As of 30 August 2026, we found 13 useful IELTS Writing Task 2 prompts reported during August. The newest candidate reports cover healthy habits, young people spending less time outdoors, career stability, university fees, science enrolment, city living, fossil fuels, crime reporting, economic growth, communication skills, women in the police and military, public transport, and workplace stress. These are reconstructed from public test-taker reports—not official IELTS releases or predictions. Last checked: 30 August 2026. If your exam is soon, this is the page to bookmark. We reviewed dated exam roundups and recent candidate recollections, removed obvious duplicates, and organised the remaining questions by report date and essay type. Important: IELTS does not publish a live monthly question bank. Every “recent questions” page—including this one—depends on what candidates remember after their tests. Wording can vary by country, test version, and memory. Use these prompts for timed practice; do not treat them as leaked questions or a guarantee of what you will receive.
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Late-August 2026 candidate reports
1. Healthy choices people know about but do not follow
Reported around 27–28 August · Two-part question
Reconstructed prompt: Many people know which activities and habits are good for their health, yet they do not adopt them. Why does this happen? Explain your answer with relevant examples, including examples from your own experience.
Planning focus: Separate knowledge from behaviour. Strong causes include convenience, screen-based routines, cost, stress, lack of sleep, and environments that make unhealthy choices easier. Then connect each example directly to one cause.
2. Young people are spending less time outdoors
Reported around 27–28 August · Causes and solutions
Reconstructed prompt: Young people now spend less time doing outdoor activities. Why is this happening, and what can be done to encourage them to spend more time outside?
Planning focus: Pair each cause with a realistic response: screen entertainment with device-free school or family routines; lack of safe spaces with investment in parks, lighting, and supervised activities.
3. Stable careers versus changing careers
Reported around 26–27 August · Opinion essay
Topic reconstruction: Some people remain in one stable career, while others change careers several times. To what extent do you agree that maintaining a stable career is the better choice?
Planning focus: Define “better.” Stability can mean predictable income and deeper expertise; changing careers can bring adaptability, motivation, and better skills matching. Keep one clear position throughout.
4. University students paying the full cost of their education
Reported around 18–21 August · Opinion essay
Reconstructed prompt: University students should pay the full cost of their education because higher education benefits the individual rather than society. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Planning focus: Test the claim that the benefit is purely private. Graduate earnings may benefit the individual, while skilled doctors, teachers, engineers, research, productivity, and tax revenue create public value.
Dated August 2026 question reports
5. Too few students choose science subjects
Reported 23 August · Causes and effects
Reconstructed prompt: In many countries, too few students choose to study science subjects. What causes this, and what effects might it have on society?
Planning focus: Do not drift into solutions: the second instruction asks for effects. You could connect difficult or abstract school teaching and uncertain career awareness to shortages in research, healthcare, engineering, and innovation.
6. Living alone or in small family units in cities
Reported 9 August · Positive or negative development
Reconstructed prompt: In many countries, urban residents increasingly live alone or in small family units instead of large extended families. Is this a positive or negative development?
Planning focus: Choose an overall judgement. Independence, privacy, and mobility must be weighed against loneliness, childcare pressure, housing demand, and weaker intergenerational support.
7. Immediate international action on fossil fuels
Reported 9 August · Opinion essay
Reconstructed prompt: The international community must act immediately to ensure that every country reduces its use of fossil fuels. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Planning focus: Address both “immediately” and “every country.” A nuanced answer can strongly support rapid reductions while allowing different transition speeds for countries with different energy access, finances, and infrastructure.
8. Restricting detailed crime reporting
Reported 9 August · Opinion essay
Reconstructed prompt: Publishing detailed information about crimes in newspapers or on television can have harmful consequences and should therefore be restricted. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Planning focus: Balance copycat behaviour, victim privacy, and prejudicing trials against transparency and public safety. Be precise about what information could be limited rather than arguing for or against all crime reporting.
9. Economic development or protection of nature
Reported 8 August · Discuss both views
Reconstructed prompt: Some people believe economic development should be a government’s most important goal, while others think protecting the natural world matters more. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Planning focus: Give both positions genuine support, then decide whether the goals must compete. Growth funds public services, but environmental damage can impose lasting health, food, water, and disaster costs.
10. Mathematics versus communication in real life
Reported 1 August · Opinion essay
Reconstructed prompt: Mathematical ability is more important in everyday life than communication ability. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Planning focus: Compare how frequently and how seriously each skill is used. Avoid writing two unrelated paragraphs that praise both abilities without answering which is more important.
11. Women in the police and armed forces
Reported 1 August · Discuss both views
Reconstructed prompt: Some people believe women should have an equal role with men in the police or armed forces, while others think women are not suited to these jobs. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
Planning focus: Discuss job standards, not stereotypes. Relevant points include physical requirements for particular roles, equal selection criteria, teamwork, talent pools, and whether operational duties differ across positions.
12. Public transport or new roads
Last reported 1 August · Opinion essay
Reconstructed prompt: Governments should invest more in public transport than in building new roads. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Planning focus: Compare passenger capacity, congestion, emissions, rural access, freight, and maintenance. “More” does not require arguing that no roads should ever be built.
13. Rising stress at work
Last reported 1 August · Causes and solutions
Reconstructed prompt: An increasing number of people suffer from workplace stress. What causes this problem, and how can it be reduced?
Planning focus: Match the actor to the solution. Employers can address workload, autonomy, staffing, and management; governments can enforce labour standards; individuals can improve boundaries but cannot fix structural understaffing alone.
What the August reports suggest
Opinion tasks dominate this set: six of the 13 prompts ask you to take and defend a position. Three are causes-based tasks, two ask you to discuss both views, one asks for a positive-or-negative judgement, and one late report was remembered only as a comparison about career stability.
That pattern is useful for practice, but it is not a prediction. IELTS uses a large question bank, and a candidate on the same day may receive a different topic. The reliable lesson is to recognise the instruction quickly: opinion, discussion, causes/effects, causes/solutions, or positive/negative.
How to practise these questions properly
- Choose a prompt you have not prepared before. Familiar topics can hide weak planning skills.
- Spend five minutes planning. Write your position, two main ideas, and one concrete example for each.
- Write for 35 minutes. The official IELTS format expects at least 250 words and recommends about 40 minutes for Task 2.
- Check the instruction before grammar. First confirm that every part of the question is answered and your position stays consistent.
- Rewrite one weak paragraph. Improvement comes from correcting reasoning and language, not from collecting more prompts.
You can also browse Langujet’s IELTS Writing Task 2 topic generator or submit a timed answer for IELTS Writing feedback.
Where these August 2026 questions came from
We checked the public reports below on 30 August 2026. Because these are independent sites and candidate posts, they support recency—not official status or perfect word-for-word accuracy.
- Simply IELTS: August 2026 Task 2 report — dated reports for 1 and 8 August.
- IELTS City: August 2026 writing exam roundup — dated entries for 1, 9, and 23 August.
- IELTS Practice Online: 9 August questions — two Task 2 variants reported for that date.
- Bandly: July–August reported topic tracker — multi-report counts and last-seen dates.
- Candidate report: health habits, candidate report: outdoor activity, candidate report: career stability, and candidate report: university fees — useful late-month recollections with less certain wording.
- Official IELTS Writing test format — timing, word count, task format, and assessment criteria.
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