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Learn how to build compelling arguments and counterarguments in IELTS Writing Task 2 with clear structure and real evidence strategies.
Toey
Examiner-informed18/08/2026
If you've ever stared at an IELTS Task 2 prompt and thought, "I know what I want to say — I just don't know how to make it sound convincing", you're not alone. The difference between a Band 6 essay and a Band 7+ essay usually isn't vocabulary size. It's argument quality: how clearly you stake a position, how logically you support it, and how honestly you handle the other side.
Let me walk you through exactly how to build persuasive arguments in Task 2 — not in vague terms, but with the mechanics that actually move your score.
Task 2 is worth double the marks of Task 1 in the Writing section. And of the four scoring criteria — Task Response, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy — Task Response is the one that collapses first when your argument is weak.
Task Response asks: Did you actually answer the question? Did you present a clear position? Did you develop your ideas fully? A response that lists opinions without explaining why they hold will cap out around Band 5, no matter how clean the grammar is. Examiners are trained to spot underdeveloped ideas — a single-sentence "reason" followed by a new point is a red flag.
So persuasion isn't just a stylistic bonus. It's baked into the marking rubric.
Before you write a single sentence, decide where you stand. Many candidates hedge so aggressively — "there are advantages and disadvantages on both sides" — that they never commit to anything. That's not balance; that's avoidance, and examiners penalise it under Task Response.
A strong position is specific. Compare these two thesis statements for the prompt "Some people believe that governments should ban dangerous sports. To what extent do you agree or disagree?":
Weak: There are many opinions about whether governments should ban dangerous sports.
Strong: While dangerous sports carry genuine physical risks, I firmly believe that government bans are an overreach — personal freedom and the proven mental-health benefits of extreme sport outweigh the case for prohibition.
The second version tells the examiner exactly what you'll argue and why — in one sentence. That clarity sets up every body paragraph that follows.
Every strong body paragraph in Task 2 needs four things working together: a claim, a reason, evidence or elaboration, and a link back to the question. Think of it as a mini-argument, not a collection of related sentences.
Claim — your main point for this paragraph, stated directly.
Reason — why that claim is true. This is the step most candidates skip, and it's the most important one. Saying "extreme sports are beneficial" is a claim. Saying "they are beneficial because they require participants to manage fear under controlled conditions, which builds psychological resilience" is an argument.
Evidence or elaboration — a specific example, statistic, or logical extension that makes the reason concrete. You don't need real statistics (Task 2 is not a research paper), but you do need specificity. A vague "studies show" adds nothing. A reference to "research into military training programmes" or "the documented rise in adventure tourism among urban professionals" is far more convincing.
Link — a closing sentence that connects back to the question or your thesis. This prevents the paragraph from floating in isolation.
Here's what that looks like in practice:
Extreme sports offer significant psychological benefits that a government ban would eliminate. Participating in activities such as rock climbing or white-water kayaking forces individuals to confront and manage fear in a structured environment, a process that psychologists associate with improved stress tolerance and self-efficacy. Urban professionals, in particular, have increasingly turned to adventure sports as a counterbalance to sedentary, high-pressure careers — a trend that reflects a genuine public-health need rather than reckless behaviour. Prohibiting these activities would therefore remove a valuable tool for mental well-being, not simply eliminate risk.
Notice: the paragraph doesn't just assert — it explains the mechanism (managing fear → psychological resilience), grounds it in a recognisable real-world pattern (urban professionals), and circles back to the question (banning would harm public health).
Many candidates avoid counterarguments because they're afraid of contradicting themselves. That's the wrong instinct. Acknowledging the opposing view — and then rebutting it — is one of the clearest signals of a sophisticated, Band 7+ argument.
The structure is simple: concede → qualify → rebut.
For the dangerous-sports prompt:
Admittedly, extreme sports do result in serious injuries and, in some cases, fatalities, placing a burden on public emergency services. However, this concern applies equally to common activities such as driving or contact team sports, which no government seriously proposes to ban. The relevant question is not whether risk exists, but whether the risk is proportionate to the benefit — and the evidence suggests that, with proper regulation and safety standards, it is.
This paragraph doesn't pretend the counterargument is wrong. It accepts the injury data, then shifts the frame: risk alone is not sufficient justification for a ban. That's a genuinely persuasive move, not a rhetorical trick.
Vague arguments feel unconvincing because they could apply to almost any topic. Specific arguments feel convincing because they're about something.
When you elaborate on a point, ask yourself: Can I name a group of people, a type of situation, a specific mechanism, or a real-world consequence? If the answer is no, the paragraph is still too abstract.
Compare:
Vague: Many people benefit from extreme sports in different ways.
Specific: Young people in high-unemployment regions have used competitive climbing and parkour communities as structured alternatives to antisocial behaviour — a pattern documented in urban regeneration programmes across several European cities.
The second version is still not a footnoted academic claim, but it's grounded enough to be credible and interesting. That's the standard to aim for.
Coherence & Cohesion is a separate marking criterion, but it directly supports persuasion. If the examiner can't follow the logical thread of your argument, the argument fails — even if every individual sentence is correct.
The most important signposting moves in a persuasive essay are not the obvious ones ("Firstly," "Secondly") but the logical connectors that show how ideas relate:
Using these precisely — not just scattering them for decoration — is what makes an argument feel logically tight rather than loosely assembled.
A weak conclusion simply copies the introduction. A strong conclusion does two things: it restates your position in different language, and it briefly gestures at the broader implication of your argument.
In conclusion, while the physical dangers of extreme sports are real and should be addressed through robust safety regulation, outright government prohibition is neither proportionate nor effective. A society that bans risk rather than managing it is one that ultimately undermines both individual autonomy and public resilience.
That final sentence — "A society that bans risk rather than managing it..." — lifts the argument from the specific prompt to a broader principle. It leaves the examiner with a sense that the writer has thought, not just written.
Here's how a well-argued Task 2 essay typically flows — not as a rigid template, but as a logical sequence:
Four or five tight paragraphs beat six thin ones every time. The examiner is assessing depth, not word count beyond the 250-word minimum.
Building a genuinely persuasive argument in Task 2 is less about finding the "right" opinion and more about committing to a position and supporting it with logical, specific reasoning. The mechanics — claim, reason, evidence, rebuttal — are learnable. Once they become instinctive, you'll find that the essay almost writes itself, because you're no longer filling space: you're making a case.
Not always — it depends on the question type. For 'To what extent do you agree or disagree?' prompts, you can take a fully one-sided position or a partial one, but you must be clear. What you should always do is address the strongest counterargument and rebut it, which shows the examiner you've considered the issue fully. Sitting on the fence without committing to a view is penalised under Task Response.
Yes, but use them carefully. Personal anecdotes can work as brief illustrations, but they shouldn't be the main evidence for a claim. Broader, more generalised examples — referring to recognisable groups, trends, or situations — tend to carry more persuasive weight and feel more appropriate for an academic-style essay.
There's no fixed word count per paragraph, but a well-developed body paragraph typically runs 80–120 words. The key is that each paragraph contains a complete mini-argument: a claim, a reason, specific elaboration, and a link back to your thesis. A paragraph that's only two or three sentences is almost certainly underdeveloped.
No. IELTS examiners are explicitly instructed not to penalise any particular viewpoint. You are scored on how clearly and logically you argue your position, not on what that position is. Pick the side you can argue most convincingly — even if it's not your personal belief.
Underdeveloped ideas. Many candidates state a point and immediately move on to the next one without explaining why their point is valid or supporting it with any elaboration. This is penalised directly under the Task Response criterion. The fix is to slow down: after every claim, ask yourself 'why is this true?' and 'what specifically illustrates this?' before moving forward.
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