IELTS Writing for Candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher
Band 7.5 and above needs sustained control: fully developed ideas, flexible cohesion, precise vocabulary and rare errors.
Why this group needs its own plan: strong candidates over-edit and add complexity at the cost of clarity.
A strength to build on: A solid base means small refinements produce the final half band.
Planning note: Targeted, high-quality practice with detailed feedback matters more than volume.
Fix these first
- Overused linking words such as 'however' and 'moreover'
Use linkers where the logic needs them, not at the start of every sentence.
- Rare or memorised words used in the wrong place
Choose precise, natural words you can use correctly.
- Unnatural word combinations
Learn words in natural pairs such as 'make a decision', 'raise awareness' and 'heavy traffic', not as single words.
- Examples that are too general to prove the point
Use one specific, believable example per body paragraph: a named situation, a type of person or a realistic scenario.
- Having no time or method to proofread
Reserve the last three minutes for a fixed proofreading routine: articles, plurals, verb forms and punctuation.
Every guide for candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher, by scoring criterion
Task Achievement and Task Response
- An unclear position in Task 2
- Ideas that are listed but not developed
- Memorised paragraphs that do not match the question
- Answering only one part of a two-part question
- Examples that are too general to prove the point
- A conclusion that only repeats the introduction
- Essays that finish under the minimum word count
- Running out of time in the Writing paper
- Writing scores that go up and down between attempts
- The gap between Band 6 and Band 7 in Writing
- A missing or weak overview in Task 1
- Choosing the wrong features to describe in Task 1
- Misreading or misreporting data in Task 1
- Task 1 reports that are too long or too detailed
- The wrong tone in a General Training letter
- Missing or thin bullet points in a General Training letter
Coherence and Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Questions and answers
What do candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher need to know about IELTS Writing targets?
Band 7.5 and above needs sustained control: fully developed ideas, flexible cohesion, precise vocabulary and rare errors.
What should candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher fix first in IELTS Writing?
Start with overused linking words such as 'however' and 'moreover', rare or memorised words used in the wrong place, unnatural word combinations. A solid base means small refinements produce the final half band.
How should candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher organise IELTS Writing practice?
Targeted, high-quality practice with detailed feedback matters more than volume.
Which IELTS test should candidates aiming for Band 7.5 or higher take?
Check whether the organisation that will read your result asks for Academic or General Training, because Task 1 differs: a chart, map or process for Academic, and a letter for General Training. Task 2 is an essay in both.
Check your own essay
Find which of these problems is holding back your own Writing score before you decide what to practise.
Feedback is a practice estimate, not an official IELTS score. Last reviewed 2026-11-11. Score requirements change, so confirm them with the organisation that will read your result.