What Makes A Good BAND 7 Candidate?
- The candidate’s demeanour and body language are confident yet still may be slightly nervous, but not enough to affect their overall performance during the test.
- They dress neatly and wear clothes that do not attract any unnecessary attention from the examiner.
- Jewellery, makeup, hairstyles and earrings/piercings/glasses are not distracting or irritating to the candidate/examiner.
- They possess a thorough understanding of the test and procedures.
- They are fairly fluent when speaking and give reasonably detailed answers without repeating phrases or searching for words a lot.
- Hesitations occur while speaking but do not interfere with communication.
- Answers are coherent – that is, they are very clearly organised – with a good range of vocabulary that is consistent with the topics being discussed during the test.
- Lexical resource contains some colloquial/common language which is used effectively without repetition or as a replacement for missing vocabulary. Can paraphrase successfully.
- A good range of grammatical structures are used. Most mistakes do not affect the candidate’s fluency or meaning and are not usually repeated even though some basic errors are still evident.
- The candidate is easy to understand. Their pronunciation is clear, despite any accent. Intonation of the voice is used well to express interest without exaggeration/aggression.
Mistakes That Prevent A Candidate Achieving a BAND 7
Fluency & Coherence
- Too many pauses and persistent hesitation
- Lack of connectives (eg: transition phrases) or overt reliance on a few memorised connectives
- Lack of logical ideas and/or are not related to each other/the topic
- Nervousness and too overly concerned with making mistakes
- Dependence on memorised sentences or prepared responses which do not/only partially answer the question
Lexical Resource
- Limited range of vocabulary or only able to discuss personal topics
- Lack of flexibility and variety on various different topics
- Rarely attempts to paraphrase
- Either too abstract or too general
- Overuse of memorised words or common phrases/expressions
Grammar Range & Accuracy
- Too many basic and/or repeated errors
- Lack of awareness and self-correction
- Lack of variety in sentence structures
- Repetition of structures
Pronunciation
- Lack of variation in voice (tone, volume, pitch, etc)
- Lack of control/no awareness
- Consistent/repeated mispronunciation of certain vowel/consonant sounds
- Lack of clarity/poor articulation making it difficult to understand