Band 6 in IELTS Writing Task 2: A Real Answer, Marked Criterion by Criterion

Band 6 in Task 2 is the most common place for a candidate to get stuck, and the hardest band to picture, because almost nothing published about it shows a whole answer that scored it. You get a paraphrase of the descriptors, or a list of tips for reaching band 7.

This page does the opposite. It prints one complete Task 2 answer, 295 words, estimated at band 6 overall, then shows the four criterion bands behind that number and the exact sentences responsible. Every band on this page is an estimate from Bandly's scoring engine, not a mark from a qualified examiner.

What band 6 means on each of the four criteria

Task 2 is marked on four criteria, each given its own band: Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. The four are averaged and the result is rounded to the nearest half band.

The public band descriptors for band 6 say, in summary, that the answer works. It addresses the task, it is organised, the reader follows it, and the meaning gets through. What stops it being band 7 is consistency. At band 6 the development of ideas is uneven, cohesive devices are used mechanically, vocabulary is adequate but imprecise, and errors are frequent without blocking communication.

This matters because it tells you what band 6 is not. It is not an answer that missed the question. It is not an answer that was too short. It is usually an answer that said the right things in language that was not under control.

A real answer estimated at band 6

The question was a discussion prompt: some people believe social media has a damaging effect on the wellbeing of young people, others think the benefits outweigh the harm, discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Nowadays, social media is very popular around the world. Some people believe that social media has an damaging effect on the wellbeing of young people, while others think that the benefits are more than the harm. In my opinion, I am agree that social media can cause damage but it also has many benefits for young people if they use it carefully. On the one hand, there are several reasons why social media is damaging. Firstly, many young people spends too much time on their phones, which make them feel lonely and unhealthy. For example, they look at other people lives and feel bad about themselves. This can lead to depression and other mental health problems. Secondly, cyberbullying is another big problem on social media. Some teenagers says mean things to their classmates online, which can cause serious emotional damage. Consequently, many parents are worry about the damaging effects of these platforms on their children. On other hand, social media also has many benefits. One of the main benefits is that it allows young people to connect with friends and family who live far away. They can share photos and talk to each other easily. Furthermore, social media can be a good tool for education. Students can join study groups and find useful informations for their homework. This shows that the benefits of social media are very important for modern life, and we cannot ignore them. In conclusion, although social media can be damaging to the wellbeing of young people, I believe that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. If young people learn how to manage their time and use social media in a responsible way, they can enjoy all the benefits without suffering from the damage. Therefore, education is the key to solve this problem.

Read it once as a reader rather than as a candidate. It answers the question. It has four paragraphs. Both views appear, the opinion is stated twice and does not change. Nothing is off topic. If you were told this was a band 5 answer you would be surprised.

The four bands behind the 6

The average of 7, 6, 5 and 6 is 6.0.

Look at which criterion is lowest. The content was the strongest part of this answer. The language was the weakest. A candidate who read a generic band 6 page and spent the next month learning better essay structures would be working on the one criterion that was already at 7.

What the sample library says about where band 6 comes from

Bandly's library has seventeen published Task 2 answers, each one estimated by the same engine. We counted the four criterion bands recorded in every published record. The pattern is consistent.

1. Task Response never came back below 7 on any of the seventeen.
2. Coherence and Cohesion ran between 6 and 7.
3. Lexical Resource ran between 5 and 8, the widest spread of the four.
4. The two answers that landed below 7 overall, one at 6 and one at 6.5, were both pulled down by Lexical Resource and Coherence and Cohesion, with Task Response estimated at 7 in both cases.

Two cautions about reading that. Seventeen answers is a small set, and these are estimates, so the Task Response floor says as much about how our engine marks that criterion as it does about the essays. We are explicit about this elsewhere: the engine's bands have not been compared against a qualified examiner's marks, and Task Response is the criterion we trust least. Take the spread as a prompt to check your own weakest criterion, not as a rule about the exam.

The practical reading still holds, and it matches what the descriptors say. If you are stuck at 6, the odds are better than even that the problem is in your sentences, not in your plan. Our post on the grammar errors that keep writing at band 6 goes through the most common ones.

The three sentences that cost the most

Here is the part no ranking page shows: the specific repairs, and which criterion each one is for.

1. "social media has an damaging effect"

The article is wrong before an adjective starting with a consonant sound. Write a damaging effect. This is a Lexical Resource and accuracy issue, not a vocabulary issue, and it appears in the second sentence of the answer, which is where a reader forms an impression.

2. "In my opinion, I am agree that..."

Agree is a verb in English, so it takes no form of be. Write I agree that or, better for an essay, In my view, social media can cause damage, but it also offers real benefits when it is used carefully. That rewrite fixes the grammar and removes the redundancy of announcing an opinion and then saying you agree with it.

3. "find useful informations for their homework"

Information is uncountable, so it has no plural. Write useful information. Word formation errors like this one are named directly in the band 6 Lexical Resource descriptor, and three of them in 295 words is what moves that criterion from 6 to 5.

Two more worth fixing in the same pass: many young people spends and some teenagers says are subject verb agreement errors with a plural subject, and on other hand is missing the. None of these ideas needed changing. Only the sentences did.

What does not move you off band 6

Three things are easy to work on and would not have changed this answer.

Word count. At 295 words the answer is comfortably over the 250 word minimum. Writing 350 would not have raised any of the four bands. Our page on what the 250 word minimum actually buys you has the measured counts.

More linking words. The answer already has Firstly, Secondly, Consequently, Furthermore and Therefore. The Coherence and Cohesion note names that as the problem, mechanical use, rather than as a shortage. Adding a sixth signpost makes it worse.

Harder vocabulary. Swapping big problem for predicament while still writing informations raises nothing. Precision in common words comes first, and range comes after accuracy.

What to do today

Take an answer you have already written and mark only the language. Count your word formation errors, your subject verb agreement errors, and your missing articles, and write the count down. Then rewrite the three sentences with the most errors, changing no ideas. That is the same exercise this page just performed, and it is the one that moves the criterion that was lowest here.

Then compare yours against a whole answer at the band you are aiming for. The band 6 samples hub collects the answers in our library estimated at 6, including the social media answer marked above with its full criterion notes, and the band 7 write up shows what the same four criteria look like one band higher. When you want a second read on your own writing, paste it into Bandly for an estimate of each of the four criteria.