IELTS Writing Task 2 Video: Essay Length

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

if you found this lesson useful please
share it with your friends

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the regular lessons or check my blog and
you can find

all my free IELTS lessons see you next time

[su_youtube url=”http://youtu.be/TcQKUwmOMFo”]

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

Comments

  1. Oybek Ochilov says

    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/

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