How Bandly works
From a rough draft to a clear band, in seconds
Bandly reads your IELTS Writing the way an examiner does — against the official band descriptors — then shows you the shortest path to your target score.
The workflow
Three steps, no learning curve
You never need to know the rubric by heart. Bandly does the grading and hands you a plan.
- 1
Paste your essay or letter
Drop in a Task 1 or Task 2 response — or generate a real practice prompt and write against it. No formatting, no set-up, no rubric to memorise.
- 2
Get your band in seconds
The moment you hit check, Bandly grades all four official criteria and returns an overall band with a score for each, so you can see your strongest and weakest areas at a glance.
- 3
Fix what actually matters
Mistakes are highlighted right inside your text, and every suggestion is tied to a criterion. Lift your weakest band first and watch the overall score follow.
Under the hood
How the score is calculated
Every IELTS Writing band is the average of four equally-weighted criteria. Bandly grades each one from 0–9, so you know exactly where you're losing marks.
Task Achievement / Response
One quarter of your band
Did you answer the whole question? Bandly checks that you address every part of the prompt, state a clear position, and support it with developed, relevant ideas — and for Task 1, that you cover the key features or bullet points.
Coherence & Cohesion
One quarter of your band
How well your ideas flow. We look at paragraphing, logical progression, and your use of linking words and referencing — flagging both missing signposts and the connectors you over-use.
Lexical Resource
One quarter of your band
The range and precision of your vocabulary. Bandly surfaces repeated words, weak or vague choices, and collocation slips, then suggests more natural, higher-band alternatives that still fit your meaning.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
One quarter of your band
The variety and control of your sentences. We check that you mix simple and complex structures, and catch grammar, article, and punctuation errors that quietly cap your score.
Your overall band is these four scores averaged and rounded to the nearest half-band — the same arithmetic the exam uses, so a Bandly result maps cleanly onto the score you're aiming for.
Why it works
Feedback you can act on the same day
Calibrated band scores
Every response is graded against all four official IELTS Writing criteria, with a 0–9 band for each so you know precisely where you stand.
See every mistake in context
Grammar slips, over-used words, and cohesion gaps are highlighted right inside your essay — no guessing what to fix.
A plan to close the gap
Specific, actionable suggestions tied to each criterion turn a raw score into a clear route from Band 6.5 to Band 7.
Practice on real questions
Pull from a bank of authentic Task 1 and Task 2 prompts, or paste your own — and time yourself under exam conditions.
See your band in the next two minutes
Paste an essay and find out exactly what's standing between you and Band 7.