19. IELTS Task 2: "How to write a 3-sentence conclusion"

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So today guys lets look at how to write the conclusion of an IELTS task 2. A lot of IELTS students get confused at this part and try to rewrite and come up with new ideas. Effectively they are wasting time that they should be spending in the body section coming up with good ideas and showing off their grammar.

One thing to remember about the IELTS task conclusion is that it simply mirrors and restates the introduction. So, if you did a good job writing the introduction and followed what I taught in podcasts 8 and 9, writing the conclusion should be very easy and should never take you more than 3 minutes. How is this possible you might be asking? Well, it’s possible because we have a template for the IELTS task 2 conclusion.

Before we look at the conclusion however, it will be a good idea to go back and look at the question we used in podcast 8 and 9. Here is it:

(1) Some people believe that it is best to accept a bad situation, such as an unsatisfactory job or shortage of money. (2) Others argue that it is better to try and improve such situations.

(3) Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

If you remember, we made a beautiful introduction for this question. Here is it:

(Background statement) These days, many people are of the belief that rather than accept a difficult situation like a disappointing job or a lack of finances, it might be better to try and make such a situation better. (Thesis statement) The following essay will discusswhy human beings should always strive to better themselves, and give some examples to arguethis case.

In podcast 11 we also wrote some nice topic sentences for this question. Here they are:

Topic sentence 1: “It is better to accept a bad situation”

Topic sentence 2: “We should always try and improve bad situations”

Now we can make our conclusion. Our conclusion will use the following simple template.

Conclusion S1:Restate the intro thesis statement using “This essay has...”

Conclusion S2: Summarise the topic sentences.

Conclusion S3:Give your own opinion or a final thought with a linking word like “Consequently...”

OK guys, so now let’s write a sample conclusion!

S1: This essay has discussed why people should always do their best to improve situations and has given some examples to support this case. Although it can be sometimes better to accept a hard situation, overall there is more benefit in change and improvement. Consequently, it is essential that we all do our best.

Shall we look at the conclusion in a little more detail? The S1 simply restated the thesis statement from the introduction, but it did not copy it word for word. It used some very nice synonyms. What were they?

Humans = people

Strive to better themselves = do their best to improve situations

Give some examples = has given some examples

The second sentence combined both topics into one sentence and contrasted them with althoughand a comma.

The final sentence use the connector consequentlyand the pattern it + ‘be’ + adjective + relative clause.