What are Informal Letters/Emails?
Informal letters are written to somebody you're close to. This could be close acquaintances, friends, family members, relatives, etc. These letters have an informal and personal tone since you're already familiar with the person you're writing to. Hence, casual language is used while writing.
What's the suggested word count?
It really depends! A lot of factors are to be considered: The exam board/school, the level of the exam itself and sometimes even your teacher's preferences should be considered! The Informal Letters I've provided were specifically written for practice when I was preparing for my English as a Second Language IGCSE & FCE exams, each of which had different word limits. However, you don't necessarily need to be taking the exam same exams to follow my advice. I believe it would still be helpful. Remember, always check your exam's level, objectives & word count suggestions! Anyway, I hope the table I made helps!
*You do not need to specify whether you've been preparing for the Core or Extended curriculum. Your grade itself will determine that! I guarantee that you could get an A* with my notes and sample writings so please always go for the 150-200 words option!
**According to the information provided online, the 2 writing tasks account for 20% of your overall grade. You need 160 points to receive your FCE certificate, 190 being the maximum. However, the maximum you could get for Writing is 40 points since both writing tasks are graded out of 20.
However, this is what I've been told & what I did:
■ Cambridge IGCSE™ English as a Second Language: 220 words.
■ FCE (B2 First exam): 190 words.
(This is the advice I followed and it did work for me!)