
2. Six to eight precise words. For health: sedentary, preventable, subsidise, life expectancy, public health campaign. Precision is what Lexical Resource rewards, not rarity. A common word used exactly beats a rare word used loosely.
3. One counter argument you accept. Every question has a reasonable objection. Knowing it in advance lets you concede it in one sentence and then answer it, which is what a developed position looks like.

A worked Task 2 opening

Here is a typical Academic prompt and two openings.

Some people think that governments should spend money on public transport rather than on building new roads. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Weak. Transport is a very important issue in the modern world and there are many opinions about it. In this essay I will discuss both sides and give my opinion.

That says nothing. It names no position, and in this essay I will discuss is a phrase the examiner has read thousands of times.

Better. Congestion in growing cities has forced governments to choose between widening roads and funding buses and trains. I agree that public transport deserves the larger share, because new roads tend to fill with traffic within a few years, though rural areas with no realistic bus network are a genuine exception.

The second version states a position, gives the reason in the same sentence, and marks its own limit. That limit is not fence sitting. Fence sitting is refusing to choose; specifying where your claim stops is what to what extent asks for.

What to do today

Pick one Task 1 chart family you find hardest and write only the opening and the overview, twice, against two different charts. Four sentences in total. Then pick one of the seven Task 2 areas and write down your two examples, your eight words and your counter argument. That is twenty minutes of work and it transfers directly into the exam.

When you have a full answer written under timed conditions, you can paste it into Bandly for an estimated band on each of the four criteria, with the sentences that drove each estimate highlighted, so you can see which part of the answer is holding the rest back.