diff --git a/question/behaviour/rendererbase.php b/question/behaviour/rendererbase.php
index 76cc1a7f636..db5ff9ebbc6 100644
--- a/question/behaviour/rendererbase.php
+++ b/question/behaviour/rendererbase.php
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ abstract class qbehaviour_renderer extends plugin_renderer_base {
                 question_utils::get_filepicker_options($options->context, $draftitemid));
 
         $commenteditor = html_writer::tag('div', html_writer::tag('textarea', s($commenttext),
-                array('id' => $id, 'name' => $inputname, 'rows' => 10, 'cols' => 60)));
+                array('id' => $id, 'name' => $inputname, 'rows' => 3, 'cols' => 60)));
 
         $attributes = ['type'  => 'hidden', 'name'  => $draftitemareainputname, 'value' => $draftitemid];
         $commenteditor .= html_writer::empty_tag('input', $attributes);
diff --git a/question/type/essay/edit_essay_form.php b/question/type/essay/edit_essay_form.php
index 975d9d17030..2109827cb33 100644
--- a/question/type/essay/edit_essay_form.php
+++ b/question/type/essay/edit_essay_form.php
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class qtype_essay_edit_form extends question_edit_form {
 
         $mform->addElement('select', 'responsefieldlines',
                 get_string('responsefieldlines', 'qtype_essay'), $qtype->response_sizes());
-        $mform->setDefault('responsefieldlines', 15);
+        $mform->setDefault('responsefieldlines', 10);
         $mform->hideIf('responsefieldlines', 'responseformat', 'eq', 'noinline');
 
         // Create a text box that can be enabled/disabled for max/min word limits options.
diff --git a/question/type/essay/questiontype.php b/question/type/essay/questiontype.php
index 4851b29fe0c..b39fc3e41e0 100644
--- a/question/type/essay/questiontype.php
+++ b/question/type/essay/questiontype.php
@@ -136,7 +136,10 @@ class qtype_essay extends question_type {
      * @return array the choices that should be offered for the input box size.
      */
     public function response_sizes() {
-        $choices = array();
+        $choices = [
+            2 => get_string('nlines', 'qtype_essay', 2),
+            3 => get_string('nlines', 'qtype_essay', 3),
+        ];
         for ($lines = 5; $lines <= 40; $lines += 5) {
             $choices[$lines] = get_string('nlines', 'qtype_essay', $lines);
         }