Why you cannot feel which criterion is failing
You experience your answer as one thing: it went well, or it went badly. The examiner does not. They mark four separate criteria, each worth a quarter, and a 6.5 overall can be produced by very different combinations.
| Fluency | Vocabulary | Grammar | Pronunciation | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6.5 |
| 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6.5 |
| 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6.5 |
Those are three different candidates with three different problems and the same score. If you practise "speaking" in general, you spend most of your effort on the criteria that were already fine.
Match the symptom to the criterion
Record a two-minute answer and listen back. One of these will describe you.
| What you notice | The criterion that is failing | What is actually happening |
|---|---|---|
| "I keep stopping in the middle of sentences." | Fluency & Coherence | You are hesitating to find words, not to choose ideas. That is the line the descriptors draw between 6–7 and 8. |
| "I run out of things to say." | Fluency & Coherence | Not a language problem — an idea problem. It produces hesitation, so it is scored as fluency. |
| "I use the same words over and over." | Lexical Resource | Repetition caps this criterion. The fix is precision, not synonyms. |
| "My sentences are all short and simple." | Grammatical Range | Accurate, and no range shown. This is the most common cap on an accurate speaker. |
| "People ask me to repeat things." | Pronunciation | Specific sounds, word stress or dropped endings — not your accent. |
| "I sound like I'm reciting." | All four | Memorised language is penalised across the test. |
If it is Fluency: move the pauses, don't remove them
Fluent speakers pause constantly. What separates them from hesitant ones is where.
- A pause at a clause boundary — before and, but, because — sounds like planning. It is normal at every band, including 8 and 9.
- A pause inside a phrase — after a, the, to, is — sounds like searching for a word. That is the hesitation that holds you at 6.5.
The two silences can be identical in length. So counting your pauses tells you nothing, and trying to eliminate "um" fixes nothing.
The fix is shorter sentences and something to say. Most mid-phrase stalls happen because you launched a sentence you could not finish. Give every claim a because and an example, and you will always have somewhere to go — which is why the fluency fix and the coherence fix are the same fix. More on this in how to stop hesitating.
If it is Grammar: this is the counter-intuitive one
If your English is accurate but your band will not move, this is almost certainly your criterion — and the instinct that got you here is the thing keeping you here.
The criterion is Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Speaking in short, simple, correct sentences protects the accuracy half and shows no range at all. There is nothing for the examiner to reward, however clean it is.
So take grammatical risk on purpose. Put although, which, and a conditional into every answer — "If governments invested more in transport, fewer people would drive" — and accept that you will occasionally slip. A complex sentence with a small error scores above a flawless simple one.
If it is Vocabulary: stop reaching for big words
The instinct is to memorise impressive vocabulary and fit it in. That is the one strategy the descriptors actively punish: a rare word used slightly wrongly is marked as inappropriate or inaccurate word choice.
What band 7 actually asks for is collocation — which words naturally go together — and the ability to paraphrase around a word you do not have.
- make a mistake, not do a mistake. heavy rain, not strong rain. Ordinary words, correct partners.
- If scaffolding will not come: "that metal frame they put around a building while they're repairing it". The descriptor rewards that directly, and it keeps you fluent.
The thing that caps everyone
If you have a prepared Part 2 answer, a learned idiom you deploy, or a set opening line, that is very likely your ceiling — and it will not show up as any single criterion, because it damages several at once.
A polished, memorised thirty seconds followed by a sudden drop in fluency is one of the most detectable things in the whole test. It is audible to an examiner and it is visible in the pause structure. The rehearsed part sounds nothing like the rest of you.
Prepare ideas. Never prepare sentences.
What to actually do this week
- Get a per-criterion score, not an overall one. "My speaking is 6.5" is not a diagnosis and cannot be acted on.
- Work on the low criterion only. The other three are not the problem, and time spent on them changes nothing.
- Record and listen back for one thing per session — where you pause, whether you finished your words, how many sentences had more than one clause.
- Delete every memorised sentence you have.
Aflo scores each criterion separately and shows which one is holding your band down — including where your pauses fell and what an improved version of your own answer would look like.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my IELTS speaking score never change?
Almost always because you are working on a criterion that was not the problem. The examiner marks four criteria separately, and a 6.5 can be produced by very different combinations — a weak grammar range with strong fluency, or the reverse. You experience your answer as one thing, so you cannot feel which one is low. Get a per-criterion score before you do anything else.
I speak accurately but I'm stuck at 6 or 6.5. Why?
This is usually Grammatical Range. The criterion is range AND accuracy, and speaking in short, simple, correct sentences protects the accuracy while showing no range at all. Band 7 asks for a range of complex structures with frequent error-free sentences — not perfection, and it expects some errors to persist. Take grammatical risk on purpose.
Should I try to pause less?
No — try to pause in different places. Fluent speakers pause constantly. A pause before 'because' or 'but' sounds like planning and is normal at band 8 and 9. A pause after 'the' or 'to' sounds like you are hunting for a word, and that is the one that holds you at 6.5. The two silences can be the same length, which is why counting pauses tells you nothing.
Do memorised answers help?
They are one of the most common ceilings on a 6.5, and they damage several criteria at once. A polished, memorised opening followed by a sudden drop in fluency is highly detectable — the rehearsed part sounds nothing like the rest of you. Prepare ideas, never sentences.