An abacus to represent the number of words IELTS test takers need to write to succeed in the Writing Test

  • Nov 10, 2024

How many words do I need to write for IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2? What counts as a ‘word’, and how do I count them?

    The IELTS Academic Writing Test consists of two tasks: Task 1 requires you to write a description of data, and Writing Task 2 asks for a discursive essay.

    In IELTS General Training, the Writing Test also consists of two tasks. In this case, Task 1 requires you to write a letter, and Writing Task 2 a discursive essay.

    What do the instructions say?

    In both Academic and General Training, Writing Task 1 instructions tell you ‘to write a minimum of 150 words’, whereas Writing Task 2 instructs you ‘to write a minimum of 250 words’.

     In all these cases, the important word is ‘minimum’. Even though you only have 20 minutes for Writing Task 1, to write a thorough report, you will probably need to write about 170-190 words. For the essay, I would advise aiming for about 280-290 words, again to make sure you have covered all aspects of the task.

    What counts as a ‘word’?

    1 Every individual word, however small, such as ‘a’, ‘an’ / ‘on’ / ‘at’ etc., is counted as word, along with ‘big’ words such as ‘important’ / ‘essay’ etc.

    2 Contractions, such as ‘don’t’ / ‘wasn’t / etc. count as one word. But do remember that it is NOT good academic style to use contractions, so avoid them in the Academic Test and in General Training Writing Task 2.

    3 Numbers, whether they are written as words e.g. twenty, seventeen, or numerals e.g. 20, 17 count as one word. But writing twenty one (21) would count as two words. For more help on how to write numbers, go to our blog:

    How do I know I have written enough words?

    On computer

    Well, if you are doing the test on computer, it’s easy! There is a counter at the bottom of the screen that tells you how many words you have written.

    (Image from: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org)

    But you still need to practise so that you know how long it takes you to write a certain number of words. When you are preparing for the test, write Task 1 and Task 2 on your computer (you also will have a word counter) and time yourself. Can you write 180 words in 20 minutes? Can you write an essay of 280 words in 40 minutes?

    On paper

    Obviously, if you’re doing the test on paper, you don’t have a word counter! So, you will have to estimate the number of words you have written. (What you SHOULDN’T do is waste time counting the words.) Click here to download sample answer sheets for both Writing Task 1 and 2.

    While you are preparing for the test, write your essays on the sample answer sheet. Now, count the number of words you write per line, on average, - and remember, ‘words’ does include ‘a’ and ‘an’. The number of words per line will, of course, depend on the size of your handwriting.

    Let’s look at an example.

    Here I’ve written an introduction to a Writing Task 2 question. You can see that I write about 9 words per line. So, if your arithmetic is good, you can work out that I would need to write about 30 lines to produce an essay of 270 words.

    Practise doing this a few times so that you are confident of how much you need to write without wasting time counting or worrying! The more practice you do, the more confident you will be about the length of your answer. And then, you can really focus on content!

    Get more help with the IELTS Writing Test from our other blogs

    Good luck with your preparation! And good luck with your test!

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