HOW WORDS ARE COUNTED IN IELTS

1. HOW WORDS are
COUNTED in IELTS

2. Numbers, dates & time
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▸ Counted as words in writing
▹30,000 = one word
▹55 = one word
▹9.30 am = one word
▹12.06.2016 = one word
▸ Counted as number in listening
▹30,000 = one number
▹9.30 am = one number

3. Dates written as both words and
numbers:
12th July = one number & one word
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4. “
Symbols with numbers are not counted.
• 55% = one number (% is not counted)
• 5 percent = one word & one number

5. Small words are also counted as one word
▸“a” or “an”
▸prepositions, such as “in” or “at”
ALL WORDS ARE COUNTED
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6. Hyphenated words are counted as one word
Ex: up-to-date; over-the-counter
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7. • written as one word is counted as
one word
Ex. blackboard = one word
• written as two seperate words are
counted as two words
Ex. university bookshop = two words
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Compound nouns

8. All words are counted, including words in brackets.
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“The majority of energy was generated from electricity (55%)”
-> counted as 9 words

9. Warnings for IELTS
Writing word count

10. If you copy the information given
by IELTS for your introduction,
the examiner will not count those words.
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11. 11
How to check how many words
you have written
- No time to count each word
- Count the lines
- Know the length of your handwriting on the
writing answer sheet