Is there an ideal number of paragraphs to an IELTS essay? I have recently come across two pieces of advice on IELTS forums on this topic that I happen to disagree with. One is that there is no problem with writing a 3 paragraph essay and the other is that the “ideal” number of paragraphs is 5. In this post I am going to look at this issue and put forward my point of view.
3 paragraphs
One piece of advice I met was that the only requirement was to write an essay of at least 250 words and so it was open to the candidate to write a 3 paragraph essay. Well, let’s see. It is true that 250 words is a requirement and the official advice is that you will be penalised if you write fewer words.
It’s not, however, that straightforward. The standard instructions start by asking you to write an essay for an educated reader with no specialist knowledge and almost invariably use similar wording to this:
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence
The key word here is “arguments“: ie you need more than one argument and in a correctly constructed essay each argument requires a separate paragraph. So if you accept that you also need a separate introduction and conclusion, then you should see that you will need at least 4 paragraphs. Can you write 3 paragraphs? Yes, but to use a nice English idiom, you are playing with fire and you may get penalised.
三段论并不是很好的结构，因为在文中一般要阐述论点，而且为了让文章结构显得清晰，最好每个自然段讨论一个论点，如果你有两个或两个以上的论点，那除了开头段和结尾段，势必还需要其他几个自然段，因此用三段式很容易因为逻辑不清被扣分。
5 paragraphs – a must? 五段式不是必须的！
What about 5 paragraphs then? One piece of advice I saw was you must write 5 paragraphs. “Must” here is nonsense. Youcan write 5 paragraphs, but there is no must about it. I would go further than that, must isn’t just wrong here, for me it isdangerously wrong. Always beware of IELTS trainers who use the word must – there is almost always another way – the only must in IELTS is to answer the question. 5 paragraphs may be right for them, but that does not mean it is right for you: you are yourself, your language level and learning style may well mean you will do it another way. More than that, in the exam you need a plan B. What happens when your 5 paragraph plan doesn’t fit the essay question?
The best advice is to be prepared to write either a 4 or 5 paragraph essay. Look at the question, make your decision.
考前最好四段式和五段式都练习一下！
4 paragraphs – why
This is my general preference for argument based essays. Let me explain why.
- To be efficient you don’t want to write more than 270 words or so. If you choose 5 paragraphs, you may become inefficient by writing too many words. 写起来更有效率，不容易超字数
- You should develop your paragraphs properly – this is important for coherence and cohesion. In the five paragraph structure coherence between the paragraphs is less straightforward. 在段落里面，论证要充分，衔接和连贯性都很重要！
- It is typically more impressive to write more about less, than less about more.
- In an exam simple is good: if you have a argument based essay, the simplest structure possible is the for and against structure with one well-developed content paragraph for and one against. In a 5 paragraph essay what is the purpose of the 5th paragraph? Frequently it is an undeveloped conclusion or introduction – neither of which is good. 针对考试简单就是美，针对一个论点，最好是支持的一段，但对的一段就够了~
5 paragraphs – why
I don’t want to make the opposite mistake of saying you must write 4 paragraphs. So here are some reasons why you might choose a 5 paragraph structure:
- You are a “top” level candidate aiming for a score of 8 or above – ie you are at the very highest learner level of English. In this case it can often be easier to write more words than fewer words.针对基础好想拿8分及以上的烤鸭，五段式让你更有发挥空间。
- You are a “low” level candidate aiming for a score around 5.0 – 5.5. At this level it can sometimes be difficult to extend your ideas as you do not have the words, so 3 shorter content paragraphs make sense. 水平在5分至5.5分左右的烤鸭，可以采用写三个短段落来阐述观点，如果你确实没什么好说的。
- In the argument based essay, you prefer a structure where you argue more on one side than the other, so you use two content paragraphs arguing for and one against 议论文总会有一方是你比较支持的，五段式可以让你在支持的观点上多发挥一点~
- You get a question you don’t like at all and your standard structure doesn’t fit. The only way you can get to 250 words is by writing 5 paragraphs.
The ideal
I can’t give you that answer: it depends on who you are and what the question is. 最好的方法一定是只适合你自己的方法！
