Recognise that this is a test of English, not a test of intelligence. If you are taking IELTS, you are may well be an academic: if you are an academic, you are probably pretty intelligent: if you are pretty intelligent, you probably want to show that intelligence off. Sorry, there are no prizes for intelligence in IELTS; as I say, it is test of English.
In practical terms, this means that you shouldn’t really treat the essay as a piece of academic writing. It isn’t really. The people marking it are English language professionals, not academics. Also, can you think of any piece of academic writing you produce in 40 minutes and do not redraft? I can’t.
This is the really practical advice. So read carefully. Most books and websites tell you to spend planning time thinking of ideas. Ignore them. For 90% of IELTS essays you need the same two ideas: “I agree” and “I disagree”. Rather, you need to spend your planning time thinking of reasons and examples. If you do this, with a little practice you will produce clear straightforward essays with a range of good language. Examples tend to be easier to think of under pressure and also tend to lead to good precise language. If, however, you ignore me and concentrate on ideas, you could well end up with essays that tend to complexity; and in a pressured exam environment, complexity can only too easily lead to incoherence. A big no-no.
Another problem here is that if you get too involved in ideas, there is every chance that you will end up writing about a similar topic and not the task itself. That is a major problem as you will almost certainly get a penalty deduction for task response.
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