I enjoy reading research reports on different aspects of the IELTS test on ielts.org
I read a survey that assessed examiners’ confidence in applying IELTS writing band descriptors. Survey basically concluded what we already know: Band descriptors are very ambiguous and even examiners sometimes cannot tell the difference between band 7, 8 , and 9.
Here's an excerpt from the survey:
'Examiner confidence in applying the Grammatical Range and Accuracy band descriptors across bands was lowest at B8 and B9, with fewer than two thirds of examiners expressing confidence: B9 (55%) and B8 (61%). For the other bands confidence ranged between 67% and 93%'
This basically means only 55% of examiners felt confident in evaluating candidates at Band 9 for grammatical range and accuracy
For Band 8, 61% of examiners expressed confidence. This is slightly higher than Band 9 but still shows that many examiners find it challenging to apply the descriptors for this high band.
This is a report from 2019 and since, IELTS has made changes to wording in their IELTS writing band descriptors in order to reduce the ambiguity in band descriptors.
I read a survey that assessed examiners’ confidence in applying IELTS writing band descriptors. Survey basically concluded what we already know: Band descriptors are very ambiguous and even examiners sometimes cannot tell the difference between band 7, 8 , and 9.
Here's an excerpt from the survey:
'Examiner confidence in applying the Grammatical Range and Accuracy band descriptors across bands was lowest at B8 and B9, with fewer than two thirds of examiners expressing confidence: B9 (55%) and B8 (61%). For the other bands confidence ranged between 67% and 93%'
This basically means only 55% of examiners felt confident in evaluating candidates at Band 9 for grammatical range and accuracy
For Band 8, 61% of examiners expressed confidence. This is slightly higher than Band 9 but still shows that many examiners find it challenging to apply the descriptors for this high band.
This is a report from 2019 and since, IELTS has made changes to wording in their IELTS writing band descriptors in order to reduce the ambiguity in band descriptors.