Tips for IELTS Exam Part 4: Writing Exam • Organize your time carefully during the hour you have for the whole exam. Task 1 - 20 minutes and Task 2 - 40 minutes It’s important to follow these suggested times as the Task 1 is worth 40% and the Task 2 is worth 60%. • Before the exam think about which task you would prefer to write first – you can write them in any order, starting with Task 2 if you wish. • Organize your time carefully for the Task 2 essay: Planning - 5 minutes and Writing - 30 minutes Checking and editing - 5 minutes so important! Grammar and vocabulary each make up 25% of the total (together that’s 50%). If you don’t have enough time to check your writing you can lose so many points. Remember, both native speakers and students make basic mistakes when they are writing quickly. So you should always spend time checking at the end. • Before you start planning your essay answer circle the key words in the question – this keeps you focused on the correct topic. If you don’t write relevant information about the essay topic you will lose a lot of marks for your content, which represents 25% of your mark. • If you have problems with timing here’s an idea for the essay. After spending 5 minutes planning do the following: - Write your introduction paragraph. - Then write the main idea for each main paragraph, but nothing else. Leave a space for your supporting sentences and examples. You can write these later. - Write your conclusion paragraph. - You can then go back and complete your main paragraphs.