Short answer: what usually holds an essay at Band 6 isn't big grammar — it's small, frequent errors: missing articles, wrong prepositions, subject-verb disagreement, and run-on sentences. Band 7 needs most sentences error-free, so cutting these repeat offenders is the fastest way up.
✍️ Open Typehush and practise cleaner grammar by typing model essays →The Grammatical Range and Accuracy criterion doesn't reward you for avoiding hard structures — it counts how often you make errors. Band 7 asks for a majority of error-free sentences; Band 6 is defined by frequent errors even when meaning is clear. So a single dramatic mistake matters less than the same tiny error repeated twenty times. That's good news: you don't need to master exotic grammar to climb, you need to stop making the same handful of everyday slips. Find your repeat offenders and the band moves.
The most common error for many candidates, especially those whose first language has no articles. Rules to hold onto: use "a/an" for a singular countable noun mentioned for the first time; use "the" when it's specific or already known; use no article for general plural or uncountable nouns ("Governments should fund education," not "the education"). "Pollution is a problem" (general) versus "the pollution in this city" (specific). Articles rarely block meaning, which is exactly why they slip through — but examiners still count every one.
A practical way to reduce article errors is to check every singular countable noun as you proofread: does it have a, the, or a good reason to have neither (like a possessive or "this")? If a singular countable noun is standing bare — "government should invest in education" — it almost always needs an article. Because this error is so mechanical, a single focused proofreading pass just for articles can remove several mistakes in one go, which is a fast, reliable way to nudge your Grammar band upward without learning anything new.
Prepositions are learned per phrase, not by rule: "an increase in," "depend on," "responsible for," "an impact on." Learn them as fixed collocations. Subject-verb agreement trips people on long subjects: "The number of cars is rising" (the subject is "number," singular), and "Each of the students has…". When a subject and its verb are far apart, check they still match — this is a classic error that a quick proofread catches easily.
Reaching for complex sentences, candidates often join two full clauses with just a comma: "Cars cause pollution, they should be limited." That's a comma splice. Fix it with a full stop, a semicolon, or a conjunction ("Cars cause pollution, so they should be limited"). The safest habit under pressure is shorter, controlled sentences you punctuate correctly, rather than sprawling ones that collapse. A varied mix of accurate simple and complex sentences scores better than ambitious sentences riddled with joins.
Two more frequent slips. Tense consistency: don't drift between past and present without reason; pick the tense the context needs and hold it. Word form: using the wrong part of speech — "success" where you need "successful," "advice" (noun) where you need "advise" (verb). These blur the line between grammar and vocabulary and cost you on both criteria. When you learn a word, learn its whole family — noun, verb, adjective, adverb — so the right form is available under pressure.
Generic grammar study is inefficient — you don't make every error, you make your handful repeatedly. Keep an error log: each time you self-mark a practice essay, note the mistakes and watch which recur. Drill those specifically. Reading and typing high-band model essays reinforces correct patterns until they feel natural, and on the computer test, reserving a few minutes to proofread catches the articles, prepositions and agreement slips that a quick read exposes. Small, targeted work here lifts your Grammar band faster than anything else.
Type all 156 Cambridge Band 6–8 model essays with live word count →Small, frequent ones: missing or wrong articles, wrong prepositions, subject-verb disagreement, comma splices, and inconsistent verb tenses. Band 7 needs most sentences error-free.
You need a range of structures used accurately, not difficult grammar for its own sake. A varied mix of accurate sentences beats ambitious sentences full of errors.
Keep an error log from your self-marked practice essays, identify the errors that recur, and drill those specifically rather than studying grammar in general.
Reserve a few minutes to proofread each answer. A quick focused read catches most articles, prepositions and agreement slips before you submit.
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