Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Range Without Errors

There are two ways to do badly on this criterion. If you write only simple sentences, your accuracy cannot save the band, because the criterion marks range as well as accuracy. If you try difficult structures and fill the essay with errors, your range cannot save it either.

Variety counts only when you can control it. This guide shows what that means at each band.

This is the last part of our series on the four Writing criteria. The hub is How IELTS Writing Is Marked, and the previous part covered lexical resource.

Grammatical range and accuracy is marked in both Writing tasks source: ielts.org.

What the criterion measures

This criterion judges your writing at sentence level. It looks at the range of structures you use, across simple, compound and complex sentences, and whether they suit the task. It looks at how accurate each kind of sentence is, and at how many grammar errors there are and what effect they have. It also covers punctuation source: ielts.org.

Punctuation is easy to forget. It has no criterion of its own, so commas, full stops and apostrophes are marked here.

Coherence and cohesion looks at your essay as a whole text. This criterion looks at it one sentence at a time. An essay has to pass both checks, because each one catches different problems.

The ladder from band 5 to band 9

In the Task 2 band descriptors, punctuation appears at every band. Complex sentences move from faulty at band 5 to "some flexibility and accuracy" at band 7. By band 8, a wide range of structures is flexible and accurate.

source: ielts.org

What changes from band 6 to band 7

At band 6, complex structures are less accurate than simple ones. At band 7, "error-free sentences are frequent" source: ielts.org.

So the step from 6 to 7 is more sentences with no errors in them. At band 7, complex structures are no longer where most of your errors are. The band does not ask for perfect grammar. It asks whether you can go beyond simple sentences without making more mistakes.

That changes how you should practise. Do not add harder structures. Add more structures that you can write without errors.

Here is one short passage written two ways, for this page.

Although the city built new roads, but traffic become worse.^{note 1} The government should invest in buses it is cheaper.^{note 2}

Although the city built new roads, traffic became worse.^{note 3} The government should invest in buses, which cost less to run.^{note 4}

1. At band 6, "examples of more complex structures are not marked by the same level of accuracy as in simple structures" source: ielts.org. This complex sentence has two errors: "although" and "but" are used together, and "become" is in the wrong tense.
2. Punctuation is part of this criterion source: ielts.org. Here two sentences run together with no punctuation between them.
3. This is the same "although" structure, now written correctly. The writer kept the complex sentence and fixed it.
4. At band 7, "a variety of complex structures is used with some flexibility and accuracy" source: ielts.org. Here a relative clause, a part starting with "which", adds a reason inside one correct sentence.

Both versions use an "although" sentence. Only the second one gets it right, and it adds a second complex structure without an error.

How to improve your grammar for IELTS Writing

Build on structures you already know

Choose structures you can already write, such as a conditional, a relative clause or a sentence with "although". Practise them until you can write them without errors under time pressure.

Two or three complex patterns written correctly show more control than six written half right.

Check for your own errors

If you write a very long answer, you may not have time to check and correct it at the end source: ielts.org.

So learn which mistakes you make most often, and keep the last few minutes to look for exactly those. Each error you find and fix gives you one more correct sentence.

Treat punctuation as grammar

A run-on sentence joins two sentences with no punctuation at all. A comma splice joins them with only a comma. On this criterion both are grammar errors, not a matter of style.

How much it counts

The four Writing criteria are weighted equally, and each task is assessed on its own source: ielts.org. So grammatical range and accuracy is a quarter of the mark for each task.

This criterion completes the set. With task response, coherence and cohesion and lexical resource, you now have all four. How IELTS Writing Is Marked shows how they combine, and the band score calculator shows what your Writing band does to your overall score.

To plan your practice across all four, use our Writing improvement plan.

The public Writing band descriptors and key assessment criteria are published on ielts.org. The equal weighting of the criteria is on IELTS scoring in detail, and the note on long answers on the Academic Writing format page. Descriptors updated May 2023. Last checked on 27 September 2026. The example sentences were written for this page and are not from any test.