How Grammar is Marked in IELTS

Yes. You cannot deny the fact that grammar surely is important in your next IELTS test, especially in writing section. Feel desperate? Oh please no need to. In order to work on improving your IELTS grammar, it is useful to understand how it is marked.

This in an example of how examiner gives you band score on each parts in IELTS.

Writing:

• Task Achievement / Response – band 6
• Coherence and Cohesion – band 6
• Lexical Resource – band 6
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy – band 5
  

  Overall score = 5.5

The table below shows the two sections on lexis and grammar. These are adapted from the public band descriptors and show you what the examiner is looking for.

Band	Lexical Resource	Grammatical Range & Accuracy
9	Sophisticaled control of lexical features; rare minor ‘slips’ occur	Uses a wide range of structures with full flexibility and accuracy; rare minor errors occur only as slips.
8	Produces rare errors in spelling and / or word formation	Uses a wide range of structures The majority of sentences are error-free Makes only very occasional errors or inappropriateness
7	Occasional errors in word choice, spelling, and / or word formation	Uses a variety of complex structures Produces frequent error-free sentences Has good control of grammar and punctuation but may make a few errors
6	Some errors in spelling and / or word formation, but they do not impede communication	Uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms Makes some errors in grammar and punctuation but they rarely reduce communication
5	Noticeable errors in spelling and / or word formation that may cause some difficulty for the reader	Uses only a limited range of structures Attempts complex sentences but these tend to be less accurate than simple sentences May make frequent grammatical errors and punctuation may be faulty; errors can cause some difficulty for the reader
4	Limited control of word formation and / or spelling; errors may cause strain for the reader	Uses only a very limited range of structures with only rare use of subordinate clauses Some structures are accurate but errors predominate, and punctuation is often faulty
3	Errors may severely distort the message	Attempts sentence forms but errors in grammar and punctuation predominate and distort the meaning
2	Essentially no control of word formation and / or spelling	Cannot use sentence forms except in memorised phrases
1	Can only use a few isolated words	Cannot use sentence forms at all

So which band you need on your IELTS writing? Obey those rules on the table above and you may get what you want. Keep practicing !