Band 6 IELTS Essay Sample with Examiner-Style Comments

Most advice about Band 6 tells you what a Band 6 essay lacks. That is far less useful than seeing a real Band 6 essay in full, with the exact features that fixed its score pointed out line by line. So that is what this page does. Below is a complete Task 2 answer from our IELTS essay bank that scores 6 on all four criteria, followed by examiner-style comments on each one — and, just as importantly, what would push it to Band 7.

A note on the label: these are examiner-style comments, written against the public IELTS band descriptors — not marks from an official examiner. That is how you should read any online sample, including this one.

What a Band 6 essay looks like (quick checklist)

Before the sample, here is the short version of what earns Band 6 — and what keeps it there rather than at 7. Use it as a self-check on your own writing.

Criterion	What Band 6 looks like
Task Response	Addresses every part and stays relevant, but some ideas are under-developed and the position is not always fully supported
Coherence & Cohesion	Clear overall progression, but cohesion is mechanical (Firstly, The first advantage, To sum up) and some referencing is unclear
Lexical Resource	Adequate topic vocabulary with some attempt at less common words, but noticeable repetition and errors in word choice and spelling
Grammatical Range & Accuracy	A mix of simple and complex sentences, but frequent errors — agreement, articles, countability — that rarely stop communication

Notice the thread running through every row: Band 6 English works. The reader always understands. What holds it at 6 is that the ideas are thin and the errors are frequent — not that anything is broken. That is the single most important thing to understand about this band.

The prompt

This is an advantages-and-disadvantages question on an education theme — one of the most common Task 2 frames:

A growing number of students choose to leave their home country in order to complete a university degree in another part of the world. Do the advantages of studying for a degree abroad outweigh the disadvantages?

Before you read the sample, it is worth writing your own answer to it, timed, on the studying-abroad practice page. You will get far more from the comments below if you have already wrestled with the same prompt yourself.

The Band 6 sample answer

Here is the full response, quoted from the essay bank. Read it once for the argument, then read the criterion-by-criterion analysis that follows.

Today, more and more students go to other countries to study in university. They think it is better for their future. In my opinion, the advantages of studying abroad are more than the disadvantages, although there are some problems.

The first advantage is that students can get a better quality of education. Many universities in countries like UK, USA and Australia are famous in the world and they have modern equipments and good teachers. A degree from this universities can help students to find a good job when they come back. The second advantage is that students can improve their English or other language because they use it every day. Also, they become more independent, because they must cook, clean and manage their money by themself. For example, my cousin studied in Canada for four years and when he returned he was more confident and mature.

However, there are also disadvantages. The biggest problem is the cost. The tuition fees and living costs are very high and many families must borrow money to pay them. Another problem is that students can feel homesick and alone in a new culture, especially in the first year. Some students cannot adapt with the new culture and their marks become low. For example, a friend of mine returned home after only one year because he could not make friends and he missed his family too much.

To sum up, studying abroad has disadvantages like the cost and the loneliness, but I believe the advantages is bigger, because education and experience is important for the future. Students should prepare good before they go.

You can read the same essay with inline highlights on its essay bank page.

Examiner-style comments, criterion by criterion

Task Response: 6

The essay answers the question directly, and the position — that the advantages are greater — is stated in the introduction and repeated in the conclusion. Relevant advantages (quality of education, language, independence) and disadvantages (cost, loneliness) are all presented, so every part of the task is addressed. What keeps it at 6 is that it never actually weighs the two sides: the cost argument is raised and then left unanswered, and the conclusion simply asserts that "education and experience is important" rather than explaining why those benefits beat the drawbacks. The final sentence — "Students should prepare good before they go" — introduces a brand-new idea with no development, a classic Band 6 conclusion.

Coherence & Cohesion: 6

Organisation is clear: introduction, advantages, disadvantages, conclusion, with an obvious overall progression. The problem is that the cohesion is mechanical. Every point is flagged with a stock signpost — "The first advantage", "The second advantage", "Also", "However", "The biggest problem", "Another problem", "To sum up" — rather than with linking that shows how ideas relate. Referencing wobbles too: in the second sentence, "They think it is better" never makes clear what studying abroad is better than. The cohesive devices work, but in the formulaic, sometimes faulty way the Band 6 descriptor describes.

Lexical Resource: 6

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, with correct topic phrases such as "living costs", "feel homesick" and "manage their money", and there is some attempt at less common language. But the attempts are often inaccurate: "the advantages … are more than the disadvantages" should be outweigh, "adapt with" should be adapt to, and "their marks become low" is an unnatural collocation (their grades suffer). There is also visible repetition of "advantage", "problem" and "culture". None of this blocks meaning, which is what keeps the criterion at 6 rather than dropping to 5.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy: 6

There is a genuine mix of simple and complex sentences, including concessive and reason clauses ("although there are some problems", "because they use it every day") and a time clause ("when he returned"). But errors are frequent and spread across several patterns: articles ("countries like UK, USA" for the UK, the USA; "study in university" for at university), countability ("modern equipments"), determiners ("this universities" for these), a reflexive pronoun ("by themself"), subject–verb agreement ("the advantages is", "education and experience is") and adjective–adverb confusion ("prepare good" for well). They are noticeable throughout but rarely reduce communication — the exact Band 6 boundary.

The pattern behind all four scores

Read those four comments together and the same story repeats: the essay is relevant and clear, but thin and error-prone. That is Band 6 in one line. It is not a broken essay — it is a competent one that never fully develops its ideas or brings its sentences under control. Fixing Band 6 is therefore not about writing more or reaching for rare words; it is about extending each point and cleaning up recurring errors.

What would lift this essay to Band 7

Here is what a Band 7 version of the very same essay would change — and none of it is "harder vocabulary":

1. Weigh the sides explicitly. Say why a better degree and greater independence are worth the cost and the loneliness — for example, because the benefits last a whole career while the difficulties are mostly temporary. That single move upgrades Task Response.
2. Vary the cohesion. Replace "The first advantage / The second advantage" with linking that shows relationships ("More importantly", "In practical terms", "Admittedly"), and make every reference word point clearly to something.
3. Use precise verbs and correct collocations. Outweigh instead of "are more than", adapt to a new culture, their grades suffer — accurate ordinary language, not showy words.
4. Kill the repeated grammar errors. Articles before country names (the UK), plural determiners (these universities), uncountable nouns (equipment), agreement (the advantages are) and adverbs after verbs (prepare well).

To see exactly what that finished Band 7 reads like, compare the Band 7 version of this same prompt in the essay bank. Reading one criterion — say, Task Response — across the Band 6 and Band 7 answers is the fastest way to make the jump concrete. Our full walkthrough of that method is here: Band 6 vs 7 vs 8 on one prompt, and the drills for the specific gap are in how to go from Band 6 to Band 7 in writing.

More Band 6 samples to study

One sample is not a pattern. To train your eye for what a Band 6 actually contains, read these annotated Band 6 essays across different question types and topics:

• Traffic congestion in cities — a problem-and-solution essay where vocabulary slips to Band 5 while the other criteria hold at 6.
• Free university education — an agree-or-disagree essay with a clear but thinly supported position.
• Protecting minority languages — a two-part question showing how under-developed ideas cap Task Response.

Read the same criterion across all three and the Band 6 signature — relevant, clear, thin, error-prone — becomes unmistakable. Once you can spot it in someone else's writing, you can spot it in your own.

How to use this sample to raise your own band

Reading a model passively does very little. This routine is what actually moves your score:

1. Write your own timed answer first on the studying-abroad practice page — before you look at the sample again.
2. Score it against the checklist at the top of this page, one criterion at a time. Be honest about which paragraph is thin and which sentences carry the errors.
3. Fix your weakest criterion only. Most Band 6 writers are, say, a 6 on Task Response but drop to 5 on vocabulary — and the average is what caps the score. Target the criterion holding you back.
4. Get an objective second opinion. Paste your essay into our free IELTS writing checker for a free sample score and per-criterion feedback that flags the collocation and agreement slips a self-review usually misses. (See pricing for current free limits.)

Band 6 is not a ceiling — it is a competent base with two fixable habits: thin development and frequent slips. Extend every idea with a reason and an example, clean up the errors that repeat, and the same essay becomes a Band 7.