Our method
How MyBandPrep scores your essay
Your essay is marked three times against the public IELTS Writing band descriptors, a few fixed rules are applied in code, and you see the middle band for each criterion with its reason. It is an estimate, not an IELTS score, and this page shows how close it gets.
- 1
Check there is enough to mark
You need a Task 2 question and an essay. Very short texts are not marked; you are asked to write a little more instead of getting a band that means nothing.
- 2
Mark it three times against the band descriptors
An AI model reads your whole essay against the four criteria in the public IELTS Writing band descriptors and places each criterion on a band, with its reason. This happens three times, independently. You see the middle band for each criterion, so one unusual reading cannot move your score.
- 3
Apply the fixed rules in code
Some rules are not left to the model. If a part of the question is not answered at all, Task Response is capped at band 5. Under 250 words, Task Response is capped at 6 (230–249 words) or 5 (under 230). The word limits are our reading of IELTS’s stated length penalty.
- 4
List corrections you can trust
A separate review lists clear grammar, spelling, punctuation and word errors. Every quoted mistake must exist word for word in your essay, or it is thrown away. Rewrites of correct sentences and swaps for fancier words are removed in code, because those make essays worse, not better.
- 5
Rank what to fix first
The places that hold your band back most are marked in your essay, at most three at a time, so you work on what matters instead of a list of twenty.
- 6
Re-check fairly after you revise
When you check a revised essay, a criterion only changes band if all three markings agree it should. Accepting a few of our corrections will not make a band drop by chance.
How close is it to an examiner?
We test the checker against Task 2 essays that IELTS has published with an examiner’s band, from band 4 to 8.5, Academic and General Training. Most estimates land within one band of the examiner’s mark.
How to read your band
- It leans conservative: on average its bands sit a little below the examiner’s.
- Very strong essays are the hardest to place. If you are aiming for 8 or above, treat the band as a floor and focus on the fixes.
Every change to how essays are marked is tested against examiner-marked essays before it ships. We are adding essays double-marked criterion by criterion by trained markers, and this page is updated as the test grows.
Academic Task 1
Task 1 answers are checked only for our own Task 1 questions, because the checker needs the exact figures on the chart. It reads your answer against the official Task 1 descriptors three times and uses the middle band, as for Task 2. Two rules are applied in code: with no overview, Task Achievement cannot go above 5 (the Band 6 descriptor needs “a relevant overview”), and answers under 150 words are capped (138 to 149 words at 6, fewer at 5). Every number you quote is also compared with the chart.
Task 1 bands are checked against our model answers and against answers written with common faults, so treat them as a slightly rougher guide than Task 2. Model answers score 7.5 or 8, and answers with no overview, misread figures or too few words score 5.5 to 6, with each fault named.
General Training letters
The letter checker reads your letter against the official Task 1 descriptors with their General Training lines (every bullet point covered, a clear purpose, a consistent and appropriate tone) three times and uses the middle band. Two rules are applied in code: a bullet point that is not addressed at all keeps Task Achievement at 4 (Band 5 starts from “all bullet points are presented”), and short letters are capped as for Academic Task 1. The greeting and sign-off are checked by fixed rules, not the model.
As with Academic Task 1, letters are checked against our model letters and letters written with common faults. Model letters score 7.5 or 8; a letter that ignores one bullet point gets 4 for Task Achievement, one written to a council in a chatty tone gets 5.5, and a very short letter with frequent errors gets 5.
See the reasons for yourself
Every criterion comes with the reason behind its band, so you can judge the estimate.
The four criteria
Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy each count for a quarter of the task. See what each band means, with examples, in the band descriptors explained.
Questions
Is this an official IELTS score?
No. Only IELTS examiners give official scores. MyBandPrep gives a practice estimate based on the public band descriptors. Use it to see roughly where you are and, more importantly, what to fix.
Why might my exam score be different?
Exam conditions, the question you get, your time management and examiner judgement all vary. In our testing the estimates lean slightly conservative, especially for very strong essays. Treat the band as a guide and the fixes as the main value.
Which AI model marks my essay?
A large language model reached through our review service. The model, the prompts and the rules above are versioned, so a change in how essays are marked is tested before it reaches you.
What happens to my essay?
It is sent to the review service for marking. Without an account it stays saved in your browser on this device; if you sign in, your checked essays are also saved to your account.