Stuck at 6.5 in writing? Here's what the examiner saw
The most common score complaint in every IELTS forum: strong everywhere else, writing stuck half a band short. It isn't bad luck — the 6.5 wall fails in predictable ways, visible in the official band descriptors examiners mark against.
How the mark is built
Your writing band is four criteria, each worth 25%: Task Response (Task 2) /Task Achievement (Task 1), Coherence & Cohesion,Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy. An examiner assigns each criterion a whole band; the four average into your section score. That means one criterion at 6 with three at 7 gives 6.75 — reported as writing 6.5 territory. You don't need to be better at everything; you need to find the one criterion dragging.
The two criteria that usually drag
Task Response: a clear position, developed — not just mentioned
Band 6 "addresses all parts of the task" but develops some parts more than others; Band 7 "presents a clear position throughout" with ideas that are extended and supported. The classic 6.5 essay lists three ideas with one sentence of support each. The Band 7 essay takes fewer ideas further: claim → explanation → concrete example → consequence. If your paragraphs are four short sentences on four different points, this is your criterion.
Grammar: complexity WITH accuracy, not instead of it
Band 7 requires "frequent error-free sentences." Candidates chasing 7 often add longer, more complex sentences — and their error rate rises, which is exactly backwards. An essay of clean, moderately complex sentences beats an essay of ambitious broken ones. If your practice feedback keeps flagging small errors in long sentences, shorten the sentences before the exam, not after.
The quieter failure modes
- Coherence: Band 7 wants logical progression with linking that doesn't call attention to itself. Mechanical "Firstly / Secondly / In conclusion" on every paragraph reads as Band 6 cohesion.
- Lexical Resource: precision beats rarity. A memorised "myriad of plethoric opportunities" is a Band 6 signal; the exact everyday word used correctly is a Band 7 one. Memorised phrases that don't fit the question actively cost marks.
- Task 1 (Academic): a missing or vague overview caps Task Achievement hard — it's the single most decisive Task 1 feature.
- Under-length: below 150/250 words loses marks under this same criterion — see the answer rules.
Find your dragging criterion in one afternoon
Write one timed Task 2 in our scored practice — the examiner-style AI feedback scores each criterion separately, quotes the descriptor it matched, and tells you the top priority to fix. Two or three essays of that loop usually names your wall precisely. Then decide between a retake and a remarkwith actual evidence.