How to Check Your IELTS Essay: The Four-Criteria Framework Examiners Actually Use

Most candidates who want to check their IELTS essays tend to re-read it looking for grammar mistakes. Examiners assess four separate criteria, and grammar is only one of them. A general re-read catches what sounds wrong; a criterion-by-criterion check finds what actually costs marks. This article gives you the same framework examiners use, and shows how to apply it to your own writing.

The Real Reason Your Essay Self-Check Keeps Getting the Score Wrong

Self-assessment fails in IELTS Writing for one predictable reason: you assess your essay against one criterion while examiners assess it against four.

A writer with correct sentences can still score Band 5 for Coherence and Cohesion if the ideas do not connect logically across paragraphs. A wide vocabulary scores Band 5 for Lexical Resource if every advanced word appears in the wrong collocation. Reading back for how it sounds catches neither problem.

According to IELTS test taker performance data from ielts.org, candidates consistently score lower in Writing than in any other skill. A criterion-by-criterion self-check is the most direct way to reduce this distance.

The Four Criteria Examiners Use When They Check Your IELTS Essay

Every IELTS Writing Task 2 essay is scored against four equally-weighted criteria, as published jointly by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge English:

• Task Response: does the essay fully address all parts of the question and present a clear, developed position throughout?
• Coherence and Cohesion: are ideas logically organised, and do sentences and paragraphs connect clearly to each other?
• Lexical Resource: does the essay use a varied range of vocabulary with appropriate precision?
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy: does the essay use a variety of sentence structures accurately?

Each criterion contributes 25% to the final band score. Many candidates invest the majority of their revision time in grammar, leaving Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion largely unchecked.

Task Response: Are You Actually Answering What the Question Asks?

Examiners assess Task Response by asking one question: does this essay address everything the prompt required?

At Band 5, an essay typically addresses the task only partially. The most common version is not obvious: the candidate writes at length, covers the general topic, but misses one part of a multi-part question. A “discuss both views and give your own opinion” prompt requires genuine discussion of both views and a clear personal stance. Writing thoroughly about one view is a partial answer.

The IELTS Writing band descriptors (British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge English) specify that Band 7 addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout. A position stated in the introduction that disappears from the body paragraphs does not meet this standard.

To check your IELTS essay for Task Response, underline every instruction in the prompt before reading your response. Then read each body paragraph and ask: which instruction does this address? Any instruction with no corresponding paragraph is a partial answer. The IELTS problem-solution essay guide on Speechful’s blog shows this process in a full structured example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Why More Linking Words Can Lower Your Score

Coherence and Cohesion operates at two levels: across paragraphs (does the argument develop logically?) and within paragraphs (does each sentence connect clearly to the one before it?).

Placing transitional phrases back to back, such as “However” followed immediately by “Additionally” in the same paragraph, signals to an examiner that the ideas do not connect. The official band descriptors (British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge English) describe Band 5 cohesion as relying on devices that may be inaccurate or repetitive, while Band 7 is described as logically organised with clear progression throughout.

Coherence problems are nearly invisible to the writer. Read each body paragraph in isolation and write a one-sentence summary of its main point. If you cannot reduce the paragraph to a single clear claim, the examiner will have the same difficulty. For more on how paragraph structure affects Task 2 scores, see IELTS Writing Task 2 essay structure templates on Speechful’s blog.

Lexical Resource: The Difference Between Knowing Words and Using Them Well

Examiners assess Lexical Resource on range (how many different words and forms you use) and precision (whether each word fits its context accurately).

Reaching for sophisticated vocabulary scores well on range but poorly on precision if those words appear in collocations that do not work in English. The band descriptors specify that Band 7 vocabulary shows flexibility and precision, while Band 6 shows less common vocabulary alongside inaccuracies in word choice or collocation.

When checking for Lexical Resource, highlight every word you chose for its academic register. Ask: does it fit the exact collocation the surrounding sentence requires? A word that appears correct in isolation but unusual in combination is likely a collocation error.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: When Complex Sentences Hurt Your Score

Grammatical Range and Accuracy is assessed on two dimensions that regularly conflict: the variety of structures you use and the accuracy with which you handle each one.

Examiners reward control of a range of structures used correctly, not attempts at complex structures that produce errors throughout. For Band 5 to 6 candidates, complex constructions with multiple embedded clauses are often the source of errors, not a solution. For how accuracy and range interact in formal writing, the IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic guide to describing charts and graphs on Speechful’s blog is a useful reference.

The Biggest Misconception About Which Criterion Is Lowering Your Band Score

The most common misconception is that grammar is the primary cause of a Writing score below Band 7. For most candidates at Band 5 or 6, grammar is a contributing factor, but it is rarely the most costly one.

In practice, Task Response most often separates Band 5 from Band 6 writers. A candidate who writes grammatically sophisticated sentences while answering only part of the question has produced a partial response. Each criterion carries 25%, so no amount of grammatical accuracy compensates for an incomplete task answer.

The second undiagnosed cause is Coherence and Cohesion. Candidates fix grammar because errors are visible at the sentence level. Coherence problems are not: individual sentences can read clearly while the paragraph as a whole makes no coherent argument. Checking your IELTS essay criterion by criterion surfaces these problems in order of their impact.

Band 5 vs Band 7: What the Same Essay Looks Like Criterion by Criterion

To make the differences concrete, consider a Task 2 prompt: “Some people think governments should fund citizens’ healthcare. Others believe individuals should pay. Discuss both views and give your opinion.”

Criterion	Band 5 response	Band 7 response
Task Response	Discusses only one view; position stated but not maintained throughout	Discusses both views; a clear position is maintained from introduction to conclusion
Coherence and Cohesion	Transitional phrases repeat; some paragraphs shift topics mid-way	Each paragraph makes one clear point; linking language varies and matches the logical relationship
Lexical Resource	Uses “important” and “good” repeatedly; advanced words appear in incorrect collocations	Topic-specific vocabulary used accurately; collocations are natural (“publicly funded healthcare”)
Grammatical Range and Accuracy	All sentences use the same simple structure; few errors but no variety	Mix of simple, compound, and complex sentences; errors are minor and do not obscure meaning

The Band 5 to 7 difference is diagnosable, not dramatic. See the agree-or-disagree IELTS essay template for Band 7 on Speechful’s blog for how this looks in a full opinion essay.

A Practical Self-Check: Applying All Four Criteria to One Paragraph

Here is what it looks like to check your IELTS essay paragraph by paragraph. Take this sample:

“Healthcare is very important for people. The government should provide it because many citizens cannot afford the high costs. Additionally, the quality of healthcare is better when the government controls it. In some countries, private healthcare has led to inequality in treatment.”

Task Response: The paragraph states a conclusion (“better quality”) without a reason. This does not satisfy the Task Response requirement for development.

Coherence and Cohesion: “Additionally” introduces a separate claim rather than developing the previous one. The link between costs and quality is not made explicit. Three separate ideas, no internal progression.

Lexical Resource: “Very important”, “high costs”, and “better quality” are general phrases. No word choice here signals a wide vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: All four sentences are simple declaratives. No subordination, no conditionals, no variation in clause type. Accuracy is adequate; range is low.

A revised Band 7 paragraph would open with a topic sentence stating the specific mechanism, develop it with a clear explanation, and vary sentence structure across the paragraph.

How to Tell Whether Your Writing Practice Is Actually Moving Your Score

Using this self-check during each practice session creates a diagnostic record that a general re-read cannot provide. After each essay, note which criterion produced the most issues. Over four to six sessions, a pattern will appear.

If Task Response issues clear up but Coherence and Cohesion persists, shift from argument planning to deliberate paragraph organisation. If Lexical Resource issues persist, collocations in context are more productive than isolated word lists.

One limitation: you cannot fully see your own blind spots. Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range errors often go unnoticed precisely because they feel correct to the writer. A systematic check reduces this, but does not eliminate it.

Speechful’s IELTS Writing AI grader applies the same four criteria automatically, with sentence-by-sentence feedback against each one. Visit speechful.ai/ielts-ai to check your IELTS essays with instant criterion-level feedback on every practice essay you write.

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