How many IELTS attempts did you have?

[thunderstorm_08]

Sorry to hear that. Which module have you been missing out on?

Random modules here and there. Mostly writing and listening.

 

[daughty]

600 words?!! 300 words?!! You write 900 words on 400 word tasks and score an 8. So what happened to that advice which said never write extra as that will give them a chance to find mistakes? Let me guess, it was a computer based test?

You are not the first one. I have been hearing from a number of people scoring high on writing that they wrote well beyond the word limit. But what happened to the advice all IELTS teachers have been giving us? This is becoming more complex by the day.

I wrote 320 words on my last attempt but then deleted some sentences to bring it below 300. But that may have left my essay underdeveloped.

I never went to a teacher! So I didn't have any preconceived notions regarding how much I need to write. It was a computer based test. I just knew the minimum word count and I worked with that. I feel the whole point revolves around your own experiences. They want to see how you can describe a particular scenario and link it to yourself. I could be wrong but that's how I feel.

 

[FMeg]

600 words?!! 300 words?!! You write 900 words on 400 word tasks and score an 8. So what happened to that advice which said never write extra as that will give them a chance to find mistakes? Let me guess, it was a computer based test?

You are not the first one. I have been hearing from a number of people scoring high on writing that they wrote well beyond the word limit. But what happened to the advice all IELTS teachers have been giving us? This is becoming more complex by the day.

I wrote 320 words on my last attempt but then deleted some sentences to bring it below 300. But that may have left my essay underdeveloped.

Bottom line is that you need to give them enough content to grade you on. If you are able to use a variety of sentence types staying close to the word limit, good for you.

I have a friend who was unable to write the conclusion due to lack of time in the paper based test but was well over the word count. Still managed an 8 just like me.