word count in ielts essay

What is IELTS Score?

IELTS score between 1 and 9 for each part of the test – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. You can score whole (e.g., 5.0, 6.0, 7.0) or half (e.g., 5.5, 6.5, 7.5) bands in each part. Universities often demand an IELTS score of 6 or 7. They may also demand a minimum IELTS score in each of the 4 sections.

IELTS scoring system and band scale

The IELTS scoring system is very unique composed of 9 bands, measured in consistent manner and is internationally acclaimed and understood. The IELTS score ranges from 1 to 9 for each part of the test. The individual result from these four parts will produce an overall band score ... more →

How long does it take to do the IELTS test?

IELTS has four parts – Listening (30 minutes), Reading (60 minutes), Writing (60 minutes) and Speaking (11–14 minutes). The total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes. The Listening, Reading and Writing tests are done in one sitting.

Is IELTS valid for 3 years now?

The IELTS Test Report Form (TRF) is valid for two years. At present, IELTS score is valid for a three year period for Australian General Skilled Migration (GSM) applications.

Is there any pass or fail in the IELTS exam?

There is no pass or no fail in the IELTS exam. Generally, when you take any test or exam then there can be the possibility of getting passed or failed. But here in this case, you will not get failed but you may be disqualified to continue your higher education in choice of college or university.

IELTS Word Counter

If you need to count the amount of words that a piece of text in an IELTS Writing Task 1, IELTS Writing Task 2, Recommendation Letter, Letter of Motivation (To avoid passing any words limits). Here, the Word Counter work for you and meet your standards.

You can write your words into the text area. The Word Counter will be updated instantly and display the number of words, sentences, and paragraphs in your text. Word Counter works on any device including PCs/ Macs, Tablets, and Smart Phones.

How words are counted in IELTS?

Numbers, dates and time are counted as words in writing. For example 30,000 = one word / 55 = one word / 9.30am = one word / 12.06.2016 = one word. In listening, 30,000 is counted as one number and 9.30AM is also counted as one number. Dates written as both words and numbers are counted in this way: 12th July = one number and one word.
Symbols with numbers are not counted. For example, 55% = one number (the symbol “%” is not counted as a word). However, if you write “55 percent” it is counted as one word and one number.
Small words such as “a” or “an” are counted as one word. All prepositions, such as “in” or “at” are also counted. All words are counted.
Hyphenated words like “up-to-date” are counted as one word.
Compound nouns which are written as one word are also counted as one word. For example, blackboard = one word.
Compound nouns which are written as two separate words, are counted as two words. For example, university bookshop = two words.
All words are counted, including words in brackets. For example in IELTS writing, “The majority of energy was generated by electricity (55%).”. This sentence is counted as 9 words. The number in brackets is counted.

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Your Guide to IELTS Band 7

IELTS Writing: word count

You probably know how many words you should write in each part of the IELTS Writing Test:

In Task 1, you should write a minimum of 150 words.
In Task 2 , you should write a minimum of 250 words.

What happens if I go below the minimum number of words?

Before 2018, if you wrote less than the minimum number of words, your band score for Task Response or Task Achievement was reduced by a whole band score.

This no longer happens. However, you should still try to write more than the minimum number of words.

If you write less than the minimum number of words, your writing will almost certainly not be detailed enough for a high band score. If you want to get a Band 7+ for Task 2, you need to explain your ideas in detail, and you can’t do this properly in only 240 words. So an essay that is less than 250 words will lose marks in Task Response. In addition, your writing will have a smaller range of vocabulary and grammar, so you might also get a lower band score in these areas.

It’s the same for Task 1, if your letter (General Training) or report (Academic) has less than 150 words, it won’t be detailed enough for a high band score.

So make sure you write well above the word limit!

How do I write enough words?

Here are my main tips for doing this:

Do not aim for the minimum word count. Aim to write well above the minimum, around 170-180 words in Task 1 and 280-350 words in Task 2. If you aim high, you will reach the target more easily.

Task 2: before you write Task 2, plan your essay . This will give you the ideas and arguments to help you write detailed explanations and examples.

How are words counted?

Contracted words (e.g. I’m, they’d, she’ll) = 1 word. (However, because Task 2 is a formal piece of writing, try to write without contractions.)
Hyphenated words (e.g. point-of-view, up-to-date) = one word
Articles (e.g. the, a, an) are counted
Punctuation is not counted

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Word count for IELTS writing tasks

What is the ideal word count for ielts writing.

Updated July 2022.

This is a common question many IELTS candidates have but there seems to be misinformation out on the internet about word count in the IELTS writing section.

Although the word count penalty has been abolished I would advise writing more than 250 words in an essay and over 150 words in writing task 1 to fully develop your answer. Here are some examples of what I have heard about the word count in IELTS essays and writing task 1.

Common myths about word count.

You do not need to write more than 250 words in writing task 2., you must write over 350 words for a band 8 essay., in writing task 1 write more than 200 words for a high score., you should count every single word in the essay., let’s take each myth one by one..

1. IELTS says that you should write at least 250 words in writing task 2 and 150 words in writing task 1. There is no penalty anymore but I advise writing more than 250 words to fully develop your essay.

2. A very long essay will not give you a higher band score. If you write a long essay, for example around 350 words, then two problems will arise.

You will run out of time and may not finish your essay. If you do not write a conclusion you will lose a band score in task response.
You will be more prone to making grammar and vocabulary mistakes. Also, the essay could go into irrelevant detail and there is a danger of going off-topic.

3. The same goes for writing task 1. If you write a very long report of more than 200 words you will run out of time and may include information that you just don’t need to report on. The task prompt says in writing task 1 academic: ‘ Summarise the information by selecting and reporting on the main features …’

4. As for counting your words, you cannot count every single word because this is not practical. Estimate generally how many words you have on a line then count the lines. Aim for more than 250 words but under 300 words in task 2 writing. In the computer-based exam, the word count is on the screen so that is very useful.

What’s the ideal word count?

My advice is to aim for between 260 to 295 words in writing task 2 and between 160 to 190 words in writing task 1 . This will ensure a concise essay or task 1 report and will be realistic in terms of time management. You have only 40 minutes to write the essay and you need around 10 minutes of planning time, so you will not be able to write a long essay in 30 minutes.

As mentioned before, you will not get a higher band score for a very long essay. It must be concise, clear, and direct to the point. Irrelevant detail will cause problems with your band score.

Are there any cases where the examiner doesn’t count words?

Yes! if you copy the task question word for word without attempting to paraphrase then the examiner will not count those words .

The same is true for writing the conclusion. If you just repeat the introduction word for word or repeat whole sentences the examiner will not count the words . This is why paraphrasing is a crucial part of your writing. Click the links below for lessons on paraphrasing.

How to paraphrase the introduction writing task 2

Paraphrasing without synonyms

Another thing to bear in mind is that if you memorise chunks of model answers and plug them into the essay the examiner will know it is a memorised answer and you will get a penalty.

Note on repetition: You can repeat some words throughout the essay. You do not get a penalty for using the same word 3 or 4 times because in some cases it is difficult to find synonyms for certain words. This is where the confusion arises about repetition.

The problem is when you are repeating whole sentences or repeating the introduction in your conclusion.

Important advice

Your goal is to write in a concise clear manner, your ideas should be relevant to the task and easy for the reader to follow. If you try to use convoluted language or add lots of ideas to impress the examiner it could cause problems with coherence and end up with a high word count. Click here to see a lesson on keeping your writing simple and concise.

Any questions? leave a comment below.

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A screenshot of a Microsoft word count counter showing 249 words signifies changes to IELTS Word Count Rules

New IELTS Word Count Rules

In the past, you automatically lost points from your Task Achievement / Response score if you wrote an under-length essay, report or letter. However, from mid-2018 the automatic IELTS word count penalty was removed. There has been no official announcement of this change and the information was supposed to be sensitive. However, as many people are now discussing this on various social media platforms, I thought it was time I addresses this issue to ensure students understand what this change means.

What does the new IELTS word count rule mean for students?

Well, honestly, not very much! Nothing on your exam papers will change. The prompts will still ask you to write 150 words for Task 1 and 250 words for Task 2. And ‘short’ pieces of writing will still be penalised, but just in other ways. How? Well…….

If you write less than the recommended word count, your ideas probably won’t be extended enough to achieve a 7.0 for Task Response / Task Achievement.
If you run out of time and don’t write a conclusion for your essay, you will also receive a low score for Task Response and/or Coherence and Cohesion , as you probably won’t have a clear position or finished paragraphs. Click here to read my blog post about what to do if you run out of time in the exam – it could save you at least 1 band score for TR!)
Short answers might not also contain enough language to have ” a wide range of complex sentences”, which will affect your Grammatical Range and Accuracy Score .
In the same way, it will be hard to achieve a very high score for Lexical Resource if you don’t provide the examiner with a wide enough sample of your writing. The examiner can only give you points for the words they see on your exam paper, so make sure you write enough to show them your best vocabulary!

However, the change in the IELTS word count rules WILL mean that you no longer have to waste time counting words!!! And, if you do write a response that is only SLIGHTLY shorter than the word limit, there is a chance now that you will not be penalised in any way if you have addressed the task fully. This could make a HUGE difference to high-level students who end their essays at around 240 words.

So, if there are no longer hard and fast rules about how many words you have to write, this leads to the next question………

Want to know how the examiner will apply the band descriptors when marking your IELTS essay?

Th en download a copy of our FREE e-book, which explains how each of the four marking criteria is applied and includes the most common errors made by test-takers. Just click here for your copy.

How many words should you write in the IELTS exam?

So, what makes the perfect length of an essay is an interesting question. Let’s be clear, t here has NEVER been an upper-word limit in the IELTS exam (unlike other Cambridge tests) . The instruction has always been:

Write at least 250 words (essays)

Write at least 150 words (report and letters)

So, if 250 and 150 were the minimum number of words, does that make them the ideal word count , or should you write more? And, if you do write more, how much more? Do more words mean a higher score?

Well, the answer is “yes and no”. On the one hand, you have to write essays that address the task fully, which requires you to extend your ideas. On the other hand, you need to have “error-free sentences” if you want to have any hope of scoring a 7.0 of higher for Grammatical Response and Accuracy (and more sentences usually means more errors!)

I have always felt that between 280 – 340 words is about right for the essay and around 180 – 200 words for the letter or report.

For me, this is the right balance between having ideas that are well-extended and having time to check your writing for errors. However, if you are a very strong student, for example, a native speaker or a student who is at C1 or C2 level, you might be able to write more than this and still have good control of your grammar and vocabulary. In this case, you could even go as high as 400 words for an essay – but this is exceptional.

As I said, for most students, the more they write, the more mistakes they make, which is why it can be a good idea to limit the length of your response. Also, long responses can become repetitive or off-topic, which will again affect your score negatively.

I always tell my students that, in IELTS, every word should add something valuable to your score – if it’s not scoring you points, it shouldn’t be on the page!!!!

IELTS MYTH – “The examiner stops reading after 300 words”. This is total rubbish! The examiner is paid to assess every word that you write! If you want to write 1,000 the examiner would have to sit and read every one!!!! (but don’t do that!)

Find out the basics of IELTS Writing in 4.12 minutes!

🧮 What words are counted in an IELTS essay? 🧮

The general answer is ALL of them! I don’t know why, but some students don’t view articles ( a / an / the ) and prepositions ( in / on / at / of/ etc ) as “real words”, which probably explains why they forget to use them! But in the IELTS exam every “a” or “of” has the same value as a long word like “multiculturalism” or “environmental”!

Interestingly, in the past there were quite complicated rules about what counted as one word and what counted as two. For example, words with a hyphen were one (e.g self-aware = ONE), while figures and a symbol separated by a space where two (e.g. 30 % = TWO! )

However, with the new IELTS word count rules, those small differences are no longer important (which I am sure every examiner is happy about, as counting words was probably the least favourite part of their job!)

I do still think it is a good idea for students to what 250 words and 150 words look like in their handwriting on a page so that you can quickly “guesstimate” how many words you have written the exam. The best way to do this is to practice writing on the official IELTS answer booklet.

For me, 150 words is about a side and a half, and 250 is 2 and a half. Having a rough knowledge of how much you have written is still useful to make sure you are on track in the exam – unless, of course, you are sitting the IELTS computer-based test , which has a word counter!

So, as you can see, the end of the IELTS word count penalty does not mean that you can now stop worrying about the number of words you write. It is still essential to write more than 250 and 150 words to achieve a high score. If you want to know how to write essays, reports, and letters that are well-extended and satisfy the IELTS band descriptors, then join my 33-hour interactive IELTS writing course. 🚀

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Free IELTS Word Counter

IELTS writing task 2 requires at least 250 words, high scoring essays usually have 270-320 words. This free tool will help you to count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in your IELTS Writing Task 2 essays. Just paste your text in the box below:

How does IELTS count words?

IELTS counts all words, including small ones like 'a', 'an', 'the'. Compound words (e.g. 'well-being'), hyphenated words, numbers, and dates are counted as one. If your response contains 20 words or fewer, it's rated at Band 1. Typically a good essay has 270-320 words.

Why are paragraphs important in IELTS Writing?

Paragraphing makes your essay clear and easy to read. Each new idea or topic should start a new paragraph. If paragraphing is inadequate, your Coherence and Cohesion score could be limited to 5. Typically, a Task 2 essay should have 4-5 paragraphs.

Why should I count sentences in my essay?

The number of sentences affects the clarity and coherence of your essay. Each paragraph should have a minimum of 3-4 sentences, including a topic sentence and supporting sentences. Varying sentence lengths keeps your writing engaging, but avoid very long sentences to prevent confusion.

Does IELTS count characters in my essay?

While IELTS doesn't directly count characters, it's a good measure of your writing's length. More characters usually mean more words, helping you meet the minimum word requirement for Task 2.

Word Count In Writing Task 1 and 2

In this post, we will look at the word count needed in the writing tasks. You should know that 250 words are the minimum for a writing task 2 essay and 150 words are minimal for writing task 1. If you write less than the word counts specified in the question, you will lose marks in task achievement, because you will not have completed one of the requirements for the task.

The examiner will count your words to check that you have the minimum word count. If you have not reached 250 and have, for example, 240 words they will mark your essay lower because of this. It is possible to write more than 250 words during the time allocated for the task 2 essay, however, you should be careful you do not run out of time and find that you cannot write a conclusion, or check over your work.

Test Instructions

On the writing test paper, the instructions will look something like this below (Taken from the British Council IELTS ) >

The highlighted sections show you that the instructions state clearly that at least 150 words are required for Task 1 and at least 250 words are required for Task 2.

Image source

Question Examples

The question examples below are taken from a free resource available on The British Council’s IELTS page . Take a look and download the free practice papers.

As you can see below, the highlighted section shows you that you have to write at least 150 words in Task 1.

Image Source

In the Task 2 example, you can see that the word count has also been highlighted and that you are required to write at least 250 words .

Word Count Tips

TIP: Plan your work before you start to write, to make sure that all of the information you write in your essay is relevant. Do not write and write about anything and everything and go off-topic. It is more than possible to write a 250-word essay that is concise and to the point.

TIP: Check your word count during your IELTS essay preparation. Count the words (or if you are typing using the word count option) and see how many you are producing in 40 minutes for task 2 and 20 minutes for task 1.

TIP: Words that are hyphenated like in-depth or part-time will be counted as one word. prepositions like in, of, on and articles like the, a, at will all be counted. Punctuation, like commas, semi-colons and full stops (periods) will not be counted.

TIP: Practice writing your essay answers on the official writing answer sheet . This will allow you to practice counting your words to see how many you get in the time period allowed. You should aim to exceed the word count slightly so that you are sure you have met the minimum requirements.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Questions – March and April 2018

In this post you will find a list of recent IELTS exam questions that were…

You borrowed some books from your school or college library- IELTS General Writing Task 1 [Semi-Formal Letter]

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.You borrowed some books from your school or college…

1 thought on “Word Count In Writing Task 1 and 2”

Great Post, The explanation through charts is amazing in the post. Thanks for sharing it and great job, Keep it up.

Are you worried about the number of words in IELTS writing?

By ielts-jonathan.com on 28 October 2021 0

What’s the ideal number of words in IELTS writing?

How many words should you write in the 20 or 40 minutes of the IELTS exam?

What is the ideal length of essay or a Task 1 report is an interesting question.

While there has always been a minimum word count, unlike other Cambridge Exam tests, t here has NEVER been an upper-word limit in the IELTS exam

The instructions have always been:

Write at least 250 words (for Task 2) OR Write at least 150 words (for Task 1)

So, if 250 and 150 were the minimum number of words, does that make them the ideal word count , or should you be aiming to write more?

Importantly, will you improve your band score with more words?

And, if you do write more, how much more?

Do more words mean a higher score?

These are just some of the questions I am asked online.

Number of words?

So, what’s the correct answer?

Well, on the one hand, you need to write essays and reports that address the task fully in both Task Achievement and Task Response.

This means you need to fully report the key details or, in the case of an IELTS essay, extend your ideas .

On the other hand, you need to have, as much as possible, “error-free sentences” to stand a chance of scoring IELTS Band 7 or above for Grammatical Response and Accuracy.

Unfortunately, writing more words means more sentences, and more sentences generally means more chances for making errors!

Why are there word count guidelines?

Not meeting the word count used to be penalised and was an simple way for examiners to use the IELTS Band Scores.

It was easy to penalise students in their Task Response or Task Achievement by counting the number of words; any report and essay under the word count was limited to a band score of 5.

Unfortunately, this led to teachers actively encouraging students to count their number of words, as if their life depended on it.

It didn’t matter about how well you explained your ideas in an essay, or reported the details of a chart; a low word count meant a low band score.

The truth is there was always a valid reason for stipulating a word count for an essay or report.

Without the minimum word count a student could never really answer a question fully and an examiner could never really examine an essay in the four band scores fairly.

Just by looking at TA and TR, a report needs and overview and key features and an essay needs an extended answer .

Are the words counted now?

If you write an IELTS test on paper, you will find that it is marked on a computer somewhere in the world. Gone are the days where test papers were marked in house, in the test centre and examiners spent their afternoon counting words and awarding a score.

A remote examiner will look at papers and be able to gauge whether an task has enough content.

The computer based test gives you an automatic word count, for a very good reason; to help you consider if you have extended your answer or reported key details.

So while the words are no longer counted and there are no longer guidelines, it is up to the examiners discretion whether the content is sufficient to cover the TA or TR.

What if I write significantly under the word count?

Remember I’ve said that a remote examiner is able to “ gauge the content of a task “.

If you are significantly under the word count, your writing is likely to draw negative attention.

The remote examiner will start look for missing key features – or whether you have justified you ideas in an essay. This can affect and lower your score.

There examiner will also consider whether enough vocabulary and grammar has been presented and what justification this has on your IELTS writing score.

So you can see there are a number of valid reasons for aiming to be above the minimum number of words.

What happens if I write a very long report or essay?

Sadly, I’ve seen essays which go to the extreme and significantly exceed the word count.

An examiner never penalises a piece of writing because of it length, but much like an under-length task, it will draw negative attention.

In this case, the opposite is true:

One issue with extending an essay and providing too much evidence can affect the progression and cohesion of the essay and led to repetition.

Remember, you only have 40 minutes and if the writing is not planned and concise, then coherence can be affected.

An additional problem might be that too much writing leads to too many mistakes and not enough time to check and correct them.

Finally, in my experience, l onger reports and essays tend to have a negative backwash on the examiner.

No one enjoys reading more than they really have to, especially if it needs to be reread again and again because of confused or poorly planned writing.

This can and will lead to a lower band score.

When I guide students, I offer this advice.

My word count guidelines for an IELTS TASK 2 Essay

In order to write an essay that extends that argument sufficiently for Task Response, my experience tells me that 280 to 300 words is probably high enough a word count.

Anymore than this and you run the risk of being be off topic, of repeating your ideas or including irrelevant details.

In fact it is always better to try and write concisely. This means writing and saying as much as you can in as few words and sentences.

When you are thinking about the word count, ignore the essays that you find on-line, including mine.

Those essays were not written within 40 minutes and were not timed either.

I read essays posted on other websites littered with mistakes and lacking coherent ideas or general sense.

If you look on this website, you will find over-length essays. They took look a lot of time and thought to write and then check and proofread.

They are only posted here to provide exemplars of vocabulary, grammar and topic ideas.

My advice is: do not aim to write more than 300 words for an IELTS Task 2 essay.

Word count guidelines for a Task 1 report

The same advice applies to a Task 1 report.

There is absolutely no reason to write extensively in Task 1.

A maximum of 200 words should be the limit to avoid repetition or avoid including irrelevant details.

Often 150 to 180 words is enough to cover the task in all areas and so when you practice, just aim for this figure.

Word count guidelines for a General Task 1 Letter

For a letter task you are given bullet points.

As a guide, Task achievement requires that all the bullet points in the prompt are dealt with in the letter you write.

Concise is the key word again, but think about who you are writing to, the purpose and the content you include.

Think about the letters you might have received in the past. How do you feel if you have to read a long letter?

If you are writing over 200 words, maybe you are writing too much?

Writing a180 words should be enough to avoid repetition or avoiding irrelevant points and details.

What about Native speakers taking IELTS?

Writing to these guidelines also allows sufficient time to check your writing for errors at the end if you write at an average speed.

However, stronger students, native speakers or students at C1 or C2 level , could probably write more than this and still have good control of grammar, vocabulary and ideas.

But is it really worth the extra effort?

The rule still applies, the more you write, the more mistakes you will probably make , which is why it is often a good idea to limit the length of your response.

L ong responses can often become repetitive or go off-topic, which affects your band score negatively.

I’ve always told my IELTS students that, in IELTS writing, every word counts and should only add value to your essay.

It is my belief that this will only add to your band score.

I’m Jonathan

I’ve taught IELTS and University English in more than a dozen universities and schools around the world.

I’m a parent, traveller and passionate about language teaching and helping students achieve their dreams.

Whilst living in Austria or working in Asia, I run IELTS courses to help students get to where they want to be.

If you are serious about IELTS, connect with me to see how I can help you.

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How Many Words Should You Write for IELTS?

Posted by David S. Wills | May 3, 2019 | IELTS Tips , Writing | 0

I run an IELTS writing correction service and every day I mark about 10 essays by students from all over the world. Not many of them write an essay with too few words, but about a third of them write far too many. As such, in today’s article I will explain how many words you should write for an IELTS essay.

What are the IELTS rules about word count?

In the IELTS writing exam, you need to write at least 150 words for task 1 and 250 words for task 2. If you write less than that, you will probably lose marks. The required word count will be stated on your exam paper, and therefore if you do not fulfill that requirement, then you will lose points for Task Achievement , which is one of the four criteria on which the IELTS examiners mark your performance.

It used to be said that if you wrote too few words, you would lose one full band score, but as of 2018 , that all changed. Now, there is no official policy about deducting marks, but as you can see in the above example, there are other ways that writing too few words can lower your score. Here, the student would have scored band 6 for Task Achievement , but his failure to write enough words cost him and he was marked down to band 5.

However, what about writing too many words? Is there a rule about that?

There is nothing in the IELTS marking rubric about writing too many words. Theoretically, you could write 1,000 words and you would not be penalized. As long as you have written more than 150 words for task 1 or 250 words for task 2, you should be ok.

Is there anything wrong with writing too many words?

Actually, it is not good to write too many words, and there are several reasons for that. In this section of the article, I will explain why you shouldn’t write too many words.

1. It is better to economize your time

First of all, there are better ways to spend your time than just writing. I know that sounds counterintuitive – this is a writing exam, after all! However, there is more to writing than just putting words on paper. You need to make sure that you have time for planning, writing, and correcting, or else your essay will most likely have some major problems.

Here is a good way of dividing your time for IELTS writing task 2:

Obviously, this process will vary from person to person. Some people need longer to check their answer at the end of the test, while others can scan it quickly and find their mistakes easily. Some people prefer to spend longer analyzing a question but can plan their structure very quickly because they have done so much practice. However, I think that the above idea is pretty useful for the majority of students.

Anyway, the point is that if you write a 400 word essay (and I have seen many students try do to that!) then you will not have time to check your answer at the end. This is a problem because checking your answer will allow you to eliminate a number of mistakes from your essay. Let’s not forget a cardinal rule:

MORE MISTAKES = LOWER SCORE

As such, you should remember to divide your time carefully. A few minutes of proofreading at the end could cause your score for Grammatical Range and Accuracy or Lexical Resource to jump from a 6 to a 7, which might push your overall writing score up.

2. You won’t finish your essay

Closely related to point #1, writing too many words may cause you to not finish your essay. This would be disastrous! If you write too many words for your body paragraphs, you might not have time to write a conclusion. An essay with no conclusion would thus score very poorly in Coherence and Cohesion . If you failed to complete your body paragraphs, you would score very poorly in Task Achievement , too.

Generally speaking, this sort of mistake is caused by poor planning. You might have generated too many ideas while planning your essay, and then in the body paragraphs it takes you too long to finish explaining these ideas. By the time you get to the end of body paragraph two, your time is up. It is a nightmare scenario for an IELTS candidate.

Again, I recommend you follow my time suggestions above, and also my recommended word limit, which I will post below in the conclusion. By doing these things, you will always finish your essay on time.

3. Practice for the real exam

When I am marking my students’ practice essays, they often write 300-400 words, and I tell them not to do this. The reason is that they should be practicing for the real IELTS exam , not just to get my feedback on their spelling or grammar. Yes, it is useful to practice writing longer essays or articles to improve your overall writing skills, but for IELTS you must take time into consideration .

What I mean is that in your real IELTS exam, you only have 40 minutes to write an essay. This essay must be at least 250 words (for task 2). In your practice sessions, you must aim to replicate these factors as closely as possible or else you will face problems in the final exam.

I suggest the following.

In every practice session you do for IELTS writing: – Stick to the real IELTS time – Aim to write at least 150/250 words – Do not use the internet to help you

You will find that after a dozen practice exams, you become quite accustomed to the process. Your mind will automatically start to follow a process of

PLANNING –> WRITING –> EDITING

Eventually, you will be able to easily write an essay in 20 or 40 minutes (depending on the task), and then you can focus on improving your grammar and vocabulary, etc.

If you regularly write 350 word essays and take 50 minutes to do it, then when you sit the real IELTS exam, you will be busy writing, then the end of the exam will be called and you will not have finished. Your vocabulary and grammar might have improved well during your practice sessions, but your Task Achievement and Coherence and Cohesion scores will be very low, and you will get a poor overall result.

Should I count my words?

One final question: Is it worthwhile counting the words you have written?

In practice, yes.

In the real exam, no.

Let me explain: When you are practicing, I recommend sticking to real exam conditions. However, at the end of your practice you should definitely count the number of words you have written. This will let you know what a certain word count looks like. Everyone has different handwriting, and on paper you might see that X lines = 100 words. You can then guess how many words you have written in total. It is also worth checking how many words you have written per line and multiplying that by the number of lines. For example, 11 words per line x 25 lines = 275 words.

BONUS TIP: you can download the actual IELTS exam paper here and that will make your practice exams much more realistic. 🙂

Over time, you will get a feel for how many words you have written. Maybe one piece of paper filled 80% is 260-270 words, for example. You will then know when you do the real exam whether you have written enough words or not.

The same obviously applies if you are typing on a computer and intending to do the computer-based IELTS test. This will be quite different as you will actually see your word count on the screen! That can be very helpful, but perhaps a little intimidating.

Will the examiner count your words?

No, not exactly. They will guess your word count by using the above measures – number of words per line multiplied by number of lines. Of course, after marking hundreds or thousands of essays, an examiner will be able to simply look and know whether you have written enough or not. In the case of a computer exam, they will see the word count listed. If you wrote 249 words for a task 2 essay, you would almost certainly not be penalized, but you should aim to write more than that.

How many words should I aim to write?

I recommend that my students write about 160-180 words for task 1 and 260-280 words for task 2. The reason is simple. If the minimum word count is 150 or 250, then you should aim for slightly more than that; however, there could be problems (as explained above) with writing too much. Therefore, these figures are a safe target. If you aim for these, you give yourself the best possible chance of success.

To summarize, in the IELTS writing exam, you should:

Write at least 150 words for task 1 and 250 words for task 2
DO NOT write too many words
Spend 20 minutes on task 1 and 40 minutes on task 2

In your practice sessions you should aim to replicate real IELTS conditions as closely as possible. If you do this, you will handle the final exam much better. You will face less stress due to the time limit and other requirements.

About The Author

David S. Wills

David S. Wills is the author of Scientologist! William S. Burroughs and the 'Weird Cult' and the founder/editor of Beatdom literary journal. He lives and works in rural Cambodia and loves to travel. He has worked as an IELTS tutor since 2010, has completed both TEFL and CELTA courses, and has a certificate from Cambridge for Teaching Writing. David has worked in many different countries, and for several years designed a writing course for the University of Worcester. In 2018, he wrote the popular IELTS handbook, Grammar for IELTS Writing and he has since written two other books about IELTS. His other IELTS website is called IELTS Teaching.

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How Long Should My IELTS Essay Be?

Graph Length
Essay Task 2
Essay Length
Assessment Criteria
Paraphrasing

In the IELTS writing exam, you will be asked to write an essay for task 2. This essay should be at least 250 words long and it is recommended that you spend about 40 minutes on this task.

In this article, I will explain a little more about the word count so that you get a better idea of how many words you should write in order to achieve a good score.

IELTS Task 2 Essay Length

According to the instructions provided with your IELTS writing exam, as well as advice from IELTS examiners, you are required to write at least 250 words. This includes words that are hyphenated (such as “well-known” and “high-quality”) as one single word.

If you write less than this, your essay will be penalised and you will get a lower score. Although the examiners will not count the number of words you have written (for the paper based test), it will be quite obvious to them whether or not you have written enough, and it will negatively impact your score. Thus, you should not write less than 250 words.

You should also not write too much for this essay. There are various reasons for that, but primarily you will run out of time and be unable to finish your essay if you attempt to write too many words. This depends on the speed at which you can write, but most IELTS candidates would definitely struggle to write a 350 word essay in just 40 minutes. It is also worth noting that a very long essay would surely contain more errors than a shorter one.

As such, we can see that there are clear disadvantages to writing less than the recommended word count and also some disadvantages to serious exceeding it. However, the question remains: How long should my IELTS essay be?

This is a personal matter and depends on a number of factors, but for most people it is reasonable to aim for around 260-290 words. This allows you to answer the question quite fully but without spending too long on it or making too many mistakes.

If you are aiming for a very high score, it might be reasonable to write a little more (let’s say 290-320 words. This is because you could probably plan and write faster and that the extra words would allow you for some extra development, thus pushing up your score for Task Achievement. However, this is an advanced technique that could easily backfire if your vocabulary or grammar skills were not good enough.

To summarise, for IELTS writing task 2 you should aim to produce more than 250 words but you should not write much more than that or else you could encounter problems.

Which of the following is not a reason for writing moderate length IELTS essays ?

Very long essays take too long to write.
Very long essays can be quite boring.
Very long essays will contain many errors.

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IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty

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As you may know, there’s an IELTS word count penalty for writing task 1 and writing task 2 . To avoid a penalty, for task 1, you will need to write a minimum of 150 words and for task 2, you will need to write a minimum of 250 words .

Let’s talk a little bit more about how to avoid getting an IELTS word count penalty below.

What is the Word Count Penalty for Task 1 and Task 2?

If you don’t write enough words on writing task 1 and 2, you will get a lower score. While IELTS doesn’t say exactly how much you will get penalized, they do clearly state that your score will be lower if you don’t meet the word count requirements.

To avoid the penalty, I recommend writing more than the minimum number of words required. You should target 175 words for Task 1 and 250 words for Task 2. This not only ensures that you won’t lose points for not writing enough, but it will also help you to increase your score. Many essays that achieve the highest band score are above the minimum requirements.

How Words are Counted on the IELTS

How are words counted in IELTS writing? Most of that time whatever seems like one word will be counted as one word. But sometimes, it can be hard to tell if certain words count as more than one word.

Below is a quick overview of different kinds of words and how they’ll be counted on the IELTS test.

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun (person, place, thing, or animal) that is made up of one or more words. Sometimes these words are pushed together into one word, and sometimes they’re separated into two or more words.

Compound nouns that are written as one word count as one word. For example:

Toothpaste = tooth + paste pressed into one word
toothpaste = one word
Sunrise = one word
Dishwasher = one word

Compound nouns that are written as two words count as two words, even if the two words are used together to reflect one idea. For example:

Full moon = two words
Washing machine = two words

Hyphenated Words

All hyphenated words count as one word. For example:

Mother-in-law = one word
Up-to-date = one word

Numbers, Dates, and Times

Numbers, dates, and times are almost always counted as one word. For example:

500 = one word
7:15am = one word
10/24/1982 = one word

However, if a number is written out like this, it will count as two words or more:

ten thousand = two words
3 million = two words

Similarly, dates that are written like this count as two words or more:

October 24th = two words
August 24th, 2021 = three words

Fractions are counted as one word. For example:

1/3 = one word
two-fifths = one word

Words With Symbols

Words with symbols (like the $ or %) attached to them count as one word. For example:

$10.00 = one word
25% = one word

However, note that if a dollar or percentage is written out, they count as two words:

Ten dollars = two words
Twenty-five percent = two words

Websites and URLs

Websites and URLS are counted as one word. For example:

Magoosh.com = one word
https://ielts.idp.com/ = one word

Contractions

Contractions are always counted as one word, even though they represent the combination of two words. For example:

it’s = one word (even though it’s = it is)
we’re = one word

Words in Parentheses

Singular words in parentheses are always counted as one word. For example, consider the following sentence:

Hybrid cars are (much) more energy efficient.
(much) = one word

If there’s more than one word in the parentheses, each word is counted. For example:

Hybrid cars are (so much) better for the environment.
(so much) = two words

Prepositions and Articles

Many people assume that “small” words like “a” or “the” or “in” are not counted on the IELTS but they all are.

Prepositions like “under” and “in” and “on” and “at” are all counted as one word.

Note that prepositional phrases like “across from” and “adjacent to” are counted as two word (or however many words are in the phrase).

Articles like “a” and “the” are counted every time they show up in a sentence. For example:

The dog ran around the block while the dog walker chased it = 12 words (with “the” showing up 3 times)

But I Thought the IELTS Eliminated the Word Count Penalty…

Unfortunately, no. As of this time, IELTS has not announced that they will eliminate the word count penalty. Some teachers say that you can write slightly under the word count and not get penalized, but we don’t believe it’s worth the risk!

What’s the IELTS Word Count Penalty for Writing Too Many Words?

There is no penalty for writing too many words. That said, we don’t encourage you to overwrite. Again, the IELTS writing task 1 word count you should aim for is 175 and the IELTS writing task 2 word count you should aim for is 275.

Writing more than this can cause you to stray off topic and include information you don’t need. You may also run out of time to edit your work.

Should I Count the Words in My Essay?

No, it’s probably not worth it. Your time is better spent drafting a well-written essay than counting your words. If you practice, you should hit your word count targets without a problem.

Remember, as long as you meet the word count, the goal is quality, not quantity .

IELTS Paper-Based Writing Recommendations

To avoid an IELTS word count penalty, we highly suggest that you practice answering task 1 and task 2 under similar conditions as you will on testing day. If you’re taking the paper test, that means writing on official IELTS answer sheets.

Here are sample answer sheets for task 1 and task 2 . Since everyone’s handwriting is different, how many lines you use will differ from other test takers.

Practicing these tests on the official paper will help you see how many lines you use to write 150 and 250 words. When you’re familiar with what these amounts look like on the page, you’re more likely to be successful on testing day!

IELTS Computer-Based Writing Recommendations

If you’re taking the IELTS exam on a computer then the computer will count your words for you. We still recommend practicing these tasks so you can get a feel for each essay length.

In Conclusion: What to Know about the Word Count Penalty

So, just to recap: to avoid an IELTS word count penalty, you will need to write at least 150 words for task 1 and at least 250 words for task 2.

Keep in mind that these are the other factors that will impact your score:

Your handwriting—if the examiner can’t read your handwriting, you will be penalized.
The quality and content of you responses—if your responses seem in any way memorized, your answers could be disqualified and result in a score of zero. Likewise, if you do not answer the questions fully or you stray far off topic, you will lose points.

Happy practicing and good luck!

Eliot Friesen-Meyers is the Senior Curriculum Manager for Magoosh IELTS and TOEFL. He attended Goshen College (B.A.), New York University (M.A.), and Harvard University (M.T.S.), gaining experience and skills in curriculum development, ESOL instruction, online teaching and learning, and IELTS and TOEFL test prep education. Eliot’s teaching career started with Literacy Americorps in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later, taught ESL programs at Northeastern University, University of California-Irvine, and Harold Washington College. Eliot was also a speaker at the 2019 TESOL International Conference . With over 10 years of experience, he understands the challenges students face and loves helping them overcome those challenges. Come join Eliot on Youtube , Facebook , and Instagram . Recent blog posts Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 1 Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 2

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How many words should I write in IELTS Writing?

You must write more than 250 words for Task 2 and more than 150 words for Task 1.

Unfortunately, there is some really bad advice and misconceptions surrounding this question. The worst advice I’ve heard are ‘You don’t have to write 250 words in writing part 2, 10% below this is OK.’ and ‘You should write as much as possible to get a good mark.’ These two statements are wrong and will lead to lost marks.

What happens if I write under the word count?

The only advice you should listen to is this- If you want to answer the question properly, you must write at least 250 words in part 2 and at least 150 words in part 1. If you write less than these totals, you will lose marks under ‘Task Achievement’ because you haven’t answered the question properly.

IELTS examiners must sit and count all their words for this reason. It is really heartbreaking when a good candidate produces a great answer and only writes 249 words in part 2. Unfortunately, we have to mark them down.

Should I write more words to get a good mark?

No! This is a bad idea for a few reasons.

Firstly, you only have a set amount of time to answer both questions. Time management is one of the most important things to learn in the IELTS writing exam. If you spend too much time on one question, you sacrifice marks on the other.

Secondly, you are more likely to make grammar mistakes if you keep writing over the word limit, and this will bring your overall mark down.

Finally, you are being judged on quality, not quantity. Focus on making your answer the best it can be rather than the longest it can be. Remember you should allocate time to planning, checking, and writing.

How many words should I write?

You won’t have time to count all your words in the exam. Therefore, I suggest that you aim to write about 10% of what you are expected to write. In other words, aim to write around 160-170 words for task 1 and 270-280 words for task 2. If you aim for this amount, you are far more likely to exceed the required word limit.

How do I know how many words I have in the exam?

As stated before, you won’t have time to count all of your words, but there are other ways to judge this. I advise my students to download the official IELTS writing answer sheets , print them out and practice using these. All of the answer sheets are the same size; therefore, you will be able to see how much of the sheet you use for the required word limit.

Practising with the official answer sheets will also familiarise you with the test, and you will not get any surprises on test day.

Are all words counted the same way?

Unfortunately, no! Hyphenated words like ‘First-class’ or ‘State-of-the-art’ count as one word only. Contractions like ‘I’ll’ or ‘we’re’ also count as one word. (Ideally, you should not be using contractions in academic essays).

Words like ‘a’ ‘an’, and ‘the’ are always counted towards the word limit.

Punctuation is not included in the word count.

Can I copy words from the question?

You can copy single words but can’t copy whole parts of the question. You should never copy full sentences from the question. Repeating the question will mean the examiner subtracts these words from your word count and is therefore the same as writing nothing at all. You are being judged on your ability to paraphrase using synonyms , so try to master this skill, and you will avoid copying.

Example Question – Successful sports professionals can earn much more money than people in other important professions.

Example Paraphrasing- Successful athletes can make much more money than people working in other important jobs.

As you can see, I have repeated the words ‘successful’, ‘money’ and ‘important’, but I have replaced most of the other words with synonyms.

Can I repeat sentences?

Again, simply repeating yourself will lead to the examiner not counting these words. Some students try to repeat themselves if they are running out of time. It is always better to write something new than repeat the exact words again.

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Word Counting in IELTS

Many students who are to appear for the IELTS exam seem confused about the word counting in IELTS. It can be because of the wrong information provided on the internet. Also, there are certain myths revolving around this matter like you can’t write more than 250 words in IELTS Writing Task 2 , or in IELTS Writing Task 1 you need to write more than 200 words to achieve a high band score.

To provide you with some clarity, here are the word count rules in IELTS.

Big or small, every word counts. All the small words such as articles (a, an, the) and prepositions (e.g.: on, in, at) are also counted.

All the hyphenated words such as state-of-the-art, self-improvement, and fine-tune are considered as 1 word.

Dates, time, and number are also considered as a word. For example- the sentence, “There were 5000 people present in the auditorium at 6:30 pm on 25.12.2019.” has 12 words, whereas ‘5000’, ‘6:30 pm’, and ’25.12.2019’ are considered as three different words too.

The symbols written along with numbers are not counted. For example- the % sign in 99.9% is not counted whereas 99.9 is counted as a word.

Compound nouns (the nouns that are joined together to make a single word) are counted as one word only. For example- the words skyscraper, grandmother, and grasshopper are counted as one word.

There are also various compound words that are separated with a hyphen like a mother-in-law, this is also counted as one word. On the other hand compound nouns that are written separately like training room, fire drill, and swimming pool are counted as separate words. For example- the sentence, “The bookkeeper stacked the books neatly in the university library.” has 10 words.

The dates that are written in the way ‘14th November’ is counted as one number and one word and not as a single word.

All the words, even the ones written in brackets are counted. Also, some people get confused that if words such as ‘the’ are used several times in a sentence, will all of them be counted? Yes, regardless of how many times a word is repeated in a sentence, it is counted.

Last but not least, contractions such as I’m, it’s, we’d, we’ll are counted as one word. Whereas I am, it is, we would, we will are counted as two separate words. It is advisable to not use too many contractions in IELTS writing.

Talking about the word limit, it is recommended that you write 150-180 words for Task 1 and 250-280 words for Task 2. Word counting alone will not help you get the desired score in the IELTS exam. There are various other skills that serve the purpose. To develop such skills and learn useful tips and strategies to score high in the IELTS exam, join the best IELTS Institute , Western Overseas .

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IELTS writing task 2 online course

General overview.

Types of essay in IELTS writing task 2
Main topics of IELTS essay
How to generate ideas on IELTS Writing Task 2
How to Write Examples in IELTS Writing Task 2?
How Many Paragraphs Should I Write in IELTS Essay?

How many points or examples should I write in an IELTS essay?

How to Write a Conclusion on IELTS Writing Task 2?
Where to Take Notes in IELTS Writing Task 2?
How to Manage Time on IELTS Writing Task 2?
Tips for preparing for IELTS essay writing task 2
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Many people today would argue that cinemas are becoming irrelevant

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How many points or examples should I write in an IELTS essay

I have seen several new students read Writing Task 2 and get excited for all the points they could write. However, when they actually put pen to paper, they end up asking “how many points or examples should I write in this essay?” Even though the questions asked for the IELTS essay task might be straightforward, fitting your entire argument in 250 words can be a task.

This makes distributing points and examples across the two demands of the question especially important.

You should write about four points and two examples in the IELTS essay. As a result, you can target writing about 270 words overall. You can spare two points per boundary (explained later in the lesson), and support one of those arguments with an example for each boundary.

However, the question is ‘what is a boundary?’ Let us look into it.

Consider the following sample IELTS essay task.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Some people prefer to read fictional books such as novels, while others believe it to be a waste of time.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of reading fictional books?

Give reasons for your answers and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience?

Write at least 250 words.

Analysis of the IELTS Essay task

As discussed earlier, it is essential to identify the Focus and Boundaries of the question before you consider what points you would like to write.

Focus is the main gist of the essay, and it is discussed throughout the essay. In any case, the author never deviates from it. In the given an example, the Focus of the question is on reading fictional books. Now, boundaries are the restrictions placed on the Focus.

Here, although you may discuss what kind of books you like to read, you are restricted by the instruction below the topic statement.

It bounds you to list down the advantages and disadvantages of reading fictional books. And so, those are the two boundaries. Overall, there is no place for your opinion on this subject.

Distribution of Words and Points:

Overall, you must write about 270 words on ielts essay..

As discussed earlier, the ideal word count for an IELTS Essay is 270 words. Let’s say you write about 45 words in your introduction and the same number of words in the end paragraph as well. That leaves you with 180 words for your body paragraphs.

You must write about 90 words in each body paragraph on IELTS essay.

Further, since your opinion is not asked, you must offer an equal number of points from both sides or boundaries: advantages and disadvantages.

These both sides or boundaries are nothing but the subtopics of the essay. To draft a convincing essay, you must write these two subtopics or sides in two paragraphs.

Now, that means you should write 90 words in each body paragraph. Don’t panic – it might sound like too many words, but I can assure you that it’s not.

Still, how many words should I write on IELTS essay?

Instead, think about it in simple terms. Can you write about ten words in a sentence? Yes, of course, most of us can. Now, can you write about three sentences for one point? That means to write one point you may use about 30 words.

Alternatively, if you are a little proficient in writing, you can also write about two complex sentence structures with about 15 words each.

2 points and 1 example in an IELTS body paragraph

Now, if you write two points in a paragraph in this manner, you would reach about 60 words. However, our target is writing about 90 words. So, you can add an example of about 30 words. Writing one point in 30 words does not seem so hard now.

Does it? With two points and an example, you will easily reach 90 words for a body paragraph. Repeat this process with the other body paragraph. As a result, you can cover about 270 words in the IELTS essay.

Ensure that you have two points and one example for each boundary of the topic. Write about 30 words for each point and example. Balance the points in a manner that is required by the question.

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Home » IELTS Writing: Too many words!

IELTS Writing: Too many words!

For some candidates, it is very tempting to write as much as possible during the Writing test — they want to really showcase their range of vocabulary and their ability to write long sentences. But do long essays really get you a better band score? In this post, we’ll look at what you can do to get the best Writing score.

No bonus points

Let’s get straight to the point: while it’s true that there is no official IELTS answer on the maximum word limit in the writing tasks, you won’t get bonus marks for going over the minimum word count. Remember: the IELTS Writing test is only partly about how brilliant your ideas are. It is mainly about how effectively and precisely you can communicate through writing.

So, don’t write paragraphs about one trend in a graph and forget about the rest – avoid irrelevant elaborations. You need to make every word count . Describe the trends. Compare. Present the data in a clear and concise manner so that the examiner can understand you well enough without needing to look at the chart. It is essential you understand the task types before you take the test. If you look at the marking criteria, you can find exactly what you need to do to get the score you need.

Spend your time wisely

The maths is simple: write more and you will have less time to check and proofread. It is generally recommended that the number of words that you write should be around the same as what is asked for in the task. So, ideally, you should aim for 150-170 words in Task 1 and 250-275 words in Task 2. It is a lot better for you to spend the extra time proofreading, checking and rechecking your work than it is to spend the entire time writing. The Writing test is not about quantity — it is all about quality and accuracy. You have to remember that the more you write, the more chance there is for you to make a grammatical, or spelling error.

If you think it’s in your nature to ramble on and overwrite, then you should learn how to plan your essay . Set a time limit for each point you want to write for. Pick the three most rational points you can come up with and use them to show your grammatical and vocabulary range.

IELTS Writing Penalty for Being Under Words

“Under the word count” penalty update for IELTS Writing Task 2

As you see on the page below, previously you would have a fixed penalty of band score 5 for Task Response in IELTS writing task 2 if you wrote under the word count which is 250 words. This rule has now been removed.

Does this mean you can now write under the word count?

The answer to this is yes and no. Let me explain. It is possible to write under the word count and you will get no fixed penalty. But will it impact your score?

Writing a short essay which is under 250 words will definitely impact your score and not in a good way. The requirements of good band score are that you develop your ideas sufficiently. This means you must have enough words to develop your main points. A short essay doesn’t do this. Take a look below at the requirements of Task Response regarding this:

Band 5 = ideas are limited and not sufficiently developed
Band 6 = ideas might be inadequately developed
Band 7 = extends main ideas
Band 8 = presents well-developed response with extended ideas
Band 9 = fully extended ideas

As you see, developing and extending your main points is crucial to increase your score. You cannot develop your ideas properly if your body paragraphs are too short. Certainly, a long paragraph is no guarantee of a well-developed idea, but a short paragraph will ensure it is not developed enough. So, you need two things: 1) body paragraphs that are long enough to be considered developed. 2) body paragraphs containing sentences that are focused and relevant. Basically, the right length and focused.

What word limits do you recommend for paragraphs?

Your introduction is a functional paragraph of just two statements usually about 40-50 words.
Each body paragraph MUST be sufficiently developed for a high score. If you have two body paragraphs, it’ll be about 95 words per paragraph and about 65 words for three body paragraphs. Having less might put you at risk of not having sufficiently developed main points.
The conclusion is also a functional paragraph of about 30-40 words.

In total, your essay should be around 270 – 290 words in length . If you write less, your ideas might not be developed enough for a high score. If you write more, your ideas might lack focus and sentences might lack relevancy. See my model essays on this page: IELTS Writing Task 2 Lessons & Tips

Word count Rules Previously Used by IELTS Before

There used to be a fixed penalty in IELTS writing if you wrote under the word count which is 150 words for writing task 1 and 250 words for writing task 2 . You would automatically get only band 5 in Task Response which counts for 25% of your marks.

Other things affecting your score

Your handwriting – if the examiner has problems reading your handwriting, your band score can be seriously affected.
Memorised answer – if your essay answer is memorised, it will not be accepted and could result in a 0 band score.
Limited answer – if you fail to answer the whole question and only answer half of it, you will not get above band score 5 in task response.

Is there a penalty for writing too much?

No, there is no upper limit. However, writing too many words does not mean you will get a better mark. In fact, it might cause problems. It might include sentences that are less relevant and less focused. People often like to add “padding” to their essays but this only lowers your score. See this page: How Many Words is Recommended for Writing Task 2

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Hi Liz! I took my preparation following your youtube channel. I’ve a question about the writing section. In task-1, there was a line graph and I couldn’t write anything about one of the four lines beacuse I ran out of time. However, I mentioned the key features which include all four lines in the overview section. I’m not sure if I wrote a total of 150 words, but there’s a high chance that I did so. Now I’m very concerned if I can score at least 6.5 in the writing section. Please share your comment on this, I’m actually quite shocked that this happened to me.

This will lower your score for Task Achievement in Task 1, which counts for 25% of your task 1 marks. But the other criteria in task 1 will not be affected at all. Also, your task 2 scores, which count for 66% of your final writing score, will not be affected. Your final score for task 1 will depend on how strong your other marking criteria were and your final score overall will depend on task 2 as well. Therefore, it is not possible to predict your final score. Try not to worry. Good luck with your results!

Hello Liz! Hope you are well. I had my IELTS exam today. I’m quite unsure about the writing section as I didn’t get enough time to revise it. I’m worried about the word count. I wrote 159 words in task 1 and 260 words in task 2. Will that have a bad impact on my score? Another thing is I couldn’t give more than two examples in task 2. Is it possible to get a band 7?

There is no longer a penalty for being under words in IELT writing. In writing task 1, some reports are not very long and some are slightly longer. So, it might be possible for a task 1 to be 159 and still fulfil the criteria of the higher band scores. For task 2, your main points need to be well developed. This isn’t easy with under 270 words. However, it really depends on the quality of your writing overall. There is no rule about giving examples in IELTS writing. It makes no difference if you give one or three or even just some basic illustrative points instead.

Hi Liz, Jus now I have finished my IELTS exam and suddenly I got a doubt regarding my writing task 1 overview. So I just want know if any case my writing task 1 overview incorrect would it be effect for my whole task 1 marks?

Task Achievement is 25% of your marks for task 1. This criterion is about completing the task, as well as presenting and selecting information. So, the content of your overview would affect only this marking criterion, not the other three criteria.

Hi! If I couldn’t just conclude my essay in task 2 does it mean I will fail the whole IELTS exam?

Task Response, which includes writing a conclusion and completing your task, only counts for 25% of your final writing task 2 marks. So, failing to write a conclusion will only impact that score.

hello mam, i want to ask i gave IELTS exam 2nd time. in my first attempt I got 7 overall and 6.5 in reading. so in this test i attempted the IELTS writing module with almost same effort and same word count for both tasks as i did in last one. please tell me would i be able to get 6.5 in writing this time as well? i actually attempted again because i scored 5.5 in reading last time but this time my reading was perfect. just worried about writing module. if i couldn’t score 6.5 in writing i won’t be able to get scholarship. please share your views.

Each essay you write is different. You use different words, present different ideas, having different supporting points etc etc etc. So, there is no guarantee of the same score at all. If your level of English is on the border between 6 and 7, it means that with some essays you might end up with band 6, in others you might get 6.5 and in some band 7. All because your English and because of Task Response as well as Coherence and Cohesion. Here is a link to all my free lessons, tips and model essays for writing task 2 and task 1: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-1-lessons-and-tips/ https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/ Don’t ignore task 1, 33% of your marks can be the difference between band 6 or 6.5 or 7. I also have paid advanced lessons and e-books in my store: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hello Liz, What is a memorized answer?

It is an answer where you have memorised all the words so that you can repeat those words in the test. Of course, we learn language to use, but that isn’t the same as memorising a whole sentence or a whole paragraph. Each sentence should be uniquely created by yourself in the test.

Hello ma’am, I wrote my exam on the 3rd of June. My question was “The values we learn from our parents and family have greater influence on our future success than knowledge and skills we learn at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree. I agreed on the two ideas but I didn’t use the word ‘I totally agree’ and I didn’t extend my ideas properly. My idea was that knowledge and skills will help us secure good jobs while the values will instill morals in us so we behave in an appropriate manner in the society. The time was flying and I couldn’t even proofread what I have written to correct any mistake. Will I be able to get a band 6.5 ma?

It’s a good thing you didn’t write “I totally agree” because the ideas you’ve presented are not in total agreement with the statement. In fact, you are not in agreement with the statement. You have written what I call a specific view point. You’ve taken the concept of “future success” and divided it into “career success” which does require education, and then our morals, which often come from family values. The key questions are – were your points introduced sufficiently? Did you explain why “morals” are important for success (because this essay is all about future success”? Did you divide ideas into relevant paragraphs? Did you use linking words? Not being able to proofread is a problem because mistakes do lower your score. It isn’t possible to predict scores without seeing a full essay. You will have to wait to see what results you get. As you only need 6.5, hopefully it will be ok. But remember that task 1 is also part of your final score for writing. Anyway, I wish you lots of luck!!

In the 5th paragraph on the website https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-penalty-for-writing-under-word-count/ please correct the typo. The word ‘too’ has been used, instead of ‘two’.

Well spotted. Thanks

Hi mam, Today I wrote my ielts exam.In writing task 2 I performed well, but coming to task 1 I have no time and I wrote introduction, overview and body paragraph of maps with 100 words. Do I have Chace of getting 6 mam?

As there is no longer a penalty for being under words, you will have a chance. But it will depend on the level of your writing in both tasks. Good luck!

Hi, I heard that IELTS abolished the under word count penalty rule and that it’s ok to go under 250 words for an essay etc… could you clarify this?

Many thanks

The reason I’ve left this page is because while IELTS do not have a fixed penalty for being under words, you will lose points because you fail to sufficiently develop your ideas. If your aim is around band 5 or 6, it isn’t such a big problem. But if you are aiming for band 7, you ought to be aiming for 270-290words in task 2. Previously, you would get an instant band 5 for Task Response (25% of your marks for task 2) if you wrote under the word count. But now if you don’t develop your ideas enough by writing enough, you will simply not meet the requirements of a band 7 in this criterion. So, you see, it isn’t about fixed punishment anymore. It’s about whether you fulfill the band score requirements for task response. Basically, word count is still important. Hope you understand.

Hi, First of all I want to thank you for your precious advices. I just took the IELTS and in the writing task 2 I didn’t manage my time well and and ended up writing 248 words only. I would like to know if that will have an impact on my band score. Thanks in advance for your answer.

It’s fine to write only that number of words for task 2. There won’t be any penalty. However, the problem comes if you didn’t expand your main ideas enough. To illustrate: Band 6 for TR = main ideas are not sufficiently developed Band 7 for TR = main ideas are extended But remember, that’s only the score for TR, not for the whole task 2 score. Good luck with your results 🙂

Thanks for the quick response and hopefully I will get the band score I need.

Hi Liz. I have a question, do you have vip courses? Or any paid course?

Yes, you can find some advanced lessons and e-books here: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hi Liz, thank you very much for all the information. by mistake I started writing task 2 from the back page of answer sheet am really upset from yesterday kindly tell me will I lose band and marks by this mistake?

That’s an interesting question. There are no rules about this. The examiner should notice that you’ve started on the wrong side in which case it won’t affect your score at all. However, you ought to speak to your test centre directly about it. Get in touch with them. Good luck with your results!!

Hello! I had just taken my IELTS exam and the writing section went pretty well for the most part. Almost every marking requirement was met in terms of grammar, structure, and usage of vast vocabulary. I have also met and surpassed the word limit. Unfortunately, as I was wrapping up Task 2, I decided to add one last sentence to tie it all together and time was up just before I could finish the sentence with approximately 3 keywords remaining in the conclusion section. I was wondering how badly this could affect my score? Thank you so much for your time in advance.

The most important thing is that you have a conclusion. Even though you didn’t finish it, there is a conclusion. If you had missed the conclusion completely, you would have scored 5 in Task Response which is 25% of your marks. But this isn’t the case. Sure, not finishing a sentence will affect your score, but not with a serious impact. Your score will depend on many factors and can’t be predicted. Lots of luck with your results !!

Hi Liz, I find difficult not to write less than 150 words in diagram mocks. As these diagrams practically speak for themselves, for instance, showing clearly how electricity is produced or how rain water is collected, I can’t reach the required length for my description. I do not know if I should invent something, like, for example, how many minutes each process involves –considering that it is not given–, or describe processes that are not explained in the diagram –for example, the way in which water is turned into steam–, or if I should try to expand expressions, like using “in order to” instead of “to”, just to gain words. I feel really frustrated, because I think that these people are trying to make things more complicated, forcing me to explain in too many words a process that is clearly detailed in just a few sentences. I like the other task 1 exercises, but if I had to design a test I would eliminate the diagram type of exercises. Not that anyone cares lol.

Never invent anything for the diagram. You can’t add your opinion, your ideas, your predictions, your knowledge – nothing extra. Take each stage at a time, describe it in full and then link it to the next. Step by step through all the diagrams. For the overview, summarise all key stages in one statement. If you do this properly, you’ll reach the word count. Even if you only reach about 140, it’s still ok. Diagrams are tricky that way. But with practice at going slowly through the stages for the body paragraphs, you will get there 🙂

hey liz i’m inspired by your videos. I had a query about writing task. I repeat atleast one word like 6-7 times and always i see it after completing the entire task. Can you tell me how will it affect my score? and how can i improve this? also is it ok not to paraphrase the terms given in the process diagram, like can i copy the exact words from the process diagram?

It is normal to repeat words. Not all words can be paraphrased. If a word can be successfully paraphrased you should show your paraphrasing skills. The terms given in a diagram should be used – the key is using them correctly.

Dear Liz, Do we have to leave a line space after every paragraph? I think i got low marks for writing because of that. Please advise.

The empty line is to help the examiner see the paragraph more easily – it is not a requirement. If your paragraphs are indented and easy to see, it’s fine. That is unlikely to be the cause of your low score. Review your understand of the marking criteria and check your technique.

Hi Liz, will I be penalized if I write more than 200words in task 1

Band 5 Task Achievement – may give too much detail. You need to avoid that. Don’t get lost in detail – your aim is to focus on key features in a concise report.

Hey Eliza, I have a question that… in the words count do the preposition like a, an, the… and the numeric data and values …which are mostly used in any writing counts or not?

All words are counted – the length of the word does not matter.

Hi Liz . Do you think you should write a book for writing task 1 🤐 Your books that have already realised are so crucial for IELTS candidates .

I plan to create Advanced Video Lessons for Writing Task 1 when my health is better. Unfortunately, I’ve been sick for a long time which has limited the work I can do. Keep your fingers crossed for me – the sooner I get better, the sooner I can make the video lessons.

Hi Liza, thank you for useful infomation. I ask a question about the writing test. If I foget the source of cited articles in my essey, can I tell a lie such as writing “according to the United Nations”, not writing honestly “according to a reputable source” in order to make my argument stronger? Thanks,

You should not be stating any source of information or data in an IELTS essay. This is not a university essay. It is a language test. The examiner has no interest at all where your examples or information come from. You do not get a higher score because your argument is more convincing. You get a higher score for relevancy and well explained ideas. Make sure you pay attention to the things that really matter in IELTS and don’t waste your time with thinks that don’t improve your score.

I took my CBT ielts academic today and I think I have done horrible in Reading and writing by

1. Leaving two questions unanswered in reading 2. Writing only around 200 words in task 2

Listening and speaking , I am confident of scoring more than 8

Can you please let me know how point no 1 & 2 will affect my score ?

1. Each answer is worth one point. That means you do not gain two points. See the band score information on this site if you need the point system. 2. In task 2, one of the marking criterion called Task Response is about developing your ideas. You will get a lower score for that. Nothing else is affected.

Thanks a ton for your reply

I will keep that in mind if rewriting ! Will keep you posted about score once I have it to benefit the many test takers who might incur this doubt

Hi! Same situation. What did you score?

I would like to know what did you score in writing as I had a test today and I think I wrote around 200words in task 2

Hi Liz! I just sat for the IELTS exam and had severely mismanaged my time. This resulted in me writing less than I had expected (151 for Task 1 and 258 for Task 2). How badly would this affect my band score, and if it does, what are the odds of me scoring at least a 7.5 with this omission?

Thanks, love your youtube videos, it’s a shame I discovered them too late!

It will have an impact on your score for Task Response which is 25% of your writing task 2 marks. For task 1 is has less impact as not all reports need to be extended. However, for task 2 essays, you are being marked on developing ideas sufficiently and 258 words is not much. It is absolutely not possible to predict your score. There are many other variables to consider. Good luck with your results 🙂

Hi dear Liz I hope you are great. I have a question about copying 80-90% of sentences of a sample letter (in writing task1 of GT) and writing them for a roughly same question in real exam ,but with a slight change in some words or sentences in order to suit the question. How examiner recognize that this is a copy? As maybe I have copied them from a sample which is not seen or read by examiner before.

The examiner will recognise it is a copy because the memorised parts will be band 9 and the parts you put in will be band 6 or 7. Do not memorise sentences. It is a test and you can’t cheat.

Hi, Liz. I am planning to take an academic IELTS test. Regarding the word count, will IELTS count word tokens or word types? Thanks

Each word is counted. All words are counted – there are no exceptions. “A man walked into a house” = 6 words.

Hello there! Dear Liz, Could you please tell me if mistakenly we tend to write off the topic, Are the words included in our Essay that are off the topic are counted or not?

ALL words are counted. There is no exception. If your ideas go off topic, it will only affect your score for Task Achievement/ Task Response.

Mam I, m very frustrated towards IELTS And It’s preparation I , m preparing it from one year (from may 2018 to 2019) I gave exam in Jan 12th but I got 5.5 in writing as well in speaking. I join many schools but they real not know how to teach please help me. Mam if you have a skype or Facebook account can I contact you, I also use cambly if you are on family let me know and other than this what I do to improve my writing and speaking from 5.5 to 6.5 and more please answer this. I, m waiting your answer in a hurry. Thanks regards gurkirat

Sorry, I don’t offer private lessons. There are over 300 pages of free lessons and tips on this site for you to use. However, I suspect you will need to improve your level of English first.

Hello liz.. i think i had misused one word in my essay writing test. How would it affect my score in task 2? One word only 😭😭😭 and i cannot sleep thinking about it. I doubted the word but i still used it 😓, when I checked the meaning at home, it was completely different, it wasn’t the meaning i’d expected. 😭😭😭

Vocabulary is only 25% of your marks and the score is based on more than just one incorrect word. It is about paraphrasing, using of collocations, spelling, range, accuracy etc. Time to stop worrying and relax – it’s all over now. Wait for your results.

Ohhh.. what a relief ☺️ Thanks so much liz.. may God bless you always..

Hi Liz, I finished my IELTS exam today and I’m so worried too. I forgot to separate the paragraphs and it was too late when I realized as I panicked and spent too much time in task 1. So it may seem that I only did one paragraph for task 2 although my ideas were organized in order. How will that affect my score Liz? I cannot get over it. I’m crying awhile ago. 😭😭😭

Try to relax. Were your paragraphs impossible to see? You do not have to leave an empty line – it is a recommendation. If the examiner can see the paragraphs, it’s fine. If the paragraphs are not clear at all and it really looks like one single paragraph, you will be given band 5 in Coherence & Cohesion – but that is only 25% of your writing task 2 marks. So, it see how it impacts your score, you must wait for your results. Try to forget about it for now – get some rest 🙂

Thank you Liz. I just feel like I could have done better. Coherence and cohesion is the organisation of your thoughts and ideas isn’t it? So if it’s organized, although the paragraphs isn’t clear, does the IELTS checker still mark it 5? Thanks for making me feel relieved. To be honest I practiced alot in writing, however, it’s indeed true, in althe actual exam, the time pressure will really make one abit uneasy. Praying for my results. Godbless you Liz.

hi Myreen. I am interested in your result. What is your score?

Hi Liz, I recently took my IELTS exam. I’m worried about my Writing because I have only written 152 words for task 1, because I consumed most of the time writing for task 2 which is around 320 words. Will I get a bad score because of my task 1?

IT is still possible to do well with only 152 words in task 1. However, it will depend on the task given and the information presented.

Hi Liz. I’m gonna have a test in 3 days. Is it possible to just cross out the mistaken words in writing? And not to erase them?

Of course, it’s fine. You can correct your writing as you want. As long as the writing is easy to read and understand, it’s fine. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hi Liz, I took my IELTS test a week ago. I didn’t get enough time for the writing test so I couldn’t conclude my task 1 and couldn’t count the number of words, so I’m worried if I’m under word count. But I have described the given table well (except the conclusion) and done a satisfactory job on task 2, grammar, paraphrasing and all. Will my score be too low because of this?

It is a shame that you didn’t learn from my free lessons and videos. There is no conclusion in task 1. There is an overview in task 1 and it is the most important paragraph. Without an overview in task 1 your score for TA (25% of your task 1 marks) will be stuck at band 5. For this reason, I teach people to write their overview after the introduction so that it is the paragraph to focus on.

hi Liz, do you think i can get band 6 if i didn’t finish and didn’t write a conclusion in task 2?

There are four marking criteria for task 2. On one criterion (Task Response) you will automatically get band 5 because you missed the conclusion. This is why I made a free video about the importance of writing the conclusion. However, your score for the other marking criteria will not be affected. It isn’t possible to estimate your score – your score will depend on the other three criteria and on task 1.

Hello Ma’am! My name is Abdur Rehman, and I have just given my IELTS exam. My question from you is that I have written Full word instead of One option (A, B, C) in IELTS listening, so can I get marks for that?

If you are asked to write a letter, then it is wrong to write a word.

Hi Liz, It’s so useful your page . Thank you so much . Could you please advise me for improving my listening . Getting around 20-22 scores only . Getting nervous. I am afraid of this task. Other 3 tasks I don’t have tension .Please help me .

Click on the RED BAR at the top of the website for the IELTS Listening free lessons.

Hey Liz, just came back from my ielts. I have a very important question. I took computer-delivered test and in the writing task 1 section forgot to remove the plan of the essay( I had my draft on top of the text box, so I can follow it) the plan was written in abbreviation and spelling mistakes. Then after the plan I wrote the actual essay, and I didn’t have a chance to correct one mistake, that affected other words and meaning of the last sentence, also i might have written less that 150 words. All of this happened because I didnt organize my time properly. What will be the score in this case. Please advise. Thank you

You should have highlighted this to the invigilator at the end of your test. I can’t advise you about this. If you are still worried, call your test centre and talk to them.

Thanks a lot for your great advanced lessons. I have purchased them and been trying to follow up your rules.

However, I am facing with a big problem that I can not overcome. Despite writing in required time, the word counts of my essay are always more than 350 words. The writing off-topic is not the case here, but the lengths of my sentences which is at least 20-25 words in every single of them.

Take both body paragraphs have 6 sentences in each (2 thesis statements+4 supportive points). Then the essay will be formed with about 15-16 sentences which means 350-400 words overall for my writing.

Would this kind of writing impact my score adversely so I should make my sentences more concise, or it would be enough to get 7 or 7,5 in case I meet the requirements of this band score.

Thanks a lot for your advice in advance.

The body paragraph as I taught has the first sentence which contains the main point. You do NOT have two thesis statement in a body paragraph. After one sentence with the main point, there will be 2 or 3 sentences which explain in more detail. You plan which points to put in. You do not put in all points you think of – you select and choose. This means you control which ideas you use and which ideas you don’t use. Try writing again following guidelines.

Thanks a lot for your valuable answer. While writing two thesis statement in a paragraph I meant two ideas, such as “Firstly….+2 supporting sentences and Secondly…+2 supporting sentences” in the advantages paragraph, for example, and the same structure for the disadvantages paragraph.

Is it acceptable to write very long sentences in IELTS essay (around 20-30 words)? While I try to rewrite it, I can only eliminate one supportive sentence, but not the shortening of the sentences’ length.

Thanks a lot

Lets continue this by email: [email protected] . Send me an email and we’ll talk.

Hi liz..you seemed to be very helpful to me through all my ielts learning…i appreciate you.. i just appeared my ielts exam yesterday…but while writing essay in writing section i found that i had written only 254 while counting each words one by one ..but it can be seen only 242 while counting according to line wise..i need your suggestion on its impact in my score band..it would be a great help for me..

The examiner will count each individual word.

Thank you so much miss liz…😍😍

Hello Liz. Yesterday I Took The IELTS Exam For Academic And I Wrote About 145-147 Words For Task 1 And Around 247 Words For Task 2. Will I be penalized for this?

IELTS usually allow you about 10 words under the limit before the penalty kicks in. You should be fine.

Hope you are doing good. I am disappointed with my first attempt with General Training – Task 1 IELTS exam which ended with 140 – 145 words due to improper time management by myself.

My questions to you, please : 1. Will there be a huge penalty, if there are 145 words for Task 1 (Letter). 2. Is the penalty counted per word. I mean a letter with 145 words will suffer a higher penalty than a letter with 140 words .

Thanks in advance, Priyanka

IELTS allow for about 10 words under the limit before the penalty kicks in. However, being under by 10 words means you haven’t extended your ideas very much which will have an impact.

Dear Liz, I hope you are doing good. How is your health now? I wanted to know does word count for letter writing include salutation (Dear….,) ,signing off ( Your sincerely) and the name or only the body of the letter is counted. I have taken IELTS once with a score of L:8, R:7 ,W:6,S:8. In the feedback for general writing its mentioned that : conclusion(s) of letter are unclear, some details are wrong and irrelevant. I wanted to know how to determine whether the detail which is being given is a relevant one or not. I was wondering whats conclusion(S) in a letter is and what’s the parameter to know its clarity.

I would also like thank you for your wonderful subscription videos ! I wish there something for like that for general writing too.

Yes, the word count includes each and every word you write on the lines of the answer sheet. I have no idea what you mean about your feedback for your writing task 1 and “conclusion(s) in a letter”. There is no such thing as a conclusion in a letter and that is part of no IELTS band descriptors. Who gave you this feedback? My Advanced writing task 2 lessons are for both GT and Academic essays. I hope to put together an e-book for GT letter writing but it won’t be until next year.

Hello Liz, Is it necessary to write the “word count” at the end of essay in writing task 2?

No. The examiner will count.

hi Liz I find your material really helpful, however i am having an issue with describing complex diagrams, any help on that?

Check the model answers on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-1-lessons-and-tips/

I missed writing the last word of my writing task2…I finished my writing task1 well and almost finished my task2. How much will I be penalized for it?

It won’t have any impact on Task Response which is 25% of your marks. In fact, it will have little impact on your score overall. As long as your conclusion was started and was almost complete, it’s fine.

Hi Liz, I took my IELTS academic test yesterday. I’ve been following your tips and I have also watched almost every video that you’ve posted. For me the writing was the most difficult part because I didn’t have enough time. Despite that, I finished both tasks but I feel like I could’ve done that part so much better. The rest was fine. I hope I get the results I want to get. Wish me luck!

Fingers crossed 🙂

I recently completed my writing test and am very apprehensive about a mistake done. I think I did reach the word count limit for the second essay, but didnt finish the final line in conclusion part. There was about 4 words left to complete that sentence but the time had completed by then. Will this be penalized? Please let me know what you think.

There is only one essay in IELTS writing. So, I presume you are talking about task 2 because task 1 is a report, not an essay. As long as you have a conclusion, it’s fine. Just 4 missing words will only affect your score for task response in a minimal way.

Thank you so very much for the response. Yes I was talking about task 2. Now is the hardest part of this whole endeavor. The wait for results.

In my Writing Test. I wrote extra time 1 second, 2 words after completion of time.The examiner forced me to sign a “Ielts Warning Letter”, which was a folded paper and I was able to see only My Name,Candidate Id, Signature boxes in that page.I don’t know what was inside that letter. Is this effect my score? What will be in that letter?

You should contact your local test center and ask them about this. IELTS is an international test with strict policies and very strict time control. Phone them and ask them about the letter and the consequences for you.

hoping your result will be withheld . please update it you got any response.

I have a problem i forgot to put the introduction and conclussion on an essay, how many points do u lose?

It does not work on a points system. It will serious affect your score. You need to think carefully about why you failed to do the most basic aspect of an essay, which is to prepare paragraphs and plan your organisation.

Hey Liz, I just came back from exam. I am little worried that,

In the task 2 , I’ve been asked essay of to what extent do you agree/disagree?

In the intro, after paraphrasing I ve said that “I agree to a large extent….”and wrote 2 bodies that gives reason for my agreement and wrote conclusion..so is it good?

Bcoz I’ve seen that I’ve to write 3 body ..in which 2 for agree and 1 for disagree…bcoz I answered I agree to a large extent.

So will it be okay or not? And if not then how much it will effect on my score?? Will I be able to get at least 5.5 or 6!!

There are NO rules about how many paragraphs to have. It is fine to have only two. The most important thing is that your opinion is VERY clear and that your body paragraphs FULLY explain your opinion.

Thanks for prompt reply.

Yes, I’ve stated reason with detailed explanation and example.

So will it be okay if I wrote ‘ I agree to a large extent’ instead of ‘i strongly agree’ in intro?? With the 2 paragraph showing reason behind my agreement.

Of course it’s fine. I don’t understand why you doubt this. It is a clear opinion. Your opinion shows that you do not fully agree and that there are reasons for this. Your body paragraphs will explain why you agree, but also why you do not 100% agree (you will explain your reservation).

No, you might misunderstood me. I have said that, i wrote ” I agree to a large extent” it means my opinion is not full agree… But i wrote 2 body paragraph only and both are of the reasons why i agree.. and i have not write any para that states about disagree. That is why i was asking that, will it effect on my score and if yes then how much!!

This is a problem. you have shown that you DO NOT fully agree. “I agree to a large extent” means that you agree about 80%, 90% or 95%, but NOT 100%. This is the meaning of your words. So, in your essay, you need to explain why you mostly agree, and you also need to explain why you do not fully agree. If you fail to explain why you do not fully agree, you will lose marks. It will affect your score for Task Response.

Yes i know. But i was having less amount of time in last and so had wrote conclusion directly. 🙁 What do you think how much band will be reduced because of this overall on writing?

Task Response is based on more than just your main points. You will have to wait for your results to see how it has affected them.

Oh okay thanks. Hope to get atleast more than 6 so it won’t effect my admission. Wish me luck. 🙈

Good luck!!

Hi Ma’am I got my IELTS result today I got overall score of 6.5 ( listening 7.5, reading 6.5, writing 5.5) I wrote task 1 following your instructions but only of 90 words and task 2 of around 230 words, although I used complex sentences with some high vocabulary words and also wrote overview and conclusion ( in task 2) . Is my band low because of word count penalty ? Please advice me , should I go for a recheck ?

Your score will have been lowered due to your lack of words. It is essential that you write OVER the word count.

I’m grateful for your help. You have a gift for teaching. I just want to post my experience from today’s test. With regards to the writing part there is really NOT ENOUGH time. I came across a subject about to what extend should the national governments interfere with ones preference towards a study subject during the university period. I felt I had so much to say in the essay but I ended up not even writing half of what I could. I constantly went back and forth. So disappointing. Good luck to all of you guys!

Once again thank you Liz,

Dear Mrs. Liz, I’m Vinay kartheek, today I gave my listening, reading and listening test. However, in writing task 2 I shared my views regarding the topic but I forgot to give relevant examples which they asked for. I’m worried about the score now. Could you please talk regarding this. Thank you for your time

It is not required to give examples. You give examples if you want to – only when relevant.

Hello Mrs. Liz Firstly thankyou for your response. Secondly, in task 2 they particularly asked to mention some relevant examples or experiences. Awaiting for your response Thanks again

Relevant examples – that means if you find them relevant. If you don’t find them relevant, you don’t give them. There are many ways to illustrate ideas. Don’t worry about it.

Thank you Mr.Liz

Mrs. Liz not Mr. Liz !

Neither actually. I am not a man and I am not married 🙂

Hello, I wonder what would be the penalty if I wrote everything correctly, and follolowed the instructions, but I couldn’t write 250 words for Task 2. Instead I’ve written only 160. I also wrote everything for Task 1(170 words). Thank you!

For writing task 2, you will be given a score for TR/ CC / GR & VOC. Then the score will be reduced due to lack of words.

Ellie may I know what was your score ?

Sorry if a miss this but you didnt answer how underwriting the task would affect the final score. Is it an essencial part of the test? like if you do not complete you always score band 5 or may the penalty reduced your score 10 percent? or how does this work?

You will get a lower score if you write under the word count. That is the meaning of being “penalised”.

hallo liza haw can i count words in order to write like 150 words

Count lines instead.

Is it compulsory to state total words below essay??????

No, you do not write the word count. The examiner always counts for himself.

Hi Liz, I got this question in writing part 2 : Some people support the developement of agriculture like factory farming and scientific creation , While other oppose. Discuss both views;- What I Wrote:- 1 body paragraph:- development of farming for business purpose and greenhouse farming 2nd body :- ehnacement of technology rather than farming is a better development.

I know, i am off topic in second body. How much will it effect?? Can you please analayis

I answered this question for another student called Jay on this page: https://ieltsliz.com/recent-ielts-questions-and-topics/

Hi Liz, I had viewed most of your videos on youtube as my only aid for IELTS preparation. I was able to complete only 50% of writing task 1, I din’t have enough time to explain a few details on one category. I have written introduction, overview and the major difference, my word count is going to be definitely below 150. Could you give a ballpark figure of my score for this task?

Your score is not calculated in that way. You will need to wait for your results.

Thank you so much for replying..

Some people think that there are important things in life and they can’t be bought. This is essay topic but i wrote about natural resources. I think i wrote irrelevant. Can i score low in the writing essay task. Please guide me.

Natural resources count as important things in life.

For my exam, I have used variety of sentence structure… But I have a habit of writing long essays which would be at least 400 words. Is that a big issue?

Yes, it’s a big issue. It means your essay is not focused and highly relevant. No essay should be longer than 300 words. See my advanced lessons for training: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

Hello Liz.I just had my Ielts exam today and on the writing test I only managed to write Task 2. I started task 1 but I didnt even finish the first sentence in the introduction and the time was up!The essay question was a bit confusing so I struggled making a decision what type of essay it is . The topic went like this: Some people think that a country can benefit by hosting major international sport events. Other people think there are more disadvantages from hosting that event. Discuss both sides and give your opinion and supporting arguments and examples. So Im honestly confused if it was a Discussion essay or Does advantages outweigh disadvantages. Of course it is made to confuse us .what confused me was the words advantages disadvantages and my opinion.So I made a decision to go with the outweight adv.disadv.essay and in both body paragraphs I gave examples but suported the advantages with a few arguments and explanations for each.Whats the biggest score I can get if only one of the essays is written (if I chose the right typeof essay ) hope you can give me some aproximate answer .

I think the instructions were very clear. Discuss both sides. This means you discuss both sides = a discussion essay. And give your opinion = with an opinion. So, you discuss both sides and give your opinion. It is a basic, standard discussion essay for IELTS. Writing task 1 is worth 33% and writing task 2 is worth 66% (more or less).

Hi Liz, Thank you so much for your valuable suggestions. I have a small doubt. Can I write IELTS GT essay/letter in alternate lines? ( to avoid erasing nearby words for correction when written in pencil )

Don’t do that. It makes paragraphs difficult to see. Write each line and then leave one empty between paragraphs. If you plan your letter or essay enough, you will have less errors to correct.

Thank you, I could perceive the wisdom in your answer!

Hi Liz Ma’am I m really worried about my test could you please clear my mind… I did well in ielts writing task 1 but my task 2 wasn’t so good … Let me tell you what I have did … They asked that nowadays companies are using sports events to promote their product.some people think that it has wrong effect on sports. I wrote mostly about their company advertisements through sports events and I said a little about its wrong effects on sports… Could you please tell me to which extent it can effect my score???

See this page about scoring: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/

You are the best thanks for your help…

I gave my ielts exam yesterday. Listening and reading were fantastic. I think I might score 7.5-8 in these sections. In writing, task 1 was good. I’ve written more words than the word limit but however in the second task I was able to write around 180 words only. What do you think how much score will I get in writing for not completing the word limit?

For task 2, you will get a lower score if you write under 250 words. Your score can’t be predicted because it depends on the other marking criteria scores.

Okay. Thank you so much Liz!

HI how much u got for writing

Hi ,i gave my ielts test on 14th oct. i had write 210 words in task1 and 300 word in task 2 will my score reduce? For over limit

There is no upper limit. But you will be marked down for lack of focus for task 2 and adding too much detail in task 1.

Hi Liz, I gave my Ielts exam today, my task 2 was good. I completed it with more than 250 words. But I didn’t get sufficient time to complete my task 1. I might have written just 100 words. How much score should I expect?

Your score will be reduced for task 1 due to lack of words. However, the total score cannot be predicted.

Hi , Same thing happened with me. I wrote around 100 words in task 1. Awaiting for results. How much did you score in writing then?

Same.. Task 2 was really good but I didnt have enough time to write task 1 so I could write only 85 words.. What was your score?

Did you guys receive your results? How affected it was by the lack of words?

Hi Liz, I have been following your blog and it is very helpful! Thank you. I am fairly new to the IELTS test. I am planning to take IELTS General Training by mid of October 2017. The responses to IELTS questions have to be given on a paper is it? I was under the impression that our responses will be typed on a computer. Thanks for your response.

See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-help-faq/

Mam i have written 385 word in task 2 but this is only written on only one sheet, can my score get effected due to this over writing

If you have written a long essay, it usually means it is less focused and includes unnecessary information which will lower your score. Your aim in task 2 is between 270 and 290 words.

DEAR LIZ, The question for ielts writing task 2 was “IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SCHOOL TO TAKE PART IN CHARACTER FORMATION OF CHILDREN APART FROM TEACHING FORMAL SUBJECTS.” TO WHAT EXTEND DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE TO THIS.

MADAM my answer were mainly 2 point in 2 different body paras my opininon- agree with this with parental collaboration para 1- topic sentence- school is responsible because a teacher can highly influence her students character para 2- topic sentence- parental collaboration is equally important because children try to copy parents. my doubt is whether para 2 about parental influence is relevant. is it relevant to question

This essay question is not about parents at all. It is only about the role of schools.

Is it 100% necessary that we should use examples in our body paragraphs? I messed up with time and I totally forgotten about writing examples.. can it effect band?

It is not necessary to have examples. As long as you explained your points clearly, that’s enough.

Thanks so much because i was very tensed following the exam. I have explained my points clearly but the question read that give examples from own experience. So then also they won’t penalise me right ?

Hey Lokesh,

Same was the case with me. What band did you managed to get?

Hi In my mock tests I write more than 300 words in task 2 and still manage to save some time. I think my answer is good but I get 5.5/6 only. Is it because of exceeding word count??

There is no upper word limit. But writing 30 0 words isn’t recommended. Your aim should be to produce a focused, highly relevant essay with no unnecessary information and an essay which is accurate in language. Writing 300 words means you will have made more mistakes. You should aim for between 260 and 280 more or less. See my advanced lessons if you need training: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/

hello , in task 2 wrote 200 word only ! task one was really nice , however task 2 was 70% good but I ended up with 50 words less 🙁 please tell me what do you think about it?

You will get a reduced score for being under words. However, it is not possible to predict your final writing score.

hi Abed, I did the same mistake . I wrote only 200 words . what was your score in ielts?

what is your score on writing?

so how much did u get finally on writing 2? i wrote also less than 250. Waiting for my results

Hi Liz! I’m Felicita, from Paraguay, South America. I have a query related to the format of the writing skill. I took the test last week and while I was reviewing my task 1 I realized that I had made a mistake. Therefore, I corrected it, but I left some extra spaces between words. For example: “The most common vehicle in UK was the railway” The reason why I mistakenly used extra spaces was because I had to erase some words and write others instead, but I had not time to use all the space of the line before the start of next sentence. Would this affect my marks?

When my comment was posted the “extra spaces” of my examples didn’t appear. The error was to write extra spaces between words in one sentence. I am worried that this will affect my marks.

As I said, if the examiner can read it clearly, it’s fine.

It depends if the examiner understands the full sentence. There are no set rules. If the examiner can see the problem, it’ll be fine.

Thank you for your response, Liz! Your website is excellent and extremely useful!

Hello mam, My test was on 6 may. In writing task 1, I mentioned only percentage but did not mention percentage of GDP. I forgot to use word GDP, will it affect my score.

It might affect your score for Task Achievement which is about presenting the right information. But there are still plenty of other things being assessed which you can still do well on in task 1.

I want to get my writing task 1 & 2 marked. What is the procedure?

See this page to find a teacher: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-essay-correction/

Hi Liz, I just gave my ielts test. In task 2 of the writing section I only had three paragraphs. An introduction, body and conclusion. Will I get lower marks for not adding another paragraph to the body?

Yes, your marks for coherence and cohesion will be lower as you didn’t dived your main ideas into body paragraphs. Hopefully you did well in the other marking criteria. Don’t think about it for now.

Hi liz, My husband took his ielts yesterday. He did both his task 1 and 2 really well. However, he dint have enough time and the examiner snached his paper away. So he had just written 1 sentence in his conclusion and his paper was taken away before he could finish the next sentence. How badly will this affect his band score.?

This is for task 2 btw

Luckily, you only need one sentence for a conclusion in writing task 2. Hopefully, it was a good sentence with the key points 🙂

I write out of the topic in ielts academic writing task 2. So how many band around i get? If there are any chances to get very low band around 3 to 4?

See this page to learn how your writing task 2 is marked: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2-band-scores-5-to-8/

Hello liz, Is all helping verbs such as is am are was were are counted as word in Ielts writing.

ALL words are counted – big and small. All words.

hello liz, Today I gave my ielts exam. But I had some spelling mistake in writting task 2 I wrote “vehical” instead of ”vehicle” I used this word 3 times. will my band score decrease due to this?

Spelling mistakes do count as a vocabulary mistake. But band scores are not calculated just by counting errors. You will need to wait for your results.

Hi Liz! Thanks for the resourceful website you have to guide the IELTS examination takers. I wrote my IELTS (academic) module a couple of days ago. Task 2 in writing was about whether criminals released from jail are safe to be in society or not and suitable solution for the problem. Due to lack of time, I managed to squeeze out only one sentence in conclusion. However, I wrote the sentence in a way, it summarized what I wrote in two body paragraphs of the essay and meaning complete. So writing such one sentence summary affect my scores?

A lot of teachers recommend having just one sentence for your conclusion. I personally recommend either one or two sentences. It’s completely up to you and won’t affect your score. As long as you have a conclusion and there are main points or a position summarised. Good luck with your results 🙂

What happened if count the word and write at bottom, it is good or bad ? Please tell me

It is a waste of time. It is better for you to edit grammar mistakes.

will the punctuation and numbers get count as words ?

“,” is not a word. So, no, punctuation isn’t counted as a word. Numbers are counted.

Thanks for this terrific site and it is really helpful for all the IELTS aspirants like me.

Is there anyway, I can validate my writing skills with a band score (ofcourse, for FREE)? In that way, I can learn my mistakes and improve my band.

Your earliest response would be highly appreciated !!

Sorry, but I don’t offer free marking.

No worries .. Cheers !! Plz continue your good work !!

Thanks a lot Liz .In my standpoing You are one of the best teachers throughout the world.I want to ask a question.I got 6 from writing a month ago.Can you give me suggestion to improve my writing skill.Thanks in advance.

See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/ . Check the band score page which gives requirements for band scores and tips for improving.

Thanks for your very helpful website. My question is: could you be more precise about the penalty for an under word count writing task?

Thanks in advance.

Your words are counted by the examiner. If you are under the word count you will lose a band score. How much you are penalised, depends on how many words you are under the word count. So, if your score was 7 but you were under the word count, your score will drop from that point, depending on how much you failed to achieve the word count. The most important thing to remember is to aim for between 160 and 180 words to be sure of avoiding this.

Thank you for existing 🙂 And, also I do appreciate your work.

Renctly I finish my IELTS exam, and in the Writing skill, I didn’t achive the word number for task 1.

Can you please tell me, in the best situation, If hipotheticaly, I did well for every thing else, what band score may I have?

Thank you in advance,

Your writing score is calculated with both task 1 and task 2. Your score for each is determined by 4 criteria. If you were under the word count in task 1, your score will be lowered slightly but no one can predict the final outcome. Task 1 is worth only around 33% of your total writing marks.

Ok, but what score i best possibly I can get?

No one can predict scores.

Hi liz! thank you for your terrific website, it’s really helpful. I would to ask you one question: in writing task, abbreviations like It’s, there’s, I’m and so on are counted as 1 word or 2? thanks in advance for your response! Wish you the best

There is only one time when you can use contractions and that is GT writing task 1 informal letters to a person you know well. NEVER use contractions in writing task 2 (GT and Academic) and never use contractions in GT Writing task 1 formal letter and NEVER use contractions in all Academic writing task 1. See this page: https://ieltsliz.com/do-you-understand-how-words-are-counted-in-ielts/ and also see : https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-tips-how-words-are-counted/

Hi I had written over 300 words in writing task 2 in ielts in British council. How much penalty for these?

There is no upper word limit. However, if you add unnecessary information you will get a lower mark. Also a longer essay means you might have made more grammar or vocab mistakes which will also lower your score.

The topic for task 1 is the problem I faced when I use local public transport . I forgot the word local . I written all about the bad services I hv received when I travelling a flight from mel to Malaysia . Izit there is going to be a serious problem ? Thx u

It might affect your score for Task Achievement which is 25% of your marks but the other three marking criteria should be fine.

I have repeated a word of household many times in Task 1..how many many marks im gonna lose because of that.

Points are not counted in that way. Your score for vocabulary will also depend on spelling, collocations, range etc.

Please reply

hi, I wrote the answer for task 1 on task 2 answer sheet and answer of task 2 on task one answer sheet. Will it effect my band score?

I can’t tell you for sure but hopefully the examiner will understand what has happened and not penalise you.

hey Liz, i just finished my exam and made a mistake in task 1. i thought the letter was for Manager while it supposed to be for employee. could you plz tell me that i will be marked zero for task 1 or still can get marks for my good use of vocabulary, cohesion and lexical resource. thanks

You will get a lower mark for Task Achievement which is only 25% of your task 1 marks. You can still pick up good marks for the other three criteria as well as task 2.

Your website has been very helpful to me and to other IELTS test takers as well.

Could you advise me on how to improve my writing skills? I believe it is my weakness compared to the other parts of the exam. Are there any books that you can recommend for me?

Thank you very much and keep up the good work!

Firstly, see my free tips and exercises: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/ . Then think about getting my advanced lessons which explain in great depth the techniques needed for a high score: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore

Hi, Liz! Is it okay to write more than 200 words in academic task 1 of writing ? My lecturer from an IELTS review center in our country gave me a penalty for it.

There is no penalty given by IELTS for writing over the word count. However, it is not advisable to write over 200 words. You are being marked on your ability to select information, not to give it all. You must also focus on key features – don’t give too many small details. So, aim for between 160 and 180 words and keep your report focused and well selected.

Mind sharing your scores here

I just finished my exam earlier but I failed to finish my writing task 1. I only wrote the introduction (paraphrased) then in the 2nd paragraph is my overview (which i think is strong) then the 3rd paragraph was the problem because i only wrote until the first sentence. Do you think until what band score will it only be in task 1? Thank you!

You will be marked down on task 1 if you wrote under 150 words. However, task 1 is only around 33% of your writing marks, so hopefully you can still do ok.

Hey Liz! Today I’ve given IELTS test. I wrote 65 words less in writing “Task-2”. My hand-writing is understandable, and the answer also matches with what the question has asked. Could you please tell me how much marks could be reduced (minimum)?

I can’t say what your score will be but you will receive a penalty for being under the word count. 65 words are a lot of words to miss out. But you can still do well in task 1.

Would you mind sharing your writing scores? I am really tensed , I think even I wrote an underlength essay. But I did write well. . I spent a lot of time on task 1 and just couldn’t write more than 200 words in task 2

Hello there, can you please update what was your band in writing after writing underlength essay?

Hi liz, today i given writting test. major issue is that i didnt wrote writing -1 because of lack of time and also unable to complete my writing task 2. So can u tell me how much score i will get.. Please tell m very worried about it

Writing task 1 is worth 30% of your marks so you will lose that if you didn’t write task 1 at all. What your final score will be, I can’t predict.

10 words under? Really? In the Cambridge exams you lose marks if you are more than 6 words under, but I was told by an examiner that in IELTS you lose marks if you are even a single word under! So much conflicting information on the Internet 🙁 I wish IELTS would release their REAL marking criteria, instead of the paired down public one, it is really no use at all.

Thank you very much for your lessons. You are a blessing.

I am an English teacher and your lessons helped me and my friend. He achieved his goal of getting at least 6.5. I am also planning to take IELTS by the end of this year.

Well done to your friend. I’m sure you can learn a lot from him 🙂

Dear liz, I was out of time in writing exam and missed writing word count at the end of task 1 and may be a line short in the ending paragraph how mich marks can be deducted

If you are under the word count, you will get a penalty. It will affect your score for task 1. However, how it will affect your overall writing score, I can’t say.

Dear Liz, thank you for your lessons. They are really useful!!! I have two question about the writing test, I need a score of 6.5.

I think to be a good writer, but in my last test I got 5.5 because I didn’t write enough word in task 1. Is it possible that the penalty takes off 0.5/1.0 point?

The second question is: can I write my writing answers in capital letters? My hand writing it is not so clear…

You will definitely get a lower mark for being under the word count. Yes, you can write your essay in all capital letters if you want – but it is often slower to do so.

hy i wrote my little bit personal view in conclusion of task 1 would i be having less bands for thatg nd also i stopped in th last 10 sec of the speaking module but i spoked a bit thb examiner said it its fyn how much should i expect the score mam

There is no conclusion in task 1 and you don’t offer opinions in task 1. Your speaking is score is marked based on your overall performance, so I can’t predict your score. Fingers crossed!

Hlo liz, Yesterday was my exam, i done one mistake I wrote ‘the rendered tabular provides’ instead of ‘the rendered tabular chart provides’ Will it effect my band score? Is it wrong to write only ‘tabular’ ?

A table is a table – it is not “a tabular chart”. This counts as using inappropriate vocabulary.

Hey Liz ! I took my exam today and am concerned with writing module. I am confident that my writing skills are efficient enough to score 8 band. But the question I want to address is, is it possible to score 9 bands even if I have a spelling mistake? There is only 1 spelling mistake in the both the tasks. (to my mind) I wrote : “The tabular chart JUXTAPOSTS the variation………” instead of “The tabular chart JUXTAPOSES the variation………”

The problem is not just spelling but also use of language. I would never recommend using the language you have mentioned. A table is a table – don’t complicate your language. The more you try to impress, the more mistakes are made with word choice. Lets see how your results are.

I will inform you about my result. One more question please. Is it possible to achieve 9 bands with 39/40 in Listening and Reading or do we need a perfect score of 40/40 ? My module is Academic.

https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-band-scores/

Hii liz How many time we can use a same word in writing .

There are no rules. You paraphrase when suitable and repeat when necessary.

Hello Liz!! I want to ask you that, is there a sample or an example of a WT1 and WT2 that you can provide? I want to know how the ideas are centered in each paragraphs, so with that I can get to know how to write a good WT1 and WT2. Thank you!!

See these pages for model answers: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-1-lessons-and-tips/ and https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/

Hi Liz, As you have said that under-length essay gets penalized. Can you please tell me by how much does it affect the band score? For example if I have written an essay deserving band score 8.0. But I have written only 220 words instead of 250, how many band score points would be deducted? Is there a percentage ?

You will receive a lower score for task 2 due to the lack of words. IELTS have not released information regarding how much the score will be reduced by but 30 words is quite a lot to miss. Hopefully your task 1 will help boost your score.

Do you mind sharing your writing score here with us?

What do I have to do if I am not aware of a word in question in writing task?

You must still try your best and hope your essay is on topic.

thank you very much for your contribution to IELTS success. may i ask you to publish in your webpage easy IELTS essay templates. I think it will ease writing

It’s best to see my advanced lessons to get a clear understanding of IELTS writing task 2 techniques: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore

hii liz…i wanna ask is yesterday was my exam..nd in task 1 i write it in present tense becoz i overlook the intriduction nd forget to see that the year they gave was 2000..so it would b in past tense bt by mistake i wrote it in present…so how much bands will be cut for this??

It counts as one grammar mistake and grammar is 25% of your marks. I can’t predict your score.

Hey Liz, My IELTS test was held on 18 Feb,2016. I got 6.5 in writing.Here, I’d like to admit that I am not very good at punctuation and also make spelling mistakes sometimes. And at the end of the test, I did not have any time left to revise my writing. I spent over half an hour on W T1 and had only 25 minutes to write on task 2. How can I increase my band score from a 6.5 to a 7 in writing? I hope that you respond to me at your earliest and give me some valuable advise on how I can improve my writing. with regards, Lovepreet Singh

See my band score tips for writing task 1 and how to improve your score: https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-1-band-scores/ . For writing task 2, see my advanced lessons to learn high score techniques: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore . It is essential that you practice writing under timed conditions many times before your test but learn the right techniques first. All the best Liz

Hey Lizz, hi recently i was appeared for an Ielts test and unfortunately i got overall 5.5 bands. i made some blunders in writing task . I wrote almost 370 words in Part-2 and i was expecting that i might get 7 bands . Regards Bilal

Writing over 300 words mean that your essay might contain irrelevant or unnecessary information and also it provides more chance of mistakes in vocabulary and grammar which can lower your score. You should be aiming for around 270 words in task 2.

Hi Liz, Just recently I did my IELTS Exam,I wrote 267 words in task 1 and in task 2 I ran out of time I wrote about 230 words so what you would think that can I get 6 bands in writing task.

Best Regards, Walid Raza.

https://ieltsliz.com/liz-notice-2015-2016/

Hi Liz, I’ll like to say thank you. These free lessons actually helped me achieved my dream score in IELTS. Of all the online lessons I surfed through, yours was the best. Continue the good work. L-8.5, R-8.5, S-7.0, W-7.0 P.S- I was really worried about the writing score after the exams. So glad, I got a 7

It’s a good score. Well done 🙂

Hello liz, If you don’t mind clarify for me if one doesn’t write a conclusion in task 2,will this effect the score? I’ll appreciate your reply Kind regards Sara

Hi Liz, If you don’t mind clarify for me if one doesn’t write a conclusion,will this lower the score? I’ll appreciat your reply Kind Regards Sara

Hi Liz! Just finished my written exams.I’m so worried aboit my writing because I did not finish the task 1 because I ran out of time,had only 10 mins left for the task. There were two graphs.The intodruction i wrote is i think acceptable because i was really in hurry.I think i described all the main parts in graph 1,however i did not have time for the graph 2 and i just ended my conclusion with a summary of only graph 2.I was really panicking. Whatdo u think will be my score in taskm1?I finished my task two and I think It was okay. I am also concer mn about my speaking test because it just lasted for almost 11 minutes only.Does it mean my english is bad?

— thanks Liz

Sorry I can’t predict scores for writing that I haven’t seen. You will need to wait for your writing results to see the impact. For speaking, the test lasts between 11 and 14 minutes – this is for all students. It is not longer or shorter. The actual length does not reflect the final score. All the best Liz

Dear Liz, There are two questions in the writing part I wanted you to ask you if you please: The first question is: Do you know what the penalty for writing task 1 on a writing 2 sheet is when you properly notify the examiner about it during the test? I wrote my task 1 on a task 2 paper and was able to notify the examiner, so she stapled my task one with a blank task 1 sheet and signed on it. My second question is what the maximum band score for overall writing you can possibly obtain if you completely miss your task 1? I think there is a chance my task 1 sheet was misplaced and therefore has not been graded towards my final writing score. Thank you in advance for you response Evgeny

I just found out about your site and let me tell you – it’s a treasure of great information! I want to ask if there is a penalty for writing more than 150 words in Task 1 (and 250 for t.2 I guess). I don’t ask this in order to brag, it’s a legitimate concern of mine. I start analysing all the points in the bars, charts, tables etc in fear of omitting anything that is considered important. I know that I have to practise pointing out the features that stand out the most and give less details on the other information, but, let’s say that I do emphasize the proper features and that I am on time, but my words exceed the limit, would that have any negative impact on the grade?

can we write more than 200 words in task 1 if we are given a complicated task?

On 20 jan a i done my speaking and 23 jan I done my listening, reading,writing so when a my result will declare on which day in February

Does your first language affects the ielts grading?

Dear Liz, first I really enjoy your blog and appreciate your help to all of us, thank you. I recently participated the January 09th academic test in China and checked my results literally hour ago, I’v been shocked by the results, well, 8/8/5.5/8, as you may guess, 5.5 for the writing. Honestly, writing has always been my short slab, but 5.5 is no way near my anticipation, shamelessly speaking, after the test, I thought writing should archive 7 as minimal. What would be the possible reasons contribute to such a huge gap between my expectation and reality, would you kindly share some of your experiences and insights to this, sincerely thank you.

There is a big difference between your writing and other skills. You clearly have a very good level of English. However, IELTS writing is only based on 50% English and the rest is writing technique. You need to understand more about what the examiner is looking for to get a high score. See my advanced lessons for very detailed lessons: http://subscriptions.viddler.com/IELTSLizStore Good luck! Liz

Hi liz! I did my written tests today and im really anxious about my writing. I finished my task 2 well but i messed up with my task 1. I was out of time and i mislooked some of the informations by writing “the number of Asian people ages 18-25” when it was written “ages 18-25 in the Universities in four countries in Asia”. Do you think i have a chance to get an overall writing score of 7. Thank you.

Hi. I had a similar experience. What did you eventually score in Writing?

hi dear can you count the number of words in below sentence ? A good idea for passing exam would be practicing more .

hi..this is harshdeep. i wrote just 122 words in my task 1 .task 2 was totally fine…. nd task 1 was such that one cannot elaborate it too much..so there is a problem in that task.exam was on december 19 . can i score still 6 .any idea??? Mam/Sir

on 19th dec exam.i wrote roughly 254 words.do i have to face any penalty for dat.plz tell me mam bcoz i m so tensed about that and my essay was about taxation.

If you wrote over 250 words, you will be fine. Liz

Hey, Help me Please! Is It possible to get more than 6 for the writing task 2 as I wrote less than 250 words!?

Hello Liz, thank you very much for all the information, I just wanted to ask you if it’s possible to get more than 5 in the writing test if you write less than 250 words. I’ve taken the test yesterday, I think it went quite well in terms of grammar, structure etc but I’m quite sure I’ve written about 230-240 words, even if I didn’t manage to count them.

You will get a reduced score if you write under 250 words (although they usually start this penalty at about 240 words). Your final score will depend on how you scored in each of the main marking criteria so it is impossible to predict your score. All the best Liz

Hello Liz, I’m applying Master degree and English Academic course in one of the Australian University. They asked me any of English test result. They will process, how many weeks i must study in EAC, based on this result.So i planning to take IELTS on this saturday. And I want to know if i get 4, how much weeks i must study? Just want to know how long i will be in australia. Thank you, Best regards!

Thanks for answering! I’m just a bit disappointed with myself because I skipped writing a simple conclusion.I was so engross into writing a good body, but I hope to get atleast an over all band of 5.5 for writing test.

By the way, I’ve watch your youtube videos and they were very informative.

Same happened to me yesterday

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IELTS Tips: How words are counted
How words are counted in IELTS. 1. Numbers, dates and time are counted as words in writing. For example 30,000 = one word / 55 = one word / 9.30am = one word / 12.06.2016 = one word. "Six million" is counted as two words in IELTS writing. In listening, 30,000 is counted as one number and 9.30AM is also counted as one number.
IELTS Word Counter
How words are counted in IELTS? Numbers, dates and time are counted as words in writing. For example 30,000 = one word / 55 = one word / 9.30am = one word / 12.06.2016 = one word. In listening, 30,000 is counted as one number and 9.30AM is also counted as one number. Dates written as both words and numbers are counted in this way: 12th July ...
IELTS Writing: word count
Here are my main tips for doing this: Do not aim for the minimum word count. Aim to write well above the minimum, around 170-180 words in Task 1 and 280-350 words in Task 2. If you aim high, you will reach the target more easily. Task 2: before you write Task 2, plan your essay. This will give you the ideas and arguments to help you write ...
Word count in IELTS writing, IELTS essays and task 1 reports
IELTS says that you should write at least 250 words in writing task 2 and 150 words in writing task 1. There is no penalty anymore but I advise writing more than 250 words to fully develop your essay. 2. A very long essay will not give you a higher band score. If you write a long essay, for example around 350 words, then two problems will arise.
IELTS Writing: How Many Words to Write
A Final Word: IELTS Essay Word Count. It can be challenging at first to get used to writing 150 or 250 words, particularly if you're doing it longhand. However, the best way to get used to this and understand when you're writing enough for the IELTS essays is to practice and count your words! The more essays you write at the correct length ...
What is the word count in IELTS writing?
What words are counted in an IELTS essay? The general answer is ALL of them! Some of the words included in the word count but often ignored by students include. articles (a / an / the) and. prepositions (in / on / at / of/ ) In some languages, such as Slavic Languages, articles are used less or even don't exist, or prepositions are completely ...
IELTS Writing
In IELTS writing, word limits are important. You need to write at least 150 words for Task 1 and 250 for Task 2. If you prepare for the paper-delivered test by typing or by handwriting onto your notebook or scrap paper, you won't know what 150 or 250 words look like on test day. For instance, you might be used to writing 1 full A4 page but ...
Word Count Rules for IELTS Writing
We recommend writing 150-180 words for Task 1, and 250-280 words for Task 2. On average, most people write about 10 words per line, which means you don't have to count every word, just the lines. You should be practicing your essays on IELTS Answer sheets. That way, you can get used to what 150 words and 250 words, in your handwriting, look like.
New IELTS Word Count Rules
New IELTS Word Count Rules. 05 March 2019. In the past, you automatically lost points from your Task Achievement / Response score if you wrote an under-length essay, report or letter. However, from mid-2018 the automatic IELTS word count penalty was removed. There has been no official announcement of this change and the information was supposed ...
Free IELTS Word Counter
Free IELTS Word Counter. IELTS writing task 2 requires at least 250 words, high scoring essays usually have 270-320 words. This free tool will help you to count words, characters, sentences, and paragraphs in your IELTS Writing Task 2 essays. Just paste your text in the box below: 0. Words.
Word Count In Writing Task 1 and 2
TIP: Check your word count during your IELTS essay preparation. Count the words (or if you are typing using the word count option) and see how many you are producing in 40 minutes for task 2 and 20 minutes for task 1. TIP: Words that are hyphenated like in-depth or part-time will be counted as one word. prepositions like in, of, on and articles ...
Are you worried about the number of words in IELTS writing?
My word count guidelines for an IELTS TASK 2 Essay. In order to write an essay that extends that argument sufficiently for Task Response, my experience tells me that 280 to 300 words is probably high enough a word count. Anymore than this and you run the risk of being be off topic, of repeating your ideas or including irrelevant details.
How Many Words Should You Write for IELTS?
In the IELTS writing exam, you need to write at least 150 words for task 1 and 250 words for task 2. If you write less than that, you will probably lose marks. The required word count will be stated on your exam paper, and therefore if you do not fulfill that requirement, then you will lose points for Task Achievement, which is one of the four ...
IELTS Essay
In the IELTS writing exam, you will be asked to write an essay for task 2. This essay should be at least 250 words long and it is recommended that you spend about 40 minutes on this task. In this article, I will explain a little more about the word count so that you get a better idea of how many words you should write in order to achieve a good ...
IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty
IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty. As you may know, there's an IELTS word count penalty for writing task 1 and writing task 2. To avoid a penalty, for task 1, you will need to write a minimum of 150 words and for task 2, you will need to write a minimum of 250 words. Let's talk a little bit more about how to avoid getting an IELTS word ...
IELTS Writing Task 2: ️ Everything You Need to Know
IELTS Writing Task 2 is the second part of the writing test, where you are presented with a point of view, argument or problem and asked to write an essay in response. Your essay should be in a formal style, at least 250 words in length and you should aim to complete it in under 40 minutes. IELTS Writing Task 2: Everything You Need to Know
How many words should I write in IELTS Writing?
The only advice you should listen to is this- If you want to answer the question properly, you must write at least 250 words in part 2 and at least 150 words in part 1. If you write less than these totals, you will lose marks under 'Task Achievement' because you haven't answered the question properly. IELTS examiners must sit and count ...
Word Counting in IELTS Writing
It is advisable to not use too many contractions in IELTS writing. Talking about the word limit, it is recommended that you write 150-180 words for Task 1 and 250-280 words for Task 2. Word counting alone will not help you get the desired score in the IELTS exam. There are various other skills that serve the purpose.
How many points or examples should I write in an IELTS essay?
As discussed earlier, the ideal word count for an IELTS Essay is 270 words. Let's say you write about 45 words in your introduction and the same number of words in the end paragraph as well. That leaves you with 180 words for your body paragraphs. You must write about 90 words in each body paragraph on IELTS essay.
IELTS Writing: Too many words!
The maths is simple: write more and you will have less time to check and proofread. It is generally recommended that the number of words that you write should be around the same as what is asked for in the task. So, ideally, you should aim for 150-170 words in Task 1 and 250-275 words in Task 2. It is a lot better for you to spend the extra ...
IELTS Writing Penalty for Being Under Words
Word count Rules Previously Used by IELTS Before. There used to be a fixed penalty in IELTS writing if you wrote under the word count which is 150 words for writing task 1 and 250 words for writing task 2 . You would automatically get only band 5 in Task Response which counts for 25% of your marks. Other things affecting your score.

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