{"id":3512,"date":"2021-04-22T16:03:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T23:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/?p=3512"},"modified":"2021-05-04T16:39:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T23:39:33","slug":"ielts-word-count-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/","title":{"rendered":"IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-header-wordCountPenalty-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"ielts word count penalty - image by Magoosh\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-3538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-header-wordCountPenalty-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-header-wordCountPenalty-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-header-wordCountPenalty-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-header-wordCountPenalty.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you may know, there\u2019s an IELTS word count penalty for <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-academic-writing-task-1\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">writing task 1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-writing-task-2\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">writing task 2<\/a>. To avoid a penalty, for task 1, you will need to write a <strong>minimum of 150 words<\/strong> and for task 2, you will need to write a <strong>minimum of 250 words<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk a little bit more about how to avoid getting an IELTS word count penalty below. <\/p>\n<h2>What is the Word Count Penalty for Task 1 and Task 2?<\/h2>\n<p>If you don\u2019t write enough words on writing task 1 and 2, you will get a lower score. While IELTS doesn\u2019t say <em>exactly<\/em> how much you will get penalized, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ielts.org\/en-us\/for-test-takers\/test-format\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">they do clearly state<\/a> that your score will be lower if you don\u2019t meet the word count requirements.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<h2>How Words are Counted on the IELTS<\/h2>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>Below is a quick overview of different kinds of words and how they\u2019ll be counted on the IELTS test.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Compound Nouns<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.englishclub.com\/grammar\/nouns-compound.htm\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">compound noun<\/a> 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\u2019re separated into two or more words.<\/p>\n<p>Compound nouns that are written as one word count as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Toothpaste = tooth + paste pressed into one word<\/li>\n<li>toothpaste = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Similarly:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sunrise = one word<\/li>\n<li>Dishwasher = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Full moon = two words<\/li>\n<li>Washing machine = two words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Hyphenated Words<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>All hyphenated words count as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mother-in-law = one word<\/li>\n<li>Up-to-date = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Numbers, Dates, and Times<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Numbers, dates, and times are almost always counted as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>500 = one word<\/li>\n<li>7:15am = one word<\/li>\n<li>10\/24\/1982 = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, if a number is written out like this, it will count as two words or more:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>ten thousand = two words<\/li>\n<li>3 million = two words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Similarly, dates that are written like this count as two words or more:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>October 24th = two words<\/li>\n<li>August 24th, 2021 = three words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Fractions<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Fractions are counted as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1\/3 = one word<\/li>\n<li>two-fifths = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Words With Symbols<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Words with symbols (like the $ or %) attached to them count as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>$10.00 = one word<\/li>\n<li>25% = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, note that if a dollar or percentage is written out, they count as two words:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ten dollars = two words<\/li>\n<li>Twenty-five percent = two words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Websites and URLs<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Websites and URLS are counted as one word. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/\">Magoosh.com<\/a> = one word<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ielts.idp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/ielts.idp.com\/<\/a> = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Contractions<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/contractions-commonly-used-informal-english-1692651\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Contractions<\/a> are always counted as one word, even though they represent the combination of two words. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>it&#8217;s = one word (even though it&#8217;s = it is)<\/li>\n<li>we&#8217;re = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Words in Parentheses<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Singular words in parentheses are always counted as one word. For example, consider the following sentence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hybrid cars are (much) more energy efficient. <\/li>\n<li>(much) = one word<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If there&#8217;s more than one word in the parentheses, each word is counted. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hybrid cars are (so much) better for the environment.<\/li>\n<li>(so much) = two words<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Prepositions and Articles<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Many people assume that &#8220;small&#8221; words like &#8220;a&#8221; or &#8220;the&#8221; or &#8220;in&#8221; are not counted on the IELTS but they all are. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/prepositions\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Prepositions<\/a> like &#8220;under&#8221; and &#8220;in&#8221; and &#8220;on&#8221; and &#8220;at&#8221; are all counted as one word. <\/p>\n<p>Note that prepositional phrases like &#8220;across from&#8221; and &#8220;adjacent to&#8221; are counted as two word (or however many words are in the phrase).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/articles\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Articles<\/a> like &#8220;a&#8221; and &#8220;the&#8221; are counted every time they show up in a sentence. For example:<\/p>\n<p>The dog ran around the block while the dog walker chased it = 12 words (with &#8220;the&#8221; showing up 3 times)<\/p>\n<h2>But I Thought the IELTS Eliminated the Word Count Penalty&#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>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&#8217;t believe it&#8217;s worth the risk! <\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s the IELTS Word Count Penalty for Writing Too Many Words?<\/h2>\n<p>There is no penalty for writing too many words. That said, we don&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Writing more than this can cause you to stray off topic and include information you don&#8217;t need. You may also run out of time to edit your work. <\/p>\n<h2>Should I Count the Words in My Essay?<\/h2>\n<p>No, it&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, as long as you meet the word count, the goal is <em>quality, not quantity<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>IELTS Paper-Based Writing Recommendations<\/h2>\n<p>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&#8217;re taking the paper test, that means writing on official IELTS answer sheets.<\/p>\n<p>Here are sample answer sheets for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ielts.org\/-\/media\/pdfs\/general-writing-answer-sheet-task-1.ashx?la=en\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">task 1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ielts.org\/-\/media\/pdfs\/general-writing-answer-sheet-task-2.ashx?la=en\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">task 2<\/a>. Since everyone&#8217;s handwriting is different, how many lines you use will differ from other test takers. <\/p>\n<p>Practicing these tests on the official paper will help you see how many lines you use to write 150 and 250 words. When you&#8217;re familiar with what these amounts look like on the page, you&#8217;re more likely to be successful on testing day! <\/p>\n<h2>IELTS Computer-Based Writing Recommendations<\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;re taking the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ielts.org\/en-us\/about-ielts\/ways-to-take-ielts#:~:text=IELTS%20on%20Computer,a%20keyboard%20and%20a%20mouse.\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">IELTS exam on a computer<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<h2>In Conclusion: What to Know about the Word Count Penalty<\/h2>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that these are the other factors that will impact your score:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your handwriting\u2014if the examiner can&#8217;t read your handwriting, you will be penalized.<\/li>\n<li>The quality and content of you responses\u2014if 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. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Happy practicing and good luck! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you may know, there\u2019s 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\u2019s talk a little bit more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":3537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3991],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[5087],"class_list":["post-3512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-section"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty - Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to avoid the IELTS word count penalty on writing tasks 1 and 2, as well as how IELTS counts words.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to avoid the IELTS word count penalty on writing tasks 1 and 2, as well as how IELTS counts words.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2014 IELTS\u00ae Exam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-04-22T23:03:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-04T23:39:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/files\/2021\/04\/image-ielts-featuredImage-wordCountPenalty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eliot Friesen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eliot Friesen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eliot Friesen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#\/schema\/person\/1aa11433c61f7175b54ba0c9c5bf6c93\"},\"headline\":\"IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-04-22T23:03:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\"},\"wordCount\":1180,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"IELTS Writing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-word-count-penalty\/\",\"name\":\"IELTS Writing Tips: Word Count Penalty - 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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","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eliot-friesen-meyers-477b29b4\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"honorificSuffix":"M.A., M.T.S.","knowsAbout":["TOEFL test prep","IELTS test prep","ESL Education"],"jobTitle":"Senior Curriculum Manager for Magoosh IELTS and TOEFL","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/author\/eliotf\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":5087,"user_id":222,"is_guest":0,"slug":"eliotf","display_name":"Eliot Friesen","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db5dfb3eb363e2a328bb6c4ed05336d3ba19b7f21f8c51c7c7fe605c4767835d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Friesen","first_name":"Eliot","description":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/eliot-friesen-meyers-477b29b4\/\"> Eliot Friesen-Meyers<\/a> 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<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tesol.org\/convention-2019\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> 2019 TESOL International Conference<\/a>. With over 10 years of experience, he understands the challenges students face and loves helping them overcome those challenges. Come join Eliot on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>.\r\n\r\n   Recent blog posts \r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-academic-writing-task-1\/\"> Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 1<\/a>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/ielts-writing-task-2\/\"> Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 2<\/a>"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3512"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/ielts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}