How Mind Maps Can Improve Your Score

During the IELTS essay writing question, you will have 40 minutes to write an essay of minimum 250 words on a high level and named topic. Many students struggle with enough words to include in their answer. In this article, we will look at one of the most effective way to brainstorm ideas for the IELTS essay question and that is by using mind maps.

What Is A Mind Map

A mind map is a useful tool that helps you to visually organise information. It helps you to link ideas that are associated with each other in an essay to understand in an organised manner.

I recommend using a mind map to generate ideas. A mind map will help you to organize your ideas in a logical sequence.

Mind Maps For Writing

Once you have thought of some main ideas, you can start to organise your points. Think about which points are important enough to add to your essay. Try to think about the order in which you will mention each main point.

You can also use your brainstorming time to think of topic-specific vocabulary and synonyms that could be useful for your essay.

Making a mind map helps you to logically order your main ideas, supporting points, and examples, as you brainstorm. This means that you will save time on planning your essay, which buys you time to write and recheck your response.

Here is an example of what a mind map should look like:

Mind Maps For Speaking

When you make a mind map for your speaking part two question, the mind map will be a little different. You should place the main topic in the centre of the mind map and then link relevant ideas to the main topic by using the following keywords. What, who, when, where, why and how.

For Example:

This is a useful way to extend your answer while you are thinking of ideas to add to your mind map, you should also think of useful vocabulary related to the topic.

For Example:

The more you practice making mind maps for both your writing and speaking questions, the better and faster you will become at doing so. This will greatly ignore the speed at which you prepare for these questions.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to drop a comment down below.