How many words should you write for your essay in IELTS writing task 2? There is a lower limit of 250 words but there is no upper word limit. Watch this video to learn how long your IELTS essay should be and if the number of words you write is important to get a good band score. Transcript
hello in this lesson I want to look at a
very important question
that many students ask me about IELTS
writing task 2 here’s the question do I
get
a higher band score if I have
a longer essay now this is a very
important question
how long should you essay be there are a
number of points I want to explain to
you
about the length of your essay so
the first point is of course you must
write
over 250 words that
is the task given to you those are your
instructions
and if you write under that
there could be problems and yes the
examiner will check
how many words you’ve written number two
and here is a direct answer
to the question you do not get
more marks for a longer essay now
I know that for many of you at
University
if you write a longer essay you get
better marks
but this does not apply to IELTS
the examiner is not looking for
a long essay the examiner is looking for
relevant
ideas number three the other point
is you only have about 35 minutes to
write
you essay now they recommend
that you have forty minutes but at least
5 minutes should be spent planning your essay
you need to look at the statement given
to you
need to analyze it and you need to plan
relevant ideas for your answer
it’s very important to have
five minutes for planning your ideas and
you answer
are worth 25% if your marks so
that means
you only have about 35 minutes to
actually write your essay so
aiming for longer essay will not give
you more marks
and will be very difficult in
the time you’ve got the next point
is a lot of students when
they try to extend their writing to
write
over 300 words they put
lots of extra information in that essay
and this information is often a little
bit
relevant or it’s off the topic
now in IELTS you will lose
marks if you write irrelevant
information
or if you go off the topic in your essay
so is a very bad idea to try to write
300 words if the information you are
adding will go off topic so
the recommendation I recommend you aim
for between 260 and 280
that is enough words to extend
and develop each main idea
in order to get a higher band score
well
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Recommended Lessons
To learn more about the recommended length for your writing task 1 and task 2 essays, check the sample writing below.
Opinion Essay Sample Writing for task 2, click here
Line Graph Model for task 1, click here
Good time of day, Liz. I usually write long essays and even if I keep everything related to the topic i get really long essays. my latest essay for a pros and cons topic i have got about 430 words. Is it bad if I write that long essays while in the real exam?
Thank you beforehand.
It is not good to write long essays. Each sentence should be planned and should be highly focused. Adding extra does not help your score and can provide examples of more errors in vocab and grammar. Keep to a max of about 290 words. Get my advanced lessons for training: https://elizabethferguson.podia.com/