From Band 6.5 to 7.0 in IELTS Writing: Looking Back on How I Prepared (Part 2 of 3): Fifty Essays with Criterion Scores, and the Last Mile

IELTS · Practice Methods中文版　Updated 2026/11/09

In this post: Six weeks and about 50 essays with four criterion scores each, then the last mile: a shorter structure, a one-skill retake and the re-mark that turned 6.5 into 7.0.

5. Stage 3 (20 May – 2 July 2024): 50 essays, four criterion scores

From 20 May I started sending my essays to Mike for marking. By 2 July I had written about 50 (27 Task 1 and 23 Task 2), and every one came back with TA/TR, CC, LR and GRA scores. In the middle of this period I also took the IDP test on 4 June and got Writing 6.5; I requested a re-mark on 11 June, and again nothing changed.

The scores for these 50 essays are the most complete data set from my whole preparation. When I put this series together, I recalculated them:

Criterion scores made the problems concrete

In Task 2, the problem was CC. Early on, my Task 2 TR was often 8, so the arguments themselves were fine; what dragged the score down was paragraph organisation. From 19 June onwards, all eight remaining Task 2 essays got CC 8, and all five of my Task 2 scores of 7.5 came in the last two weeks. I’ve written up the paragraph framework for Task 2 in the Task 2 essay framework.

In Task 1, the problem was TA. I got TA 5 six times in total (Essays 5, 13, 16, 19, 26 and 36), spread across bar charts, process diagrams, maps and line graphs, and it was still happening on 24 June. CC and language were mostly 7 or above, which means I was losing marks on the overview, the key features and the accuracy of the data: whether the content was correct and complete. How to pick out the key points in Task 1 is covered in the Task 1 overview post.

In Stuck at the Same Score? How to Find Recurring Problems in Your Practice Records, I use this data to show, step by step, how I found these two weak criteria from my scores.

Writing the same question type in a row made progress visible

Writing several essays of the same question type in a row was another place where I could see results during this period. For example, my four Outweigh essays scored 6.5 → 7 → 7.5 → 7.5 overall, and my Discuss both views essays went from 6 on the first one to 7.5 on the last. By contrast, all seven of my Agree/Disagree essays scored 7: very consistent, but no breakthrough.

The scores didn’t rise in a straight line: the average for the week of 10–16 June was actually lower than the second week, because that week my Task 1 essays tackled maps, tables, processes and mixed charts all at once. A drop when you start a new question type is completely normal, and that’s the benefit of exposing your weaknesses before the real test.

6. The last mile: a shorter structure, a one-skill retake and a re-mark

Reworking my structure with Ali: from 400 words to 300

During the sprint after I got my offer, I also took classes with Ali. What helped my writing most was “trimming”: my essays often ran to 350–400 words, so I couldn’t finish and had no time to check. He helped me adjust my introductions and conclusions to bring the total under 300 words, so I could finish within the time limit and still have time to go back and check for errors.

In my post on tutor Ali (in Chinese) I also shared my own view: many people tell you to use complex grammar and vocabulary, but in my experience that raises your error rate and makes you more likely to panic. Rather than aiming for impressive words, aim for precise ones: get your error rate down first, and only then go for long, complex sentences and rare vocabulary. In the end I didn’t use any very difficult words, and I still got Writing 7.0.

The 4 July retake and the 9 July re-mark

The last batch Mike marked was on 2 July. Two days later, on 4 July, I took the Writing one-skill retake with IDP. The result came out at 12:31 on 9 July: Writing 6.5.

In my post on my successful IDP re-mark (in Chinese), I described how I felt at the time: even though my first three re-marks had failed, this time I felt I had prepared thoroughly. I found it hard to believe that all that practice had produced no progress, and I wanted to stand up for myself, so I requested a re-mark at 8 pm that same evening. The result came out at 10:04 pm: Writing went up from 6.5 to 7.0, and my overall score from 7.5 to 8.0.

My view on re-marks

I requested four re-marks in total, and only one succeeded. In three re-marks in a row, all unsuccessful (in Chinese), I wrote that I had asked two examiners, and both said that the examiner doing the re-mark doesn’t know the original score. So the idea that “you’re more likely to succeed if you were just short of the next band” doesn’t seem to be right; what matters is mainly how you performed on the day.

My advice: if your result is clearly out of line with how you usually perform, it may be worth a try. If it’s about the same as usual, the re-mark uses the same standard, so you don’t necessarily need to spend the money. Looking back, in the last two weeks before my fourth request, 18 of the 21 essays in my practice records were at 7 or above.