The Word Limit
General Exam Advice
In this section:
General rules about word usage on the Listening paper, Reading and Use of English paper, and in writing
Word usage on Reading and Use of English / Listening:
Hyphenated words like ‘First-class’ or ‘State-of-the-art’ count as one word.
Contractions like ‘I’ll’ (I will) or ‘we’re’ (we are) count as two words.
The word can't counts as one word (cannot)
You should not use contractions in academic essays or reports. You can use them in informal writing, like informal letters, blog posts, web comments, etc.
Words like ‘a’ ‘an’ and ‘the’ are counted.
Punctuation is not counted.
On the answer sheet you must WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS.
The Word Limit in Writing Tasks
On the B2 First Exams and C1 Advance exams, the word limit given to you is only a guideline; you can go over and under without losing points. As long as you've included all the required information, you can write less words.
Keep in mind:
Responses that are too short are probably missing important information, so double check that you've included everything mentioned in the task.
Responses that are too long may have irrelevant information. You will lose points for including irrelevant information.
However, you will never lose marks for going over the limit, as long as what you write is relevant. Don't go off topic.
On the Linguaskill exam, you must reach the word limit and you will lose marks if you do not reach it.
Word Usage when Paraphrasing
There are some general things to know:
You can copy single words from the information given to you, but you cannot copy an entire section of the question. Never copy a sentence word from word. You must paraphrase. Example:
Question:
Successful sports professionals can earn a great deal more money than people in other professions.
Paraphrase:
It is possible for successful professional athletes to make a lot more money than people working in other fields.
As you can see, some words are repeated, but the most important words have been substituted with synonyms.
For ways to paraphrase are:
1. Use synonyms
2. Change the word order
3. Change the form of the word
4. Change the sentence structure
Remember that a paraphrased sentence has the same meaning as the original, and your work must also be grammatically correct.