IELTS Writing band descriptors: the four criteria explained

Every IELTS Writing answer is marked against the public IELTS Writing band descriptors, which describe nine bands for each of four criteria. The criteria are equally weighted, so each is a quarter of a task's mark. Knowing what each one rewards tells you where your next half band is hiding.

Task Response and Task Achievement

In Task 2 this criterion is called Task Response. Did you answer every part of the question, take a clear position, and support it with relevant, developed ideas? In Task 1 it is called Task Achievement. In Academic Task 1, did you report the key features with an overview? In a General Training letter, did you cover every bullet point in a tone that suits the reader?

What usually holds it back:

• No clear position, or a position that changes halfway through the essay.
• Answering only part of a two-part question, such as Why is this happening, and is it a positive development?
• Ideas that are listed but never explained, supported or developed.
• Content that drifts away from the topic the question set.

Coherence and Cohesion

This criterion asks whether a reader can follow you. Coherence is the logic: one main idea per paragraph, in a sensible order, each one developed before the next begins. Cohesion is the linking: words such as however and as a result, and reference words such as this, these and such, which tie sentences to each other.

The common trap is too much linking, not too little. Starting every sentence with Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore or In addition is what the descriptors call mechanical, and it does not score well. Link where the logic changes, and let pronouns and reference words do the rest.

Lexical Resource

Lexical Resource is your vocabulary: its range, its precision and its accuracy. Higher bands use less common words and natural collocations, such as a growing body of evidence or to address a problem, with only occasional errors in spelling, word formation or word choice.

Two things pull it down: errors that get in the way of meaning, and words chosen because they sound impressive rather than because they fit. The government should ameliorate the situation is not better than improve the situation if you are not sure what ameliorate suggests.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

This criterion looks at the variety of your sentence structures and at how many of your sentences are free of errors. Range means a mix of simple and complex sentences: relative clauses, conditionals, passives, and clauses that begin with although or while. Accuracy means the share of sentences without errors, and punctuation counts here too.

The Band 7 description asks for a variety of complex structures and frequent error-free sentences. Range without control does not score well: a complex sentence with a broken structure costs more than a simple sentence written correctly.

Where the next half band usually is

Because the four criteria count equally, your weakest criterion costs as much as your strongest one earns. If Task Response is at 6 and the other three are at 7, the quickest gain is almost always in Task Response, and the usual fix is a clearer position, stated in the introduction and kept to the end.

The second introduction tells the examiner what the essay will argue, and every paragraph after it can be judged against that promise.

Check your writing against the IELTS Writing band descriptors

EngProgress's free IELTS writing checker marks a Task 1 or Task 2 answer on these four criteria. For each one it shows the evidence from your writing, what is keeping it from the next band, and the single most useful fix. When an answer sits between two bands it chooses the lower, so the result is a band to build on. Most Task Response problems are solved before the first sentence is written: read How to plan an IELTS Task 2 essay in five minutes, and practise a task a day with the free IELTS Writing practice.