What’s the difference between Band 5, Band 6, and Band 7 writing?
These are official writing samples from IELTS. I’ve colour-coded the errors based on their seriousness, i.e. based on how much they affect your score.
- Yellow = Awkward language/minor grammar issue
- Orange = Moderate language/grammar issue
- Red = Serious language/grammar issue
Even without reading them, you can tell the difference from a distance.
Band 5

IELTS Official Writing Task 1 Sample – Band 5. Errors are highlighted: yellow represents awkward language or minor grammar issues; orange represents moderate language/grammar issues; red represents major language/grammar issues.
The examiner gave this a Band 5 for the following reasons:
- It’s too short and low on detail. There are no specific references to the data.
- Overall, it’s difficult to understand.
- There are major sentence structure problems (highlighted in red).
Band 6

IELTS Official Writing Task 1 Sample – Band 6. Errors are highlighted: yellow represents awkward language or minor grammar issues; orange represents moderate language/grammar issues; red represents major language/grammar issues.
The examiner gave this a Band 6 for the following reasons:
- Some information is missing.
- Some information is inaccurate.
- Cohesion problems: connections between some ideas are unclear.
- Awkward language
- Lack of sentence structure variety
Band 7

IELTS Official Writing Task 1 Sample – Band 7. Errors are highlighted: yellow represents awkward language or minor grammar issues; orange represents moderate language/grammar issues; red represents major language/grammar issues.
The examiner gave this a Band 7 for the following reasons:
- Lack of sufficient detail in the general overview
- Awkward expressions
- Minor issues with word forms
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