Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"
Jessica Beck
"Director of IELTS Training"

Today you will find out how you should plan your essay and whether or not you should count your words in IELTS Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2.

Gem of Wisdom 1:

Do not forget to plan your essay. You MUST plan your essay before you write it if you want to get a 7 or higher.

You can’t just randomly put all of your ideas down on the page.

It must be organized and well planned.

Gem of Wisdom 2:

Do not plan your essay in your native language.

This will take too much time because you will be brainstorming vocabulary and ideas and then you will have to translate into English from your native language.

Gem of Wisdom 3:

How should you plan your essay?

Start by coming up with your thesis statement or main point- what are you trying to say, what are you trying to get across?

What is your opinion?

It’s crucial to have an opinion on the IELTS Writing test.

Most of the time you’ll have two columns and you’ll brainstorm reasons and examples for both sides.

It may be easier to think of ideas for the side that you don’t agree with.

Don’t worry about having an organized outline. Use two columns and that is enough.

Go deeper with your brainstorming to find a unique idea.

Gem of Wisdom 4:

Should you count the number of words that you have in your essay? No! It takes too long.

First, get used to the timing of planning and the timing of writing the paragraphs.

Once you get a feel for how much you are supposed to write you can start counting your lines to make sure you have enough.

By the time you get to the test you should already know what it feels like to write the required amount.

Most people write ten words per line.

Make sure you have at least 15-18 lines.

For Task 2 you need 25-28 lines.

Did any of these tips surprise you?

What additional questions do you have about the Writing test?

Let us know in the comments.

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