How writing and speaking sections are graded

Even though, your test score is a single number for each of the four sections of the exam, this is not how all sections are assessed. In the speaking and writing sections there are four criteria for assigning a band. Understanding how each of the criteria is evaluated is important to maximizing your band score. This is because we should try to give the assessor what they are looking for so that they will assign a high grade! As an example, in the speaking test - you need to use a few idioms or some uncommonly used language in order to score a 7 for the vocabulary section of your score. As for grammar, you need to make use of some complex or compound sentences or your score is limited to a 5, in terms of grammar.

How the writing test is assessed and graded

Your writing test is graded and marked from 1-9 in accordance with four key criteria, as follows:

Task Fulfillment: This concerns whether you dealt with all parts of the question, and also whether you fully developed all parts of your answer.

Coherence & Cohesion: Coherence denotes to whether your writings are easy to comprehend and cohesion refers to the way it fits together - such as the quality of your sentence structure, paragraphing, and use of connectives.

Vocabulary: To achieve a high band you must use higher level words, pay concentration to collocation, and also control your word endings (use singular/plural appropriately and use the appropriate verb ending for the appropriate tense).

Grammar: To achieve high band you should use a variety of sentence types (simple, compound, complex) and also stay away from grammatical mistakes, be careful with articles and prepositions and sentence order when they make your writing difficult to understand.

How the speaking test is assessed and graded

Your speaking test is graded and marked from 1-9 in accordance with four key criteria, as follows:

Fluency and coherence: Fluency is about your capacity to talk at a regular speed without undue pause and restarting. Coherence refers to your speaking being easy to understand.

Vocabulary: To achieve a high band you must utilize higher level words, pay concentration to collocation, and also control your word endings (pay attention to singular/plural and use the proper verb ending for the proper tense). In addition you should try to show an ability to paraphrase and use colloquial language.

Grammar: To achieve a high band you should use a array of sentence types (simple, compound, complex) and also stay away from grammatical inaccuracies, such as with articles and prepositions and sentence orders.
Accent: Your score is influenced by accent; the level to which your accent makes it difficult to understand what you are saying, and also the level to which you use language features of a native speaker such as intonation, stress, and rhythm.