IELTS Task Response Band 6 to 7: Stuck at 6?

The notes below paraphrase the public IELTS Writing Task 2 band descriptors published on ielts.org. The file itself is marked as updated in May 2023. This page does not reproduce that scale, and it does not award a band. A script has to fit the positive features of a band as a whole.

Task Response is the Task 2 name. Academic Task 1 uses Task Achievement, because that task is a summary of visual information. If the score you are looking at is a chart report, use the Task 1 figures guide and the band descriptors guide. The rest of this article is about the essay.

What Band 6 Task Response already includes

Band 6 is a real response to the question. On the public scale, the main parts of the prompt are addressed, though some parts may be covered more fully than others. The format is appropriate for an essay. A position is there, and it is directly relevant to the prompt. The main ideas are relevant as well.

The same band description records the limits that keep the response at 6. The conclusions drawn from that position may be unclear, unjustified, or repetitive. Some main ideas may be insufficiently developed, or they may lack clarity. Some of the supporting arguments and evidence may be less relevant, or inadequate for the point they are meant to carry. The essay can be on the topic and still sit here, because the gap opens after the idea is named.

What has to change for Band 7

Band 7, in the same public scale, asks for three stronger features. The main parts of the prompt are appropriately addressed, so the thinner part at Band 6 has to be brought up. A clear and developed position is presented, which is a higher bar than a relevant position whose ending blurs. Main ideas are extended and supported.

Band 7 still allows a weakness. The scale says there may be a tendency to over-generalise, or the supporting material may lack focus and precision. The step up is the positive features: coverage that fits every main part, a position the reader can follow, and ideas that continue past the first sentence.

The wider Band 7 road map for all four criteria is in how to get Band 7. If the overall writing score is sitting near 6.5 and you are not yet sure the limit is Task Response, start with finding the score blocker. This article stays on Task Response only.

Why a relevant essay stays at Band 6

These patterns match the Band 6 limits above. A draft can be relevant and still miss ideas that are extended and supported. None of them is a count of how many candidates do it.

One part of the prompt is thinner

Public IELTS preparation material says that Band 6 or higher means addressing all the main parts of the prompt. In the worked lesson on ielts.org, leaving out one required side of a two-part prompt limits that coverage to Band 5. A response can also stay at Band 6 when both parts are present and one of them is only a sentence.

Example prompt, written for this page. In many cities, public libraries have shorter opening hours than they used to. What problems does this cause, and what can be done about it?

Example answer that covers one part. Shorter hours mean students lose a quiet room in the evening, and older residents lose a place to sit that is not a shop.

The problems are relevant. The second main part, what can be done, is missing. A fuller draft that only adds “Councils should solve this” has touched that part. It has not addressed it at the same depth as the problems, which is the Band 6 pattern of uneven coverage.

The position is relevant, then the ending repeats it

Band 6 allows a directly relevant position whose conclusions are unclear, unjustified, or repetitive. The introduction states a view. The last paragraph says the same view again in shorter words, with no reason that was earned in the body.

Example, not a scored script. Working from home has many advantages and disadvantages, and it depends on the person. In conclusion, there are many advantages and disadvantages, so people should decide for themselves.

The sentences stay on the topic. The last line still does not choose. “It depends” was never turned into a situation the writer supports. Band 7 asks for a clear and developed position: which case gets the writer’s support, and why that choice follows from the body.

The idea is named and then left alone

A main idea at Band 6 can be relevant and still insufficiently developed. The paragraph has a topic sentence that could sit in a plan. It does not have the next move: a reason, a concrete case, and a limit on how far the claim goes.

Example of a named idea. Governments should tax sugary drinks because sugar is unhealthy.

Example of the same idea extended. A tax on sugary drinks is worth testing because the price can change which bottle a shopper picks up when two drinks sit side by side. The claim stops there. A drink tax does not rewrite a diet that is cooked at home, so the argument stays on the purchase. A wider line, such as “this will end obesity,” drops the precision Band 7 still asks for.

The support answers a different question

Band 6 also allows supporting arguments that are less relevant. The paragraph has an example. The example is true and still does not carry the point.

Example. Cities should build more neighbourhood parks because tourists like famous buildings.

Famous buildings belong to a city essay. They do not show why a neighbourhood needs a park. A closer line, also written for this page, is: residents who live more than a ten-minute walk from any green space have nowhere outdoors to take children after school, and a landmark in the centre does not give them that space.

The format, or the length, hides the position

The Band 6 description includes an appropriate format. Public preparation material asks for a Task 2 response of at least 250 words, written out in full rather than as sub-headings or bullet points. A list of prompts is a plan.

Example of a plan submitted as the answer. Problems: noise, rent, long commutes. Solutions: buses, building rules, more housing.

Each noun is relevant. None of them is developed, and the list is the format the public Task 2 instructions set aside. Length works the same way. Under 250 words there is less room to extend two main ideas and a position. This site’s form will run from 50 words, and its text says Task 2 is usually 250 or more. The exam instruction remains at least 250 words, in full sentences.

A repair for one paragraph

Use one paragraph that you already know is “about the topic.” Do not rewrite the whole essay in the same sitting. The Task 2 template for Band 7 is a shape for a full essay. The move below is the Task Response move inside a single body paragraph.

1. Underline the prompt parts. A discussion needs both views and your own view. A problem question needs the problems and the actions. A two-question prompt needs both questions answered at a similar depth.
2. Write the position in one sentence you could still defend in the last paragraph. If the sentence says “it depends” or “there are two sides,” add the choice: which side, in which situation.
3. Under the idea, add one reason and one concrete case. Then add one limit, so the case does not pretend to cover every country or every person.
4. Read the support against the claim. If the example could be moved to a different essay without changing a word, it is the less relevant support that Band 6 already describes.
5. Count the words of the whole essay after the paragraph is in place. A Task 2 response needs at least 250 words on the public task.

Example paragraph, written for this page. Remote work should remain a choice for office jobs that do not need shared equipment. The commute is the clearest gain: an employee who travels ninety minutes a day gets that time back for the work itself. The loss of informal talk is real, and one scheduled team meeting a week can carry the decisions that used to happen in a corridor. I support the choice. I do not support a rule that every employee must stay at home, because some tasks still need the same room.

The paragraph above is an example of a position, an extension, and a limit. It is not a score. A full essay still needs every main part of its own prompt and at least 250 words.

Check the prompt and the essay together

Task Response compares the essay with the prompt. On this site the checker asks you to paste the essay, and the question box is optional. The homepage form says Task Response scoring is more accurate when the prompt is included. Paste the question so a missing part, a blurred ending, or a thin idea can be read against the words you were given.

The IELTS Writing Checker takes Task 1 and Task 2. The main form starts on Task 2. The Task 2 checker is locked to the essay, which is the right door for this criterion. The form asks for at least 50 words before it will run. A complete Task 2 answer is still at least 250 words. The free result on the homepage is a band estimate, the weakest criterion, and the top score blockers. Read the Task Response line before you read the overall number. If the weakest criterion is grammar or vocabulary, this article is the wrong repair for that draft.

The methodology page describes the product as a diagnostic and revision tool. A band estimate shows a likely bottleneck. It is not an official IELTS score, and one draft is not a prediction of an exam result.

What to leave alone until Task Response moves

Synonyms and longer sentences sit under Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. They are the right next edit when those criteria are the limit. They do not fill a missing half of the prompt, and they do not turn “sugar is unhealthy” into a developed idea. After the paragraph change, check three things: every main part of the prompt has a developed answer, the last sentence states the same position as the introduction, and each example would fail if you moved it to a different question. That is the IELTS Task Response band 6 to 7 change in one pass.

What this page is not claiming

This site is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP, or Cambridge English. The band descriptions here are a paraphrase of the public Task 2 descriptors, so you can revise a draft. They are not the official wording, and they are not a result. Only an official IELTS test assigns an examined band.

The example prompts, sentences, and the remote-work paragraph were written for this article. They are not past papers, not memorised answers, and not evidence of a band. Use them to see the difference between a relevant line and an extended one, then do the same test on your own paragraph.