3 min read
Task 2 is worth twice as much as Task 1 in your Writing band. Writing it first is a genuinely common tactic for exactly that reason — but it has a real cost, and this note is honest about what that cost is.
The Writing paper is 60 minutes for two mandatory tasks. Task 1 (describe visual information, or write a letter for General Training) has a 150-word minimum and about 20 minutes recommended. Task 2 (an essay) has a 250-word minimum and about 40 minutes recommended — and Task 2 counts for twice as much of your overall Writing band as Task 1 does.
That weighting is why 'do Task 2 first' is a genuinely common piece of exam advice, not a myth: spending your freshest 40 minutes on the task worth double marks is a defensible use of limited time.
The recommended timing (20 + 40 minutes) exists because both tasks are genuinely achievable in that split for most candidates who've practised the format. Writing Task 2 first doesn't create more total time — it's still 60 minutes either way — it just changes which task gets your freshest attention and which one is squeezed if you run over.
The real risk is running long on Task 2 (easy to do — it's the more open-ended, more engaging task to write) and leaving Task 1 with 10-12 rushed minutes instead of 20. Task 1 has its own minimum word count and its own criteria; a rushed, under-length Task 1 response can cost you marks that the Task 2 time saved doesn't make up for, since Task 1 is still a quarter of your Writing band on its own.
If you do write Task 2 first, set yourself a hard stop at 40 minutes and move on regardless of whether the essay feels finished — the same discipline the recommended split already assumes, just reordered. Watch the clock, not your sense of whether the essay 'needs' five more minutes; that instinct is exactly what causes the overrun this trade-off is about.
If you're not confident you can stop on time once you're mid-essay, the standard Task 1-then-Task 2 order removes that risk entirely — there is no rule requiring either order, so choose based on which failure mode you're more likely to have, not on which tactic sounds more advanced.
Quick check
True or false: writing Task 2 first gives you more total time to work with in the Writing paper.
Task 1 and Task 2 are scored independently against their own criteria before being combined (with Task 2 weighted double) into your overall Writing band — so a strong Task 2 does not offset a Task 1 that falls short of its 150-word minimum or is left too rushed to address its own criteria properly.
Listening Part 4 is a single-speaker academic lecture with no second speaker to repeat an unfamiliar word — the lecturer's own definition, spoken right after the term, is usually your only confirmation.
Useful for:Listening