Should I give my opinion in the introduction of Task 2? Read the question carefully first.

If the question asks you simply to agree or disagree, then you should state your position clearly in the introduction. If the question asks you to discuss both sides of an argument, you should save your own opinion for the end. If the question includes to an expression such as To what extent or How far, you may decide yourself whether to begin with a strong opinion or take a more balanced approach to begin with and state your final opinion later. Do I need to write a conclusion in Task 2? Absolutely, yes. Your conclusion should restate the overall topic and your main idea, briefly summarise the main point of each body paragraph, and end with a comment of some kind. Without a conclusion, your essay may lack coherence and this will bring down your score. What will happen if I dont write 150 or 250 words? You will be given a penalty for this and your overall score in IELTS Writing will be at least half a band lower as a result. Should I try to write more than 150 or 250 words? In IELTS Writing, there is no maximum number of words. However, you will not get a higher score if you write more words than required. For that reason, you should stop writing when you have reached the limit AND written a satisfactory conclusion. Should I count the number of words I have written? No. This is not your responsibility and would be a waste of your time. Before taking the test, you should practice the Writing module enough times to be able to know when you have written a long enough answer without actually counting the words. In Task 1, this would be a short introduction plus two substantial body paragraphs and perhaps a short conclusion. In Task 2, you should aim to write an introduction of several sentences, two to four substantial body paragraphs, and a conclusion of several sentences.