In this post: Why writing more essays rarely moves a stuck score, how the four criterion scores show what an overall 6.5 hides, and what my own score log looks like.
Find Recurring Problems · 3 parts
- 1. Why essay counts mislead (you are here)
- 2. Five steps and a log template
- 3. Weekly review and exercise
✦ In this post
When people prepare for IELTS Writing, many of them comfort themselves with the number of essays they have written: I’ve done dozens, so I must be improving, right? And yet the Writing score comes back as 6.5. Write a few dozen more, and it is still 6.5.
The first page of my Google Doc of essay notes, “Road to Band 7.5”, is a score log. The Task 1 log lists 64 essays and the Task 2 log lists 62. That is not a small number, but a log like that only tells me how much I wrote. It does not show where I was stuck. What finally made the problem concrete was my record from 20 May to 2 July 2024: I sent about 50 essays to Mike for marking, and every essay came back with four criterion scores (TA/TR, CC, LR and GRA). Once I lined those scores up, the problem became very specific.
This post is not about how the marker judged my essays. It shows what I did with the scores once I had them: how I read my own records. You don’t need the same marker, and you don’t need to write 50 essays. As long as you keep a record consistently, you can use the same steps to find your own recurring problems.
1. If you’re stuck after many essays, the number of essays is rarely the problem
The short answer first: people who are stuck usually haven’t “practised too little”. They keep losing marks on the same thing in every essay, and they don’t know which thing it is.
The IELTS Writing score is made up of four criteria, each worth 25%. If you only record an overall score, say 6.5, you can’t tell whether that 6.5 means “all four criteria around 6.5” or “three 7s and one 5”. Those two situations need completely different practice: the first needs all-round improvement, while in the second you only need to fix the one weak criterion and the overall score will move.
| Criterion | What the public band descriptors look at (my plain-English summary) | Common signs you’re losing marks |
|---|---|---|
| TA (Task 1) TR (Task 2) | Task 1: a clear overview, the key features selected, accurate data. Task 2: every part of the question answered, a clear and consistent position, ideas extended and supported | An overview that is too vague or simply wrong; missing an important change or step; reading a number from the wrong row; in Task 2, answering only half the question or a position that wobbles |
| CC | Whether the paragraphing is logical, each paragraph has a clear central idea, and linking and referencing between sentences feel natural | No topic sentence; two ideas squeezed into one paragraph; lots of linking words but the logic doesn’t actually connect |
| LR | Range and accuracy of vocabulary, collocation, spelling | Collocations translated directly from your first language; the same word repeated again and again; inaccurate synonyms used just to vary the wording |
| GRA | Range of sentence structures, grammatical accuracy, punctuation | Errors that turn up “a little in every essay”: singular/plural, articles, subject–verb agreement, comma splices |
You should also know that Task 2 counts for twice as much as Task 1 in the Writing score. So when you notice that one criterion keeps pulling down your Task 1, ask yourself at the same time: does the same problem show up in Task 2? If it only appears in Task 1, its impact is smaller. If it appears in both, it is the problem to deal with first.
2. What my score log looks like
The first part of my essay notes is the score log: one master table for Task 1 and one for Task 2, with the same columns:
| Column | What goes in it | What the column is for |
|---|---|---|
| No. | The running number of the essay in the log | Shows how many essays I have written in total and makes it easy to find one again |
| Date | The date I wrote it | Shows how dense my practice was, and lets me match scores against test dates |
| Topic | Keywords from the question | Searchable later, when I want to find “which education questions have I done?” |
| Source | Cambridge past papers, homework questions, predicted questions and so on | Separates real exam questions from ones I found myself; real questions are usually more useful as a reference |
| Marking | Who marked it, or whether it was marked at all | Different markers don’t always use the same standard, so their scores should be compared separately |
| Ref | The code of the essay later in my notes (for example L01–L13 for Task 1 line graphs) | Takes me straight from the log to the original essay and its corrections |
| Corrected | A mark such as V or N/A for the correction status | Shows at a glance which marked essays I still haven’t worked through |
The strength of this table is that things can be found: every essay has a fixed place, and the log and the essays are linked by the reference code. But it was missing one thing: the four criterion scores. For the period from 20 May to 2 July 2024, I also recorded TA/TR, CC, LR, GRA and the overall score for every essay, and the analysis below is based on that data.
If you already have your own log, you don’t need to start again. Just add two columns, the four criterion scores and “the biggest problem in this essay”, and you can do the analysis that follows. My full list of suggested columns is in section 4 (in Part 2).
Continue reading · Part 2 of 3
IELTS Notes in English · Practice Methods (post 3 of 5)
← Previous: From Band 6.5 to 7.0 in IELTS Writing: Looking Back on How I Prepared
Next →: After Your Essay Is Marked: Turning Feedback into Notes You Will Use
Task 1 Structure · Task 2 Structure · Topic Guides · Writing Language · Band Score Samples · Practice Methods · Speaking & Study Tips
✦ Target Your Future
Some days you practise for hours and the score still does not move. I hope these notes remind you that the setbacks are part of the road: every recording you replayed, every essay you rewrote and every sentence you finally dared to say is progress you have already made.
I wrote this down so the next person can take fewer detours. You do not have to follow my method exactly. Find a rhythm that works for you, rest when you need to, and come back for the next small step.
I hope what you take away is more than a number on a score report: a little more confidence in yourself, and the courage to step a bit closer to the world.
— Ting
← Back to IELTS notes in English
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