On Cambridge IELTS 19 Academic Writing Test 2, candidates face a Task 1 process diagram followed by a Task 2 opinion (agree/disagree) essay — a combination that rewards planning more than raw writing speed. Task 1 asks you to summarise a harbour in 2000 and how it looks today. Task 2 then turns to a discursive prompt: The working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend.
For a process, group the stages into two clear phases — typically input/preparation versus transformation/output — and lead the body with the phase that contains the most steps. Use the passive voice consistently and chain stages with sequencers like 'subsequently', 'once' and 'at this point' rather than counting 'firstly, secondly, thirdly'. State a clear thesis in the introduction — partial agreement is acceptable, but the position must be unambiguous.
Hold yourself to a hard twenty-minute Task 1 cap: planning two minutes, drafting fifteen, editing three. Move to Task 2 even if Task 1 feels unfinished, because the opinion (agree/disagree) essay carries double the weight. Reserve the last six minutes for a single read-through across both answers — almost every band-7 candidate fixes at least two grammar slips during that final pass.
New to this skill? Read the Writing question types guide for tactics, scoring rules, and frequency analysis across Cambridge 10–20. Or browse all Writing practice tests.
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