The questions Band 6.5 candidates keep asking. 雅思 Band 7+ 常见问题 · 27 个真实问题

Absolutely not. Memorisation is the number one mistake that leads to Band 6 or lower. The examiner is trained to spot rehearsed speech.

Lack of flexibility: if the examiner changes the topic slightly, you'll pause, lose fluency, and your answer will sound unnatural. Unnatural pronunciation: memorised speech often sounds robotic and lacks natural stress and intonation.

Instead, memorise the structure (A-R-E, P.P.F.E., F-E-E-L) and high-scoring collocations. This lets you combine flexible ideas with advanced vocabulary. This is the most important single piece of advice in the entire book for Chinese learners: examiners today are specifically trained to penalise pre-memorised speech.

Usually two or three sentences, using A-R-E — but length is not the target, and there is no minimum. When the examiner is moving through the quick opening questions, one sentence can be the right answer: "Yes, I'm a student — second year, engineering." Stopping when you have finished is a fluency strength, not a gap. Extending every single answer to its full length is itself a tell.

Underdeveloped (Band 5–6): "I like my hometown because it's quiet." The reason is stated but nothing is done with it.

Developed (Band 7+): "Yeah, I do — it's quiet, which I didn't appreciate at all until I moved to Beijing for a few years. Coming back, that's the thing I notice first."

Note what is absent from the second one: no the primary reason is, no for instance. The reason and the example arrive without being announced.

No. All speakers, even natives, pause. The key is how you pause. Avoid long, silent pauses or "umms."

High-scoring pauses: use natural hesitation markers (discourse markers) while you organise your thoughts. This demonstrates you're grappling with a complex idea — a Band 7+ signal.

Examples: "That's a tough one… let me think…" · "I suppose the most striking thing is…" · "It depends, really…"

Keep these ordinary. "That's a profoundly insightful question" is not a hesitation marker, it is a performance — and examiners hear the difference immediately.

Stick to the P.P.F.E. structure (Past, Present, Future, Emotion / Elaborate), which gives you four distinct time zones to cover.

If you run out of detail in the Past or Present, immediately jump to the Future section. Discuss the long-term impact of the event or what you plan to do next. Use Future Continuous or Second Conditional:

"Looking ahead, I believe the impact will be felt for years. If I were to encounter that situation again, I would feel more prepared."

Part 3 is an academic debate. Avoid casual language ("gonna," "yep") and use the F-E-E-L structure (Find Core, Explain Why, Evidence, Link / Limit) combined with advanced grammar:

Use the passive voice. Instead of "The government should make rules," say "New regulations should be implemented by the government."

Use conditional sentences. These automatically make your argument sound theoretical and formal: "Were governments to invest in high-speed rail, commuters would save hours every week."

Focus exclusively on collocations. Collocations (words that naturally go together, like traffic congestion or heavy workload) are what examiners listen for because they show natural, fluent, and precise English.

Practice strategy: learn the pairing, not the single word. Difficult on its own gets you nowhere; a tricky junction, a heavy workload, a steep learning curve do the work, because the noun and the adjective belong together.

Collect them from what you read and hear rather than from a list, and say each one aloud before you keep it. If it feels like someone else's words in your mouth, drop it — a phrase you chose yourself is one you can vary under pressure, and a borrowed one is not. Match the register too: a steep learning curve suits Part 1; an arduous undertaking belongs in Part 3.

Don't panic and do not remain silent. Silence is the worst score killer.

Safety net strategy (Band 7+): politely ask for clarification. This shows a high level of language awareness — it's a Band 7+ skill, not a weakness.

Phrases: "Sorry, could you say that another way?" or, for a specific term, "What do you mean by 'unsustainable practices'?" Asking plainly is the natural thing to do; over-formal apology draws more attention than the gap did.

In Part 2, yes. In Part 1, no. The Guide teaches the paraphrase opening for the cue card, where you have preparation time and a topic to restate. In Part 1 it delays the answer and makes it sound assembled.

Examiner: "Do you enjoy cooking?"

Assembled: "I find preparing food to be truly rewarding." — correct English, wrong register. This is a chat about your evenings, not a presentation.

Natural: "Most nights, yeah — though it's pretty basic on a work day." Range shows in pretty basic on a work day, not in preparing food.

Replace "very" plus a simple adjective with one precise word. But match the word to the part of the test — under Lexical Resource, appropriacy is assessed too, and a Part 3 word in a Part 1 answer is a lapse rather than a display of range.

very interesting → fascinating, gripping (Part 1) · thought-provoking (Part 3)

very difficult → tricky, a real slog (Part 1) · immensely challenging (Part 3)

very important → a big deal, essential (Part 1) · indispensable (Part 3)

The right-hand column is not better English. It is Part 3 English.

Use them sparingly and accurately. Limit yourself to one or two well-placed idioms per part. If you use them unnaturally, they'll hurt your score.

Safe choices: a double-edged sword (for any topic with pros/cons) · to stem from (for any question about causes).

Avoid: overly casual or complicated idioms (e.g. "A stitch in time saves nine"). Stick to those that align with formal discussion.

Second and Third Conditionals are the most powerful structures.

Why: they inherently allow you to engage in the high-level tasks required for Part 3 — speculating, hypothesising, and critiquing past actions.

Example: "If governments were to invest more in bike lanes, commuters would save money and time." (Second Conditional)

Yes, but be cautious. The score is a balance between Range and Accuracy.

Band 7 strategy: the examiner will tolerate occasional errors if they're balanced by a wide range of structures. An attempt at Negative Inversion (e.g. "Never before had I…") with a small word-order mistake is better than avoiding the structure entirely — provided your simple tenses are 100% accurate.

This is the weakest point for many intermediate students. Accuracy in simple tenses is critical.

Action plan: if you cannot use the nine core tenses accurately, your score for Grammatical Accuracy will likely be capped at Band 6, regardless of how many complex sentences you try. Master the basics first.

The Passive Voice is essential in Part 3 when you need to be formal and generalise, especially when the agent is unknown or unimportant.

Use for generalisation: Instead of "The city council implements new rules," say "New regulations have been implemented to curb traffic congestion."

Use for academic opinion: Instead of "People believe that…" say "It is widely acknowledged that…"

Use advanced discourse markers and subordinate clauses for greater coherence and grammatical range.

To contrast: While, Although, Having said that, Conversely.

To justify: The reason why, This is primarily attributable to, Due to the fact that.

Example: "Although it is widely acknowledged that technology saves time, conversely, the reason why I worry is that it increases social isolation."