New Scored against the 2026 band descriptors

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  • Know your band score before the examiner does
  • See every fix rewritten for you, not just flagged
  • Walk into exam day knowing your weak spot is closed
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Four criteria marked separately, with the sentences behind each
Task 2 · Opinion essay

Sample essay worked example

6.0
Band 6.0 · Competent Four grammar slips and limited range are capping this at 6. Fix them and this reads as a 7.
Task response6.5
Coherence7.0
Lexical resource5.5
Grammar6.0

This is a prepared example, not a live marking. Sign in to have your own essay marked.

Grammarmany peoples believemany people believe. Plural noun, no s.
Grammargood for reduceeffective at reducing. Gerund after a preposition.
Vocabularyvery goodhighly effective. Band 7 wants precision over intensifiers.
StructureYou promised two reasons then gave two one line sentences. Each body paragraph needs an example to reach 7.
Built on the public band descriptors used by Academic Task 1 General Task 1 Task 2 Band 5 to 9

The difference

Studying alone is why you keep scoring 6.5

You can write fifty essays. Without someone marking them against the real descriptors, you repeat the same four mistakes fifty times.

Without Bandly

  • You never find out which grammar errors the examiner would actually penalize
  • Your ideas are fine but the wording is muddy, and nobody tells you where
  • You reuse the same 400 words, so lexical resource stays stuck at 6
  • You run out of time in the real test because you never practiced to the clock
  • You pay a tutor $40 an hour and wait three days for one essay back

With Bandly

  • Every error is named, explained, and rewritten in the sentence it appeared in
  • A clarity pass shows you the version an examiner would score higher
  • Band 8 alternatives are generated from your own sentences, so you actually remember them
  • Timed practice mode mirrors the 40 minute Task 2 window
  • Unlimited essays, marked in nine seconds, for less than one tutor hour a month

How it works

Four things that move your band

Each one targets a specific criterion the examiner scores you on. Nothing here is decoration.

01

Feedback that names the sentence, not the category

Most checkers tell you "grammar needs work." Bandly quotes the clause, explains the rule in one line, and shows the corrected version so you can see the difference instead of decoding it.

  • Scored on all four official criteria
  • Strengths listed too, so you stop rewriting what already works
Marked essay 4 issues

In conclusion, I completely agree that governments must prioritise public transport. Such investment would ease congestion and, in the same time, cut urban emissions substantially.

02

A band for each criterion, not one number

Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range are marked separately against the public band descriptors, each with its own one line verdict, so you can see which of the four is actually holding the score down.

  • Whole band per criterion, the way examiners award them
  • A band range shown when the estimate sits near a boundary
Your bands Per criterion
Task Response 7Both views covered, second one thinner than the first
Coherence and Cohesion 7Clear progression, paragraphing could be tighter
Lexical Resource 6Range adequate, some repetition of key nouns
Grammatical Range 7Complex forms attempted, occasional article slips

03

All three writing tasks, including the chart

Task 2 essays, General Training letters, and Academic Task 1 reports. For Academic Task 1 the chart itself is sent to the marker, so Task Achievement is judged against the data you were actually given rather than against a generic template.

  • Task 2, Task 1 Academic and Task 1 General Training
  • Letters marked on register, reports marked on the real figures
Task 1 Academic Chart read

The bar chart compares commuters using four modes of transport in three cities. Overall, Tokyo relies overwhelmingly on rail while Houston is dominated by the car at 88 percent.

04

A library of answers already marked

Every sample in the library is a real answer put through the same engine, published with the band it received and the sentences that earned it. Browse by band, by task, or by question type, and read what the level above yours actually looks like.

  • Browse by band, by task and by question type
  • Free to read, no account needed
Sample library Free
Band 7 · Task 2 · OpinionTraffic congestion in cities, marked line by line
Band 6.5 · Task 1 General · FormalComplaint about a faulty appliance
Band 7 · Task 1 Academic · MapA village then and now
4criteria marked separately, not one overall guess
9stypical time to a full report
3task types: Task 2, Task 1 Academic and General
<1¢what one essay costs us to mark

Pricing

One price, everything included

Unlimited essays on every plan. No credits, no per essay fees, no upsell at checkout.

Weekly

$7.99/ week

Best if your test is this month

Start weekly
  • Unlimited essay submissions
  • A band for each of the four criteria
  • The exact sentences behind every band
  • Task 2, and Task 1 Academic and General Training
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Monthly

$14.99/ month

Two weeks of prep is the sweet spot

Start monthly
  • Everything in weekly
  • Every essay and band kept in your history
  • Rewrite and re-score to see what moved
  • A band range when the estimate sits near a boundary

Yearly

$29.99/ year

$37.49 billed once, save 20%

Start yearly
  • Everything in monthly
  • All future features included
  • Price locked for the full year
  • Long enough to cover a retake
100%
BACK
Score higher or pay nothing

Submit at least five essays, follow the feedback, and if your practice band has not moved, email us within 7 days for a full refund. No form, no questions.

Questions

Everything students ask before signing up

Can I try it before I pay?

Yes. Your first essay is scored in full with no card required, including the band breakdown and every correction. You only pay when you want to submit more.

How accurate is the band score?

Bandly scores your essay against the four published band descriptors using AI, and the result is an estimate rather than a mark from a qualified examiner. We have not validated it against examiner marked essays, so we do not claim an accuracy rate, and it can come out higher or lower than an official result. Use it to see which criterion is holding you back and whether your writing is moving, not as a prediction of your exam day score. Full detail is in our terms.

Which task types do you support?

Task 2 for both Academic and General, Academic Task 1 including charts, tables, maps and processes, and General Task 1 letters across all three registers.

Is there a limit on how many essays I can submit?

No. Every plan is unlimited. Students who improve the most usually submit between eight and fifteen essays over two weeks.

Can I use my own topic?

Yes. Paste any prompt, including one from a book or a past paper, and the essay is marked against it. You can also work from the questions in our sample library, each one published with a marked answer.

Does this actually improve my writing, or just correct it?

Both. Every correction comes with the rule behind it and the rewritten version, and every essay is kept in your history with its four criterion bands, so you can see which one keeps coming back lowest rather than being told to write more.

How is this different from a normal grammar checker?

A grammar checker fixes errors. It has no idea what a Band 7 essay looks like, so it will happily approve a grammatically perfect essay that scores 5.5 for underdeveloped ideas. Bandly marks structure, argument development, cohesion and range, which is where most of your lost points are.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in the browser on phone, tablet and laptop. Most students draft on paper, type it in, and read the feedback on their phone.

How do refunds work?

Email us within 7 days of purchase and we refund in full, usually the same day. You keep any feedback reports you already generated.

Are you affiliated with the official test providers?

No. Bandly is an independent study tool built on the publicly available band descriptors. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Cambridge, the British Council, or IDP Education.

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Find out what band you are actually writing at, and exactly which four sentences are keeping you there.

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