← IELTS Writing / Band descriptors

📋 Band Descriptors – Mark Your Own Writing

Examiners score your writing against four criteria, and you can learn to read your own answer the same way. This page trains that skill: what each criterion rewards, how the maths of your Writing band actually works, and a rubric you can run over every essay you write from now on.

🎯 Top priority on the roadmap🧩 4 auto-graded drills · 28 items🧮 16-point self-check rubric⏱ Use it after every essay

iHow your Writing band is really built

Your Writing score is not one judgement. Each task is marked on four criteria, and each criterion is worth 25% of that task. The two tasks are then combined – and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1.

Step	What happens
1	Task 1 is marked on Task Achievement, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range & Accuracy. Its score is the average of the four.
2	Task 2 is marked on the same four criteria (the first one is called Task Response). Its score is also the average of the four.
3	Writing band = (Task 1 + Task 2 + Task 2) ÷ 3 – in other words one third Task 1, two thirds Task 2.
4	The result is rounded to the nearest half band. A result ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and a result ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.

Worked example. Task 1 criteria 6 / 6 / 6 / 5 → Task 1 = 5.75. Task 2 criteria 7 / 7 / 6 / 6 → Task 2 = 6.5. Writing = (5.75 + 6.5 + 6.5) ÷ 3 = 6.25, which rounds up. Reported band: 6.5.

Two consequences you should act on today.
1 · Task 2 is worth twice Task 1. If you only have time to write one full answer this week, write a Task 2.
2 · Your weakest criterion holds you down. A script scored 7 / 7 / 7 / 5 averages 6.5, not 7. Moving that 5 to a 6 is far easier than moving a 7 to an 8 – and it is worth exactly the same. Always work on your lowest criterion first.

iiWhat each criterion is actually looking for

Plain-English summaries of what examiners reward – written by AllEnglish4U, not the official wording. Learn the behaviour behind each criterion, not a list of adjectives.

1 · Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2) – “Did you do the job?”

Task 1 (Academic): cover the key features, report the figures accurately, and include an overview – one or two sentences saying what the data does overall, with no small detail in them. (In General Training the task is a letter instead: cover all three bullet points and keep the tone consistent throughout; there is no overview.) Task 2: answer every part of the question, hold one clear position from the introduction to the conclusion, and develop each idea instead of only stating it. Length counts here too: under 150 words (Task 1) or 250 words (Task 2) is penalised.

2 · Coherence & Cohesion – “Can a reader follow you at speed?”

Paragraphs with one central idea each, a logical order the reader never has to re-read, linking words used only where they add meaning, and referencing (this, these, such, the latter) instead of repeating the same nouns. A wall of text with no paragraphs, or Firstly / Secondly / Moreover glued to the front of every sentence, both cost marks here.

3 · Lexical Resource – “Is your vocabulary precise, not just big?”

Range matters, but accuracy of use matters more. A common word used exactly right beats a rare word used approximately. Spelling and word form (analyse / analysis, economic / economy) are marked here, and so is register: this is academic writing, not a conversation. Words copied from the question paper do not count as your vocabulary.

4 · Grammatical Range & Accuracy – “How many of your sentences are error-free?”

Two things together: a variety of structures (not only simple sentences), and error-free sentences – at Band 7 the examiner expects to see plenty of them. Punctuation lives here as well, which is why comma splices and half-sentences are expensive.

iiiThe 5 → 6 → 7 ladder, criterion by criterion

Read down the column you are currently in, then across to the next one. That single step is your work for the next month.

Task Achievement / Task Response

Around Band 5	Around Band 6	Around Band 7
Answers only part of the question, or reports data with no overview; ideas are stated but not developed; may be under length.	Addresses all parts, but some parts more fully than others; a position is present though it may not be consistent; overview present but vague.	Answers every part with a clear, consistent position; each main idea is extended and supported; the Task 1 overview names the biggest trends and contrasts.

Coherence & Cohesion

Around Band 5	Around Band 6	Around Band 7
Ideas are there but the order is hard to follow; paragraphing missing or random; the same few linkers repeated mechanically.	Arranged logically overall and paragraphed, but linking is sometimes faulty or over-used, and referencing is limited.	Every paragraph has one clear central idea; the argument moves forward without the reader going back; cohesion is varied and mostly invisible.

Lexical Resource

Around Band 5	Around Band 6	Around Band 7
A limited stock of words, repeated; noticeable errors in spelling and word form that can slow the reader down.	Enough vocabulary for the task; attempts less common words but with clear errors of choice or form; spelling errors do not prevent understanding.	Enough range to be precise and to vary expression; some less common and topic-specific items used correctly, with a feel for which words go together; only occasional slips.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy

Around Band 5	Around Band 6	Around Band 7
Mostly simple sentences; frequent errors of verb form, agreement and punctuation, which can make meaning unclear.	A mix of simple and complex sentences; errors happen but rarely stop the reader understanding.	A variety of complex structures used with control; frequent error-free sentences; punctuation is generally accurate.

ivThe band caps – five ways to lose marks before the examiner reads your ideas

What you did	Which criterion pays	The fix, in one line
Under length – fewer than 150 (Task 1) or 250 (Task 2) words	Task Achievement / Task Response	Learn what 250 of your words look like on paper, and count once at the end.
Academic Task 1 with no overview – every figure listed, no big picture	Task Achievement	Two sentences after the introduction: highest, lowest, overall direction. No small numbers.
One block of text – no paragraph breaks	Coherence & Cohesion	Four or five paragraphs, one idea each. Press Enter; it is free marks.
Only half the question answered – a two-part task treated as one	Task Response	Underline every question word in the prompt before you plan, and tick them off at the end.
Copied wording – sentences lifted from the prompt, or a memorised template	Lexical Resource and length – plus Task Response if it is a template	Paraphrase the prompt in your own words: copied words are not counted at all, and a template answers a question nobody asked.

Why this page comes first. None of the five faults above is about English ability. They are decisions you make in the first and last two minutes of the task – which is why fixing them is the fastest band gain available to you.

1Drill A – Band the extract auto-graded

Each extract is written by a different candidate, and each one is taken from a full-length answer – so ignore the length of the extract itself. Judge only the criterion named in italics, ignore everything else, and decide which band the extract sits closest to.

2Drill B – Which criterion loses the mark? auto-graded

This is the skill you will use on your own work: name the criterion before you try to repair anything. One item costs nothing at all – find it.

3Drill C – Which edit gains the most? auto-graded

You have limited time. In each situation, choose the action that raises the band fastest – not the action that feels the most impressive.

4Drill D – Work out the band auto-graded

Type a number only, for example 6.5 (or 6). Keep the exact average for each task and round once, at the very end. Knowing this maths tells you exactly what you still need.

5Your self-assessment rubric – run this after every essay

Write a Task 2 answer in 40 minutes, put it down for an hour, then come back and tick only the statements that are honestly true of it. Be strict: a statement that is nearly true is not ticked. The four statements under each heading are not ranked by band – the estimate simply counts how many are true, so read a low count as a signal to work on that criterion rather than as a measured score.

What this estimate is and is not. It is a mirror: it shows you which criterion is holding you down and what to do next. It is not a real band – only a trained examiner reading your whole script can give you that. When you want a real one, submit a full answer through the AllEnglish4U writing assessment or the IELTS placement test.

6The same idea at Band 5 and at Band 7

One body paragraph, one idea, two versions. Nothing new was researched between them – only the four criteria were applied.

Version 1 – around Band 5

Firstly, the online study is very cheaper. Secondly students can save the money. Thirdly they don’t need to travel every day, unfortunantly some of them have no computer. Because the internet in rural area is weak. So this is a big problem for education.

Version 2 – around Band 7

The clearest advantage of online study is cost. Students who learn from home pay no travel or accommodation expenses, which for many families is the difference between enrolling and not enrolling at all. This saving is not shared equally, however: in rural districts where internet access remains unreliable, the families who would gain most from it are the least able to study online at all.

Criterion	Version 1	Version 2
Task Response	Three points listed, none developed; the last two sentences raise a new problem and abandon it.	One idea, extended with a consequence and then qualified – that is what “developed” means.
Coherence & Cohesion	Firstly / Secondly / Thirdly on every sentence; no topic sentence.	Topic sentence first; cohesion carried by which, this saving, however – the reader never notices it.
Lexical Resource	unfortunantly, a big problem; spoken register (don’t, So this is).	travel and accommodation expenses, enrolling, unreliable – precise and correctly used.
Grammar	Comma splice after every day; fragment starting Because; very cheaper; missing and wrong articles (save the money, in rural area).	Two complex sentences plus one short simple sentence, all error-free; the contrast is carried by however inside the sentence instead of starting a new one.

🧿 The 90-second version you can run in the exam

Seconds	Look only for this
0–20	Question. Point at every part of the prompt. Did you answer each one? Is your position the same at the start and the end?
20–40	Shape. Can you see four or five paragraphs? Does each one have a first sentence that names its idea?
40–70	Verbs and commas. Subject and verb agree? Tense right for the period? At every comma, is there a full sentence on both sides?
70–90	Words. Any word you were not sure about – replace it with one you are sure about. Check the spelling of the topic word you used ten times.

Next steps → if your weakest criterion is grammar, go to Tenses & sentence accuracy. If it is Task Response, start with Task 2 – Question types. If it is Task 1, the fastest single fix is the overview. Ready for a real band on a full answer? Use the AllEnglish4U writing assessment.