How many paragraphs, and do you need a conclusion? Task 2 structure answered
Paragraph count, thesis sentences, rhetorical questions, which side goes first: the structure questions candidates ask most, decided on the descriptors.
Question typesWritingUpdated 6 min read
None of these questions has a fixed correct answer, and hunting for one is what costs the marks. Paragraph count, whether a conclusion is compulsory, whether a thesis sentence may announce itself, whether an introduction may open with a question, which side goes first: each is a Coherence and Cohesion question asked as a formatting question. That criterion asks for information and ideas organised logically, for clear overall progression, and for paragraphing used appropriately. It prescribes no number of paragraphs, no closing formula and no fixed place for your opinion. So a structural choice is right exactly when it makes your argument easier to follow, and wrong when it makes the reader work harder than your ideas deserve. One principle, six answers, and unlike a template it works on a prompt you have never seen.
The skeleton, with the reason beside each choice
Four paragraphs across the 250-word minimum and 40 minutes is the default because it gives every job its own space. Here is each decision with its descriptor reason, so you can defend or abandon any line of it.
| Choice | What it looks like | Why the descriptors reward it |
|---|---|---|
| Four paragraphs | Introduction, two bodies, conclusion: 40 / 90 / 90 / 40 words | Paragraphing is named in the criterion; four blocks show the logic before a sentence is read |
| One idea per body paragraph | Claim, why it holds, a consequence or example | Band 7 wants ideas extended and supported; two per paragraph means neither is |
| A thesis sentence closing the introduction | States your position, not your plan | A position clear throughout is required; stated early, every later paragraph confirms it rather than hints |
| A topic sentence opening each body | Names the idea before any detail | Progression is judged paragraph by paragraph; a subject emerging in sentence three has forced a reread |
| The opposing side in body 1 | Your own side second, into the conclusion | Nothing fixes the order, and taking the rejected view first gives your own the closing slot |
| A conclusion that adds nothing new | Position plus the deciding reason | Progression means arriving somewhere; new content breaks the arrival |
The six questions, answered
How many paragraphs? Four for almost every prompt. Five is fine when a prompt genuinely has three parts and you have the words to develop all three. Three works if one body paragraph really carries your whole case, which it rarely does. Two is where marks go, because at this length one of the two is doing two jobs badly.
Do you need a conclusion? In practice, yes: an essay that stops after its last body paragraph reads as unfinished, and progression means arriving somewhere. One or two sentences is enough; a four-sentence conclusion is usually the body again at length.
Can the thesis be "This essay will discuss both points of view and argue in favour of the first one"? It is clear and not wrong, but it spends your best sentence on an announcement. Compare it with "Both concerns are legitimate, but the cost of delay is higher than the cost of acting early." The second states a view an examiner can follow through three paragraphs. The first states a table of contents.
Is a question allowed in the introduction? One, if it does work. "So should governments fund the arts at all?" hands the reader the issue efficiently. What it cannot do is replace the thesis, because a question states no position, and background plus a question leaves your view unknown until paragraph four.
Can the first body paragraph be the side I disagree with? Yes, and it is often the better order. Presenting the opposing case properly before dismantling it reads as reasoning rather than avoidance, and it puts your own argument closest to the conclusion.
Must every paragraph be topic sentence, then explanation, then example? Keep the topic sentence, for the reason in the table. The rest is a habit, not a rule: some ideas are supported by a consequence, others by a comparison or a concrete instance, and forcing an invented example into every paragraph produces exactly the filler that caps development.
Three structures that lose marks
| Structure | What the reader experiences | Criterion damaged |
|---|---|---|
| The block: 260 words, one paragraph break or none | The argument must be reconstructed as you read | Coherence and Cohesion: paragraphing is in the criterion, and there is none to assess |
| The list: three reasons per body, one sentence each, chained with Firstly, Moreover | Six ideas arrive, none explained | Task Response: relevant but undeveloped ideas are the band 6 description. Also Coherence and Cohesion, for mechanical devices |
| The reveal: position withheld until the conclusion, plus a new solution attached | Two neutral paragraphs, then a verdict from nowhere | Task Response: no clear position throughout is a named band 6 fault, and progression breaks at the end |
All three fail the same way: each asks the examiner to hold the argument together on your behalf, when the descriptors reward an essay whose organisation does that work itself. Which is why the fix for a structure problem is almost never a better connective. If you are reaching for another linking phrase to bridge two paragraphs, the paragraphs are usually in the wrong order, or one is carrying two ideas; linking words and cohesion covers what those devices can and cannot do.
So plan for two minutes, in four lines: your position, idea one, idea two, and the reason one outweighs the other. Every question above is answered by that plan, which is the point. Structure is not a shape you pour an essay into; it is what stays visible when the argument is clear.