What Band 7 actually requires in Task 2
Most people stuck at 6.5 are not missing sophisticated vocabulary. They are losing marks on things that sound boring: answering half the question, and never producing a run of clean sentences.
Answer the whole question, not the topic
The most common Task 2 failure is writing about the subject rather than answering the prompt. "To what extent do you agree?" requires a position, and a consistent one. "Discuss both views and give your own opinion" requires three things, and people routinely deliver two.
Before writing, count what the prompt asks for. If it asks for two views and an opinion, your essay owes three deliverables. A well-written essay that supplies two of them is capped, however good the sentences are.
Frequent error-free sentences
Around band 7 the expectation shifts from "makes some errors" to producing a good proportion of sentences with no errors at all. Note the wording: not perfection, but frequency.
That changes what practice should look like. Writing longer, more ambitious sentences that each contain a small mistake moves you away from band 7. A mix — some genuinely complex sentences you fully control, some shorter accurate ones — moves you toward it.
Although the government have introduced many policy, but the problem is still remain.
Although the government has introduced many policies, the problem remains.
The first attempts more and lands worse: subject–verb agreement, a missing plural, a redundant but after although, and a doubled verb. The second is simpler and clean.
Range means variety, not rarity
Lexical Resource rewards range and precision, not obscurity. A precise common word beats a rare word used slightly wrongly — and a misused rare word is scored as an error, so it costs you twice.
The same holds for grammar. "Range" means using different structures where they fit, not forcing a conditional into every paragraph.
Cohesion you cannot hear
Linking words are the most over-taught part of IELTS. Mechanical, overused signposting is noticed and penalised at the top bands. Moreover at the start of every paragraph is worse than nothing.
Better cohesion is usually invisible: referring back with pronouns, ordering sentences so each follows from the last, and keeping one clear idea per paragraph.
A realistic checklist
- Did I answer every part of the prompt?
- Is my position the same in the introduction and the conclusion?
- Does each body paragraph have one main idea, stated early?
- Can I find three consecutive sentences with no errors?
- Did I use any word I was not sure about?
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