Strategies

Small habits that lift a whole band.

Consistent Band 7+ writers share the same routines. Adopt them before you worry about fancy vocabulary.

  1. 01

    Divide your 60 minutes deliberately

    Spend 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 on Task 2. Task 2 is worth twice as many marks — never let a stubborn Task 1 eat into it.

  2. 02

    Read the prompt twice before writing

    Underline every instruction verb (discuss, evaluate, to what extent). A response that ignores one part loses marks against Task Response, regardless of quality.

  3. 03

    Plan four paragraphs before the first sentence

    Introduction, two body paragraphs with distinct topic sentences, conclusion. A minute spent planning saves five on rewriting.

  4. 04

    Aim for range, not rare words

    Examiners reward precise, natural collocation. A common word used accurately beats a rare word used awkwardly every time.

  5. 05

    Vary sentence structure

    Mix simple, compound, and complex sentences. Two or three well-formed complex structures per paragraph is enough to hit Band 7 on grammar.

  6. 06

    Leave two minutes to proofread

    Most avoidable errors — subject-verb agreement, articles, singular/plural — are caught in a single careful pass.

Apply These in a Timed Practice