What each band actually combines.
A band is not one skill done well. It is grammar, vocabulary, cohesion and delivery assembled together into a single move. Most resources hand you the pieces one at a time; this page shows what each band requires across every skill at once, then takes a real answer and dissects it as it climbs from Band 5 to Band 8+, with every added structure and phrase labelled.
Why this is the page that matters. Examiners do not award marks for a clever sentence in isolation; they award them for a range of features, controlled and used together, sustained across an answer. That is the gap nobody fills: you can find a thousand pages on relative clauses, and a thousand on linking words, but almost none that show you the two working together in one Band 7 sentence. This page is the spine. Read the band you are aiming for, see the combination it takes, then follow the links to drill each piece until you can assemble it yourself.
Pick your target band. See what it asks of every skill.
The official descriptors describe each skill separately. Here they are lined up side by side, so you can see the whole shape of a band at once, not just one column of it.
At Band 5, across the skills
| Grammar | Mostly simple sentences; attempts at complex ones often break down. Errors in tense, agreement and articles are frequent and sometimes blur the meaning. |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | A limited, mostly basic range with frequent repetition. Meaning becomes unclear when a less familiar idea is attempted; word-form and spelling errors are common. |
| Cohesion | A few basic linkers (and, but, because), often repeated or misused. Referencing is unclear, and ideas can read as a list. |
| Speaking | Manages familiar topics but with frequent pauses and self-correction, leaning on memorised phrases. Pronunciation sometimes affects clarity. |
| Writing | Addresses the task only in part; ideas are limited and barely developed; paragraphing may be missing or illogical. |
At Band 6, across the skills
| Grammar | A mix of simple and a few complex sentences. Errors are frequent but rarely stop the reader understanding. Tenses and articles slip. |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Enough everyday vocabulary to get the meaning across, but imprecise, with noticeable repetition and the occasional wrong word or collocation. |
| Cohesion | Linking words are there but mechanical and over-used (“Firstly… Secondly… In conclusion”). Referencing is not always clear. |
| Speaking | Keeps going, but with pauses to search for words and a reliance on simple structures. Generally clear pronunciation. |
| Writing | Addresses the task, but ideas are thin or repeated rather than developed. Paragraphing exists but is not always logical. |
At Band 7, across the skills
| Grammar | A range of complex structures used with some flexibility, and frequent error-free sentences. Relative and conditional clauses are under control. |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Enough range to discuss topics with some precision, including less common items and collocations, with some awareness of style and register. |
| Cohesion | A range of cohesive devices used appropriately, if occasionally over- or under-done. Clear referencing and logical paragraphing. |
| Speaking | Speaks at length without much effort, using a range of connectives and discourse markers, with some flexibility and natural hedging. |
| Writing | A clear position held throughout. Main ideas are extended and supported, and the argument progresses logically. |
At Band 8+, across the skills
| Grammar | A wide range of structures, the majority error-free, with only occasional slips. Punctuation is accurate, including the comma rule on clauses. |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | A wide resource used fluently and precisely, with uncommon items and some idiom handled with style. Errors are rare. |
| Cohesion | Cohesion is managed so well it goes unnoticed. Paragraphing is fully appropriate and never draws attention to itself. |
| Speaking | Fluent, with only occasional repetition or self-correction. Topics are developed coherently and appropriately, with precise word choice. |
| Writing | Ideas are skilfully developed, relevant and well supported. The position is clear, nuanced and well argued throughout. |
These are paraphrases of the public band descriptors, lined up for comparison. The point is the shape: moving up a band is not fixing one column, it is lifting all of them together.
One idea, climbing from Band 5 to Band 8+. Watch what gets added.
This is the part you will not find elsewhere. Below is a single Task 2 idea written four times. Nothing about the opinion changes; what changes is the machinery. The highlighted phrases are the structures and lexis doing the lifting, and each version lists exactly what it added over the one before.
Task 2 idea: technology has changed the way people work.
Technology change the way of work. Now many people can work from their home because of the internet. This is good thing because they save the time, but sometimes it have problems also.
What it is doing: a basic attempt with frequent errors (technology change, a good thing, it have), simple repeated linkers (because, but), and very general vocabulary. The meaning mostly comes through, but the grammar and word choice are doing the bare minimum.
Technology has changed how people work. Now many people can work from home. This is good because they save time and feel happy.
Added over Band 5: accurate grammar (agreement, articles, the present perfect has changed) and clearer phrasing. The ideas are correct now, but each still sits in its own short sentence, with nothing combined or qualified.
Technology has transformed the way people work, particularly by enabling remote arrangements that many companies had not previously considered. This shift, which has accelerated in recent years, may suit employees who value flexibility, though it can blur the line between work and home.
Added over Band 6: the present perfect (has transformed); a precise collocation (enabling remote arrangements); a defining relative clause (that many companies…); a non-defining relative clause set off by commas (which has accelerated…); a hedge (may suit); and a concession (though it can blur the line). Four ideas are now combined into two sentences instead of five.
Technology has fundamentally reshaped working patterns, most visibly through the normalisation of remote work, a development that, while liberating for some, has quietly eroded the boundary between professional and personal life in ways that are rarely acknowledged.
Added over Band 7: low-frequency, precise lexis (fundamentally reshaped, eroded the boundary); a nominalisation (the normalisation of remote work); a concession embedded inside a relative clause (that, while liberating for some,…); and a clause-final comment that qualifies the whole statement (in ways that are rarely acknowledged). The whole thought is now one controlled sentence.
The lesson hidden in the climb
Notice what did not change: the position, the topic, the basic point. You do not reach Band 7 by having cleverer opinions. You reach it by combining a relative clause, a hedge and a precise collocation into one sentence, accurately, again and again. That is a skill you build piece by piece, which is exactly what the pages below are for.
The same move, out loud.
It is not only a writing trick. Here is a Part 3 answer to one question, at four bands. The same combining of structures and hedging is what an examiner hears as fluency and range.
Examiner: do you think people will work from home more in the future?
Yes, maybe. Because now technology is good and the internet is very fast. So people can work in their home and they don’t go to the office. I think it is good for them.
What it is doing: a direct answer in short, simple sentences with basic linkers (because, so) and very general vocabulary, with the odd slip (work in their home). Clear, but every idea is separate and nothing is qualified.
Yes, I think so. Because technology is better now and many people like it. So maybe more people will work from home.
Added over Band 5: cleaner, accurate phrasing and a clearer answer-plus-reason shape, though still in short, flat sentences with basic linkers.
I’d say it’s likely, yes, partly because the tools have improved so much that remote work has become genuinely practical, and partly because a lot of people have realised they prefer the flexibility. That said, it probably depends on the industry.
Added over Band 6: a hedged opener (I’d say it’s likely); a balanced structure (partly because… and partly because…); a result clause (so much that…); and a discourse marker introducing a qualification (That said).
I suspect we’ll see a hybrid model settle in rather than a wholesale shift. The novelty of working from home has worn off for some, and there’s a growing sense that certain kinds of collaboration are simply harder to replicate remotely, which employers are increasingly weighing up.
Added over Band 7: a precise contrast (a hybrid model… rather than a wholesale shift); a nominalised, softened claim (there’s a growing sense that); a phrasal verb used naturally (worn off, weighing up); and a clause-final comment on the whole idea (which employers are increasingly weighing up).
Now drill the parts the climb is made of.
Every feature in those answers has its own page here, with rules and instant-feedback drills. Start with whichever piece is missing from your own writing.
Six to test whether the climb has landed.
Each is about what lifts a band, not about a single rule. Press Check answers for your score and the reason. Nothing is sent anywhere.
You can see the band you want. Assembling the move, under timed pressure, is what a teacher is for.
Knowing that Band 7 combines a relative clause, a hedge and a precise collocation is the easy part. Doing it on demand, in your own words, while the clock runs, is the work, and the single fastest way to learn it is to have someone catch the exact piece you keep dropping.
In a lesson I read your writing and listen to your speaking for the moves on this page, tell you the band you are sitting at, and name the one or two additions that would lift it. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English; the first step is a free 25-minute introduction. This page is adapted from the grammar chapters of the forthcoming Ultimate Guide to IELTS Speaking.