How to Write a Band 7 Essay

 A surprisingly large number of candidates claim that their IELTS writing lags behind while they perform well in other modules. Despite their best efforts and a lot of training, their writing suffers. Here we intend to unravel the secrets of a band 7 writing. 

Ideas! Ideas! Ideas: Ironically, many test takers pay little attention to the fact that they cannot write a good essay without logical points to elaborate on, and those who do not have reading habit are the worst sufferers. If you wish to score well in the writing component, you need to start early, identify the main and most common subject areas, read aroun them, brainstorm, and ensure that you have enough relevant points. It usually takes about two months of time for a dedicated student to cover the main subject areas.

Organization Matters: Interestingly, many candidates are habitual of writing essays using templates for the purpose of achieving cohesion. Essays are supposed to be cohesive but it needs to be achieved in a natural way. In other words, the efforts you put in to achieve cohesiveness should not not be visible to the reader. The problem with templates is that they often contain long "any essay' sentences, and examiners are wise enough to identify this. Instead of writing template-based essays, you need to learn the mechanics of essay writing and write your essay naturally. 

Linguistic Repertoire: Remember, this is ultimately a language test; therefore, you need to exhibit your lexical resources in an effective manner. This is not about using words that are unheard of, but using a variety of topic related words and phrases so that the the topic is explained with precision. Some students, and some trainers, have the habit of using synonyms to introduce variety, but doing so without adequate knowledge is a dangerous business. Often words have subtle differences in their meaning despite being synonyms. Therefore, use words that you are sufficiently familiar with. Instead of trying synonyms, try to read around different subjects and collect relevant vocabulary. In addition, learn collocations so that your essay looks native-like. 

The Dreaded Grammar: There is no way you can ignore it. You need to present a variety of grammatical structures without mistakes. So, as an IELTS aspirant, you need to become familiar with different simple, complex, and compound sentence structures.

Thus, it is obvious that a 7 band essay is the result of native- like proficiency. For a candidate who is not a native English speaker, it requires proper planning and preparation. You need to work on various areas simultaneously and independently,  ranging from idea, organization, vocabulary, and grammar.