An IELTS band 7 makes a huge difference for those who intend to emigrate. A band 7 gives them an edge and helps them receive admission from a good university or land a better job. But is it easy? What do we need to achieve this score?
To answer the questions above, we should first find a proper answer for these two questions?
So let’s first answer these two questions.
A band 7 scorer, according to Cambridge English, is a “Good User” of the language. This means that the person can practically use their second language knowledge in different situations to give explanations and make arguments. This person can handle complex language and understand detailed reasoning. However, they are likely to make mistakes and use the language inaccurately, but these mistakes do not harm communication.
A band 7 is an overall score and is an average for the candidate’s performance in 4 different skills: speaking, writing, listening, and Reading. Multiple candidates can have different performances and receive various scores in terms of the four skills but with the same overall score.
Let’s take a look at the scores below:
The overall score for all these four candidates is 7; however, each shows different proficiency level in different skills.
Many candidates claim that achieving 7 in some skills is much harder than in other skills. That is true. A candidate who has a wide range of vocabulary and is a fast reader is likely to score high in the Reading part, or for a shy person who does not have the confidence to talk, the Speaking part can be the scariest. But for most candidates, writing is known to be the most challenging one because it is the only skill that we don’t engage in as frequently as we engage in the other three.
For someone who wants to achieve a particular band score, say 7, it is vital to know what their English level actually is. Determining English level requires a thorough assessment test. It is not enough to know that you are a B2 leaner.
In case you are not familiar with English levels based on CEFR, read this article:
Two learners of the same CEFR level can end up with different scores on the test. Therefore, the level of learners should be determined carefully, and it is better to be according to the four skills being tested by IELTS. The Speaking level of a B2 student might equal band 6.5, and for another student of the same level could be 6 or even 5.5.
We have to know what is actual level is so that we can know how much effort and time we need to achieve a particular band score. For a strong B2 level student, the time required for attaining overall band 7 could be about a year, but for a weak B2 learner, this time could be twice as much or even longer. All IELTS teachers should be honest with their students and tell them what their level is and how much it would take to prepare for the test. Indeed, this is only a guess and can be influenced by many different factors, including the learner’s determination, intelligence, time to practice, the extent of their exposure to English, and their teacher’s competency.
According to the CEFR scale, a C1 learner (an advanced learner) is expected to achieve band 7. Also, a competent B2 level might be able to score 7 but the likelihood of that is not much. Now, let’s go through the skills and see how a band 7 performs in different parts of the test.
Scoring 7 requires participants to answer at least 30 questions (out of 40) correctly. To do so, participants should be able to understand everyday talks properly and follow them with no problems. It is important that they have the readiness to multi-task, which means listening to the recordings and reading the questions, and answering them all at the same time because the recordings are played only once.
To achieve band 7 IELTS candidates need to answer 30 out of 40 questions correctly. Considering that candidates are expected to read 3 passages of about 1500-2000 words within 60 minutes and answer the questions, to achieve band 7 candidates need to be fast readers.
Considering that Speaking is a productive skill (not a receptive one), many participants find it hard to achieve a band 7. To get that score, candidates should speak fluently with no more than a few noticeable pauses and use a relatively wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures to discuss a range of topics. A band 7 scorer is not expected to speak with high precision and use complex grammatical structures and sophisticated words. As long as the examiner feels that the candidate can communicate conveniently and express their ideas with no noticeable effort and difficulty, they are likely to score 7.
I have extensively discussed achieving Writing band 7 in the article below:
Writing band 7: Why so challenging?
It is indeed a great challenge for many candidates to score 7 in Writing and many, despite their efforts and achieving scoring high in the other three skills, fail to score 7 in the Writing part. To just give a hint, a 7 in Writing is not solely about Vocabulary and Grammar, unlike what many test-takers presume.
For someone who has a good knowledge of general English, band 7 is not out of reach. It only requires concerted effort and determination. There are many people who end up with even 7.5 and, in some cases, 8. So, a 7 is not impossible. My recommendation to those who are a 6.5 and struggle to get 7 is to identify their weaknesses and address them, rather than aimlessly improving their Reading or Listening scores or getting a better score in a skill that they already excel at.
