Home » IELTS writing task 2 questions » Sample health topics for writing task 2
In this article, you will get information about:
- health essay IELTS topics
- how to approach a health topic IELTS writing task 2
- plenty of examples of IELTS writing test questions
- suitable vocabulary for your health-related essay for IELTS
There is a huge range of writing task 2 topics and students often ask how they can best prepare for writing task 2. It’s impossible to practice everything, but similar task 2 topics come up frequently and as experienced examiners and IELTS experts, we encourage all our students to practice at least one writing task 2 on health.
Here you’ll find a list of health vocabulary terms to help you write about the following task 2 essay topics. Any question for task 2 related to health will be quite flexible so these phrases will work for a range of task 2 health-related topics, from free health care in hospitals to declining birth rates to nutritious food and the ideal healthy diet.
Each health writing task 2 is going to be unique, but read it carefully and you’ll be fine. As you’ll see, agree /disagree essay on health questions are common but you’ll see the other 4 common essay types too – discuss both views, advantages/disadvantages, problems/solutions and two-part questions. The following topic list has you covered, whatever question you get in the IELTS test.
How to approach a writing task 2 related to health?
- As with any task 2 essay, you need to summarise the question, set out a position (give your opinion if it is asked for and say what you are going to do.
- You will need to set out key ideas (topic sentences) in your body paragraphs and support these with relevant examples from your own country or whatever you know about.
- As with every IELTS writing task, you need a conclusion that summarises your topic sentences so that your essay ‘flows’ in a logical way.
- Don’t ever make up statistics or numbers – and stay away from statements like ‘the majority of people suffer from health problems’ it is very challenging to prove – if you use ‘more people have diabetes’ and ‘fewer people are healthy weight’ this is more appropriate.
We have a list of health-related writing task 2 topics below – you’ll obviously not have time to write more than a few but it’s a good idea to spend a few minutes thinking about the main arguments and vocabulary you might use for each one. All these writing task 2 health-related topics have come from past IELTS papers and official material so will be the most useful for you to practice.
You absolutely do not need to be an expert on every serious health problem generally, the only issues mentioned specifically in IELTS exams are cancer, diabetes and obesity.
Sample health-related task 2 writing questions
- In your own opinion, what do you think are the factors that contribute to longevity (living a long time)? List some examples and reasons to support your answer.
- Some people think that keeping pets is good for children while others think it is dangerous and unhealthy. Which opinion do you agree with? Discuss both options and give examples.
- Even when poor countries get help from rich countries, hunger is still an issue. Discuss probable causes and solutions. Support your answer with specific reasons and examples.
- Compared to the past, more younger adults take medications for degenerative diseases. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
- Today more countries import food from different parts of the world. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this trend. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
- In some countries the population is ageing and the birth rate is declining. How will this affect society and how can it be prevented? Give specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
- Some people say that it is better to promote healthy lifestyles and a healthy diet than spend so much money to treat obese people. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.
- More people now have children later in life. Some think it is not a good development for the family and for the country. Compare these two views. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.
- Obesity is a serious problem in many countries, especially in rich countries. Discuss ways to solve the problem. Provide specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
- More people are now trying out different varieties of food which results in the consumption of ingredients from different parts of the world. Do you think this is a positive or negative development? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
- In some countries, health care and health education are only partially funded by the government. Which do you think is better in terms of quality: free public healthcare and education or privately paid healthcare and education? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your position.
- Do you think that an ageing society will disappear? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having more old people in society?
- Which is better: to have children earlier or later in a woman’s life? What are the possible reasons and effects of these two tendencies on a personal scale and for society in general? Support your answer with specific reasons and examples.
- Some people, including medical workers, argue against using animals and humans for clinical tests while others think it is necessary. Which are you in favour of? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
- Many people think that home-cooked food is healthy, but many people still prefer eating out. Why is this so? How much does unhealthy food affectthe public health of a country? Provide specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
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