How to get band 7 in IELTS Writing

Band 7 is the most common Writing target, for universities and for visas. It is also where many candidates stall, sometimes for months. The good news is that band 7 does not demand brilliant ideas or rare vocabulary. It demands a few specific habits, done every time.

What band 7 asks for, in plain English

• Task Response: answer every part of the question, with a clear position, and develop each main idea with explanation and support.
• Coherence and Cohesion: a logical order, one clear idea per paragraph, and linking that works without being overdone.
• Lexical Resource: enough range to be precise, with some less common words used naturally.
• Grammar: a variety of complex sentences, and frequent error-free sentences.

The band descriptors explained page shows each criterion at bands 5 to 9 with an example sentence at every level.

Why most essays stop at 6 or 6.5

From the descriptors, the gap usually comes down to four things:

1. Ideas stated, not developed. “Education is important for the country” instead of explaining why and showing it.
2. Mechanical linking. Moreover, Furthermore, In addition at the start of every sentence.
3. Plain, repeated words. Good, bad, important, problem, people.
4. Errors in most long sentences. Even small ones, repeated, keep grammar at 6.

Fixing your one most frequent error type is often worth more than learning fifty new words.

The habit that moves the band: write, check, rewrite

Writing essay after essay without feedback mostly practises your mistakes. Progress comes from a loop:

1. Write one essay in 40 minutes, under exam conditions.
2. Check it: find the specific sentences that hold it back.
3. Rewrite those sentences, and the weakest paragraph, properly.
4. Note your most common mistake, and look for it first next time.

One essay checked and rewritten teaches more than three written and forgotten.

A four-week plan

• Week 1: structure. Learn the shape of each essay type. Plan five questions without writing them, using the essay planner. Write two essays.
• Week 2: development. Write three essays. In each, make every body paragraph follow main idea, explanation, example, link back. Read the body paragraphs guide.
• Week 3: accuracy. Write three essays. After each, list every grammar error and rewrite those sentences. Read the grammar mistakes guide.
• Week 4: exam conditions. Write four timed essays on unseen questions from the question bank, including Task 1 time, and check each one.

Check where you are now

Paste your last essay into the essay checker. You will get an estimated band for each criterion and the sentences to fix first, which tells you which week of the plan to start with.