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Dear David,

Hi. I was wondering if you could let me what would happen if a candidate wrote under 250 words? Is any chance for this candidate to get 7.0, though he is under 250 words.

Please propose some strategies for combating this problem.

Thank you for your contribution to this blog and merry Christmas.

Best regards,

Abbas

That depends on how much under you are. Between 176-24 loses you one band on task response. 101-175 loses two bands, less than 100 loses 3. To get a high score in task response it pays to do more than 250 words--280-300 is about right, unless you are a very good, efficient writer.