Cognitive load refers to the volume of cognitive resources, including perception, attention and memory, necessary to perform a task. These resources must be devoted not only to organizing and understanding the task, but also to analyzing the solution and ignoring irrelevant stimuli. If cognitive load is high, it can decrease or even inhibit one’s ability to perform a task. Therefore, it leads to a stressful situation in which emotional coping may be of crucial importance The extent of cognitive load in a given situation depends on many things, including what the person already knows about the task and what supports are available Learning of speaking and writing enjoys a paramount status in any language education ‎classroom. So long as communication in a foreign language is the ultimate goal for learning, the productive skills will continue to be an important ‎component of syllabus content and learning outcomes. The study aims at finding out at: firstly, Iraqi EFL university students’ level of cognitive load and performance in productive skills. Secondly: The correlation between cognitive loads with performance in productive skills The current study is a descriptive correlational one. For the academic year 2021-2022, a sample consists 360 third-year college students who are selected randomly from the colleges of education in three universities (Tikrit University, Baghdad University, Wasit University). Two instruments are used to achieve the aims of this study: the cognitive load scale and productive skills test. The findings reveal that Iraqi EFL college students experience an average level of intrinsic cognitive load, a medium level of extraneous cognitive load and have a good level of germane cognitive load. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that Iraqi EFL university students have an average level of productive skills performance.