Why You Keep Getting 6.5 in Writing — and the 3 Fixes That Move You to 7.0
A Writing 6.5 is often two criteria at band 7 and two at band 6, and the public band descriptors explain why it repeats: a criterion reaches 7 only when every band-7 feature in it is there. Find your two from marked essays, or from three counts if you have no teacher. Then use the fix for each: answer every part of the task, take two ideas further instead of listing four, and make the long sentences you already write correct. Task 1 is included, Academic and General Training, and each fix comes with a count, so you can see whether it has held before you book again. Updated for 2026: the checks are built for the test on computer, typed and without a spell checker.
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Category:Band-Score Targeting
Contents
- Part 1 — What a Writing 6.5 is made of
- Part 2 — Why it keeps coming back
- Part 3 — Three writers, three pairs
- Part 4 — Fix 1: Answer all of it
- Part 5 — Fix 2: Take two ideas further
- Part 6 — Fix 3: Make the sentences you already write correct
- Part 7 — Proving it moved
- Part 8 — Your Writing sheet
- The end