How to Self-Assess Your IELTS Writing Using the Band Descriptors
Imran from Hyderabad wrote an essay every day for a month. He could not tell whether he was improving.
Read your essay four times, once for each criterion, and ask a few specific questions each time. Self-assessment will not give an exact band, but it shows where you may be losing marks and whether you are improving.
Why should you evaluate one criterion at a time?
Reading a draft once from start to finish makes it easy to follow the message and miss the details, such as missing articles or repeated linking words. One criterion per read gives you a single question to answer each time.
It also matches the way IELTS marks: examiners give a score for each of the four criteria, and the score for a task is the average.
Vocabulary is one of those four criteria, so impressive words address one criterion out of four.
Incorrect: “This essay sounds sophisticated, so it must deserve a high band.”
Correct: Score it against each criterion in turn; a draft that sounds impressive can still lose marks on Task Response or Coherence and Cohesion.
Which questions should you ask for each criterion?
The public band descriptors on the IELTS website describe each criterion at each band. Our guide to the criteria in plain English shows what Band 7 needs.
| Criterion | Questions to ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement or Task Response | Did I cover each part? Is my overview, purpose or position clear? |
| Coherence and Cohesion | Is each paragraph focused? Do ideas progress logically? |
| Lexical Resource | Are my word choices precise? Are collocations and spellings accurate? |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | Did I vary my sentences? Are many error-free, with punctuation controlled? |
Use these four passes:
- Task: reread the question first, underline your position or overview, and tick each part (or each letter bullet point).
- Organisation: read just the first sentence of each paragraph and check that the ideas progress.
- Vocabulary: circle repeated words and any collocation you doubt, then check them in a dictionary.
- Grammar and punctuation: read each sentence slowly and mark each error by type.
After each pass, write one line naming the main problem you found. Those lines become your next practice target.
What are the limits of self-assessment?
Self-assessment is a diagnostic tool, not a score. Writing is marked by trained and certificated IELTS examiners, and a band from an online scoring tool is not an IELTS result, so treat it with caution. You also know what you meant to say, so you may read an unclear sentence as clear.
For calibration, read our Band 6, 7 and 8 comparison. IELTS itself says its sample scripts should not be regarded as definitive examples of any band, so use comparisons to compare, not to predict.
Feedback from a trained teacher can also show blind spots you miss on your own.
How can you track your progress over time?
An error log helps you see patterns. Note the date, the task prompt and the errors you found in each essay, like these invented entries:
| Date | Task | Weakest criterion | Main problem to fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 October | Task 2 | Grammatical Range and Accuracy | Missing articles in four sentences |
| 6 October | Task 1 | Task Achievement | No overview paragraph |
After a few essays, you may notice that agreement slips appear in your longest sentences, or that you sometimes skip the overview in Task 1.
Store your dated essays in a binder or folder, and compare older drafts with recent ones to see whether your accuracy is growing. In timed practice, finish with a short checklist for the last minutes.
Tip
Wait a day before assessing a practice essay, so you read it with fresher eyes.
Key Takeaways
- Read your draft four times, with one criterion in mind each time.
- Examiners score four criteria equally, and a task score is their average.
- A band from an online tool is not an IELTS result.
- Keep dated essays and an error log to track progress across weeks.
The bottom line: Imran’s daily essays will show his progress once he marks each one criterion by criterion and keeps the dated results.