Essay ideas for common PTE topics, and how to use them

Many essays stall at the same moment: the writer has one reason, no second reason, and a clock that keeps running. The cure is not a memorised essay. It is a small bank of ideas that you have thought about in advance, so that almost any prompt finds something in it.

Seven topic families

Prompts change, but they tend to come from a few familiar areas. For each family below you get arguments to think with, one counter-argument and the kind of example to reach for. They are starting points. Your own opinions and experiences will be better than these, and none of it needs a number.

• Technology. For: it saves time on routine tasks, and it widens access to information and services. Against: constant connection wears down attention and makes privacy harder to protect. Example: a tool you really use, such as online banking or a language app.
• Education. For: it gives people skills and more choice about their future, and it builds habits that last. Against: exams can reward memory more than understanding. Example: your own school, a course you took, or a teacher whose method worked.
• Environment. For: prevention is cheaper than repair, and cleaner air and water help everyone. Against: strict rules can raise costs for families and small businesses. Example: something local, such as a recycling scheme or the traffic in your city.
• Health. For: prevention keeps people well and eases pressure on hospitals. Against: people resent being told what to eat, and healthy food costs more or is harder to find in some places. Example: a school meal scheme, a walking group or a workplace sports day.
• Work. For: flexible hours help people balance a job with family life, and training lets people change career. Against: the line between work and home blurs, and new colleagues find it harder to learn from the people around them. Example: your own working week, or a friend's.
• Public spending. For: shared services such as transport, schools and hospitals reach people who could not pay for them one by one. Against: money is limited, so spending on one thing means less for another. Example: a project in your town, such as a bridge, a park or a bus route.
• Media and culture. For: media spread ideas and build a shared identity, and festivals and films support local artists. Against: rumours can travel as fast as facts, and a narrow picture of success can dominate. Example: a programme, festival or film that people in your country talk about.

A one-minute method for any prompt

When the prompt is about something you have not met, ask four questions and give each about fifteen seconds. What does this change for an individual? For the community? For the economy? For the environment?

Not every question will produce something, but two or three usually do. Use the two with the most to say as your body paragraphs. The one that cuts the other way becomes your counter-argument.

Here is a made-up prompt to try it on: Tourism does more harm than good to small towns. To what extent do you agree?

• Individual: local families earn money from guesthouses and cafes, but rents may rise for residents.
• Community: crowded streets and noise in the busy season.
• Economy: jobs and spending, though much of it is seasonal.
• Environment: worn footpaths, litter and more traffic.

A plan falls out of that in seconds. Position: disagree, because the economic benefit is real and the harm can be managed. Body 1: jobs and spending, with the example of a town whose cafes depend on visitors. Body 2: the crowds and litter are real, but visitor limits or parking charges can manage them, so they are a reason to manage tourism, not to turn visitors away.

Do not invent statistics

Nobody expects figures, and an invented one is worse than none. A sentence that starts "A recent survey found..." and ends with a number you cannot source sounds false, and it takes the place of a real example. Use honest quantities such as many, most or a growing number, or describe something you have actually seen. A small true example beats a large doubtful one.

Build your own idea bank

Give each topic family one page in a notebook. On each page write three arguments, one counter-argument and two examples from your own life or reading: a news story you remember, a change in your neighbourhood, a job you once had. An example needs only two sentences: what happened, and why it matters to the argument. Ten minutes per page is enough, and you can add to it whenever you read an article.

Keep it as notes, never as ready-made sentences. The bank is raw material, and the sentences should be built fresh from each prompt, because memorised responses can be penalised.

Today, fill in one page. Tomorrow, pick a prompt from that family, run the four questions for a minute and write a four-line outline. To see how an outline becomes paragraphs, read how to shape 200 to 300 words into four paragraphs, then test the method on a prompt in a practice test on this site.