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November 25, 2017

IELTS Advice: before you retake the exam

Before you retake the exam, ask yourself some questions:

  • What specific areas have I worked to improve since my last exam?
  • How do I know that I have improved?
  • Can I get higher scores when I'm practising than the scores I need?

Here's an example of an ideal response to these questions:

Since my last exam, I've been doing a lot of work to improve my 'main body' paragraphs for writing task 2. I now spend more time planning and organising my ideas before I start writing, so my paragraphs are a lot better. My teacher noticed this improvement and gave my most recent essay a band 7. I only need a 6.5.

Comments

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Hello Simon,

According to official IELTS guidelines:

Band 6 is about 23 out of 40
Band 7 is about 30
Band 8 is about 35


How about 6.5 in Listening and reading?
How many questions needed to be answered to get 6.5 in Listening and Reading?

Posted by: taniai | November 27, 2017 at 16:33

Hello Simon,
I had a query regarding examples in task 2. Is it possible to get band 7 if I dont include examples in my essay at all??

Posted by: Sehrish Taufeeq | November 27, 2017 at 18:15

@Sehrish Taufeeq

The instructions usually contain something like:
"You should give reasons for your answer using your own ideas and experience."

And the marking criteria for band 7 include:
"presents, extends and supports main ideas, but there may be a tendency to over-generalize and/or supporting ideas may lack focus"

Posted by: aziz | November 28, 2017 at 16:23

hello simon ..i gave general ielts exam and got overall 7 band but i got 5.5 band only in writing plz suggest me idea to gain 7 band in writing ..now i m appearing for 16 dec exam and i need your immediate help🙏🏻🙏🏻

Posted by: jagmeet | November 29, 2017 at 08:36

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