The learner can deploy higher-band vocabulary and grammar (collocations, paraphrase, complex sentences) accurately across writing and speaking.
What lifts your Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range scores
Moving from band 6 to band 7+ in vocabulary and grammar
Two of the four marking criteria — Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy — directly reward the vocabulary and grammar you use. Understanding what examiners look for in these areas allows you to make targeted improvements.
For Lexical Resource, higher bands reward: (1) topic collocations used naturally (e.g. 'address a problem', not 'solve a problem'; 'a sharp rise', not 'a big rise'); (2) paraphrase to avoid repetition of key words — if the question uses 'pollution', use 'environmental contamination', 'harmful emissions', or 'toxic waste' in your answer; (3) less common but accurate vocabulary chosen because it fits, not to impress. Using a sophisticated word wrongly lowers your score.
For Grammatical Range and Accuracy, examiners want to see a variety of structures used correctly: relative clauses ('the factory, which was built in 1990, ...'), conditionals ('if governments invested more, ...'), passive voice ('the report was published in 2023'), cleft sentences ('what concerns me most is...'), and complex/compound sentences joined by subordinating conjunctions. The key rule is: range without accuracy does not help. A simple sentence written correctly scores better than a complex sentence with multiple errors.
Before/after upgrade example — Band 6: 'The number of cars went up a lot and this caused problems.' Band 7+: 'The number of private vehicles rose sharply, which placed considerable pressure on urban infrastructure.' Notice: precise collocation ('rose sharply'), relative clause ('which placed...'), and less common vocabulary ('considerable pressure', 'urban infrastructure').
Lesson notes
Moving from band 6 to band 7+ in vocabulary and grammar
Two of the four marking criteria — Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy — directly reward the vocabulary and grammar you use. Understanding what examiners look for in these areas allows you to make targeted improvements.
For Lexical Resource, higher bands reward: (1) topic collocations used naturally (e.g. 'address a problem', not 'solve a problem'; 'a sharp rise', not 'a big rise'); (2) paraphrase to avoid repetition of key words — if the question uses 'pollution', use 'environmental contamination', 'harmful emissions', or 'toxic waste' in your answer; (3) less common but accurate vocabulary chosen because it fits, not to impress. Using a sophisticated word wrongly lowers your score.
For Grammatical Range and Accuracy, examiners want to see a variety of structures used correctly: relative clauses ('the factory, which was built in 1990, ...'), conditionals ('if governments invested more, ...'), passive voice ('the report was published in 2023'), cleft sentences ('what concerns me most is...'), and complex/compound sentences joined by subordinating conjunctions. The key rule is: range without accuracy does not help. A simple sentence written correctly scores better than a complex sentence with multiple errors.
Before/after upgrade example — Band 6: 'The number of cars went up a lot and this caused problems.' Band 7+: 'The number of private vehicles rose sharply, which placed considerable pressure on urban infrastructure.' Notice: precise collocation ('rose sharply'), relative clause ('which placed...'), and less common vocabulary ('considerable pressure', 'urban infrastructure').